Case for Action Overview

Public education "has led to a country that's been very innovative and created lots of jobs," Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates told Business Week magazine in June 2006. "Yet when you look at it, you think the broad excellence we need and the changes we need aren't necessarily going to happen" without intervention from the private sector.

The rapidly-changing, information- and technology-based workplace of the 21st century requires a well-educated, highly-skilled workforce. Yet too many young people lack basic and advanced skills. One study estimates that companies and colleges spend upwards of $17 billion per year to train recent graduates in the basic skills they should have gained in school and another study estimates that America loses $2.3 billion each year due to loss of productivity from students who fail to earn a college degree. International assessments show that American students are falling farther behind their counterparts in developing countries. And America faces a significant shortage of innovation workers – those college graduates with strong technical skills and creative minds.

Put simply, America’s public schools have not kept pace. States and school districts are not challenging all high school students to learn the skills and knowledge that will enable them to succeed in technical training, college or careers. It's critical that businesses of all sizes and industries step up to help bring public schools up to speed in the 21st century.

This Web site can help. Download fact sheets with the benefits to business of investing in America’s public schools. Find basic facts on how public education is organized and funded and links to up-to-date information on how education stacks up at the international, national, state, district, school and even zip code levels. Our goal: Strengthen your company’s bottom line.