More bad news on Ohio education

A report from the U.S. Bureau of the Census released Monday should be required reading for those legislators in Columbus who still don't understand why their refusal to properly fund higher education in Ohio will have long-term deleterious effects on the state and its economy.
For Ohio to be 35th on the list ranking states by the percentage of adults holding college degrees means a less educated work force with lower incomes and less appeal to out-of-state companies that might be considering relocating here.
Undereducated Valley
As bad as Ohio's figures are, the Mahoning Valley is even worse with Mahoning County having only 22.3 percent who hold degrees; Columbiana at 15.7 percent, and Trumbull at 19.6 percent. People are less likely to attend college when their grade school education is lacking and when costs of attending are too high. The General Assembly must be held accountable for the condition of education in Ohio.
Perhaps with term limits, the legislators who have held the state hostage to their anti-tax ideology figure they won't have to worry about re-election as the state slips further and further down the list of desirable states in which to live or do business.
As the census data also show, the poorer the neighborhood, the less likely residents are to have college degrees. Perpetuating poor education in poor communities is a downward spiral, that ultimately affects the entire state -- not just urban areas.
As hard as this region -- and the state -- is trying to attract high-tech business, it would seem a no-brainer to recognize that high-tech companies require highly educated employees. And many of the well educated young men and women of the Valley are not willing to settle for the relatively low-paying unchallenging jobs available to them here.
Brain drain
That's why so many young people are taking their college degrees with them out-of-state where the jobs are more plentiful and more lucrative. And with them, goes the state's intellectual capital and potential future leadership for business and industry.
OF course, the income taxes they would pay on their higher incomes and the property taxes they would pay on their more expensive homes and the sales taxes they would pay with their greater purchasing ability go into the coffers of their new home states, not Ohio's.
The opinion of many conservatives is that today's young people want instant gratification rather than working hard for their goals. But can't the same be said for those who want the instant-gratification of tax cuts rather than accepting the responsibility of working for Ohio's long-term needs? Education isn't a luxury, it's a neccessity.