CEOs to governors: Schools don't make the grade

Session at National Governor's Association Annual Meeting
July 21, 2007
- How states can boost business innovation and economic growth ?
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Two titans of the high-tech economy told the nation's governors on Saturday that their states are not doing enough to educate students for technology-heavy jobs or to clear the way for investment by their companies.

"We're not competitive in our education programs,"

Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive of AT&T, told the National Governors Association annual meeting at Grand Traverse Resort in northern Michigan.

"Our education system is falling flat."

Stephenson, who has held the top job at AT&T for less than two months, had the toughest words for the more than 30 state chief executives in attendance. He said that an AT&T agreement with its largest union to bring back 4,000 jobs that had been outsourced to India was struggling because of faulty U.S. education standards.

"We're struggling to find qualified candidates to fill those 4,000 jobs."

Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google , encouraged states to show more daring in looking for better ways to increase student performance in public schools.

"Almost anything we try is going to give us more information," Schmidt said. "Why not simply try five different things and see what kind of results you get?"

The AT&T chief and Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, spoke to the opening business session of the governors' 99th annual meeting at Grand Traverse Resort in northern Michigan, a session focused on how states can boost business innovation and economic growth. Both had plenty of advice, suggesting that governors' most important role was to boost education and knock down regulatory walls.

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