Education
Prosperity 2020
A statewide movement led by business and community leaders
Vision
Our talented and skilled workforce will propel Utah to enduring prosperity, life quality and the strongest economy in the nation.
Victory
We define victory by three simple outcomes. Over the next ten years,
- Utah will rank in the top quartile of states in educational achievement and investment.
- Utah will lead the nation in personal income growth.
- Utah will lead the nation in job growth.
Strategy
We will unify business and community leaders to advance public policy that will dramatically improve Utah’s education outcomes. We will do this through a business-led, statewide, multi-year, public and higher education movement called Prosperity 2020.
What is a movement?
A movement is created when individuals and groups with a common ideology join to achieve transformational goals. Like a northbound train, a movement brings together passengers from various locations who all want to head in the same direction. Prosperity 2020 is the northbound train to enduring prosperity for Utahns.
Utah has a history of successful civic movements that created a northbound train of progress. Envision Utah set the stage for quality growth in our state, including land conservation, transit investment, walkable communities and water and energy conservation. The 2015 Transportation Alliance (Proposition 3) made the case for funding Utah’s transportation system to preempt gridlock, save money, provide more transportation choices and improve life quality. Health System Reform and Downtown Rising are two other recent and successful movements supported by business and community leaders.
Utah business and community leaders will apply what we have learned from these movements to enhance the education of Utah’s workforce … something we call Prosperity 2020.
Guiding principles
We are not educators or government leaders. Our contribution is the application of proven business principles to Utah’s largest business enterprise.
Public and higher education in Utah comprises 12% of the jobs in our state (144,400 people are directly employed in the education industry) and directly serves one-third of the state’s population (877,500 students and workers are involved in public and higher education).
As Utah’s largest business enterprise, education must be guided by successful business principles. We support these guiding principles:
- Understand your customers
- Set clear goals
- Plan and invest strategically
- Measure outcomes
- Empower and hold people accountable
- Reward success
Key challenges
- Growth – Utah has the largest percentage of young people in the country, with 11,000 new students every year.
- Diversity – We have the fastest growing ethnic population in the country, and educational performance lags.
- Achievement – Our high school graduation and college participation rates are in decline.
- Funding – A large percentage of Utah’s budget is allocated to education, yet expenditures per pupil are the lowest.
- Tradition – Education is conducted much as it has been for the last 100 years.
- Globalization -- The United States no longer leads the world in educational achievement.
Tools for change
These nine broad tools will enable us to achieve our 2020 vision.
1) Set higher standards
2) Target at risk students
3) Focus on math and literacy
4) Measure and intervene
5) Provide more student guidance
6) Advance performance-based funding
7) Target budget surpluses for education
8) Fund quality and improvement
Mentoring and partnering
While public policy is critical, individual engagement is equally powerful. Knowing that someone is engaged in their success can be the turning point for students to unlock their potential, to set a course to achieve their educational dream. We will mentor individual success in the following ways:
- Increasing Junior Achievement participation
- Establishing scholarships to encourage college participation
- Reimbursing employees for attending college
- Volunteering in classrooms
- Creating internship programs to give hands on experience
- Engaging with the State Board of Education and State Board of Regents
Join us
We invite business and community eaders to join us in one of seven ways:
1) Participate on our education task force
2) Advocate on behalf of business to federal, state and local government
3) Involve your employees in Voter Voice
4) Help fund Prosperity 2020 (paid media)
5) Support Junior Achievement, scholarships and employees who seek higher learning.
6) Provide internships
7) Volunteer in the classroom
For additional information contact:
Mark Bouchard, CBRE
Chair, Salt Lake Chamber Education Task Force
Vicki Varela, Vicki Varela Strategic Communications
Natalie Gochnour
Executive Vice President, Salt Lake Chamber
Wes Smith
Director of Public Policy, Salt Lake Chamber