Many years ago, the Colorado paradox was contrived as a way to draw attention to Colorado’s low high school graduation rates.
The paradox is explained as follows: Colorado has one of the most highly educated work forces in the country, yet Colorado is at the lower end of the rankings for high school graduation rates.
The two facts have been tied together for the purpose of shaming policy makers for not providing greater, if not unlimited, funding for Colorado education.
The factors that cause Colorado to be a highly educated state are not responsible for the low graduation rates. If anything, there is more likely to be an inverse relationship between these two variables rather than a positive relationship.
It is no accident that Colorado has a highly educated workforce:
- Many primary jobs have higher statewide multiplier than most jobs. This means the addition of primary jobs (with highly educated people) will result in the addition of many more support jobs (which may not require a high school or college degree).
- Forty-seven of the 64 counties are rural. They have a lower level of education and an older population. In other words, people older than 50 who have lived in a rural community all their lives are not likely to need a high school or college education degree and they probably won’t get one. This is not a bad thing. Their happiness and success is not determined by their level of education.
- The Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) has actively recruited companies such as Vestas, Sun, Level 3, and Arrow Electronics. There are many jobs at these companies that require bachelor’s degrees. When these companies moved to Colorado, they brought many workers with them, which in turn created jobs for other Coloradans. As these companies became established they have recruited workers from local colleges and universities.
- Denver has been identified as a city that attracts highly educated younger workers. They want to move to Denver, live in a loft, work at a company in downtown Denver that pays well, play in the mountains, and live in a state where marijuana is legal. The state is appealing to highly educated workers because of the its lifestyle and its mix of companies.
- The tourism industry (which is part of OEDIT) markets Colorado as a place to live, work, and play. Some of the people who come here to ski, ride bikes, hike, smoke dope, raft, etc. want to come back and live here. If they have the money to visit Colorado, they are likely to be highly educated and able to afford to live here.
- Many years ago, officials restricted the number of out-of-state students. They have since decided to allow more international and out-of-state students and raise out-of-state rates disproportionately. This has increased the diversity of their student population and has been a significant source of much needed revenue. It has also increased the number of out-of-state college students who decide to stay here and work.
- Colorado is a small state. The state’s MSAs have colleges, universities, and federal labs that have a high percentage of workers with college degrees. As the population increases, the number of highly educated workers at these facilities will not increase proportionately with the population growth.
- Even If Colorado had the best education system in the universe, it would be impossible for it to meet the needs of the public and private workforce. During the Go-Go Nineties the state added almost 700,000 net jobs with gains in all sectors, except Natural Resources and Mining. During the Lost Decade, only 8,500 net jobs were added. For that ten year period, there were net job losses in 5 of the 11 sectors. The state has to import talent do deal with the volatility in the workforce caused by fluctuations in the business cycle. For example, an economic case can be made that it is a wiser investment of scarce resources to import 100 machinists than it is to try to build the infrastructure to train them here.
There are many good reasons for importing talent and the state has a lengthy track record of doing that. That is a good thing. At the same time, there are many good reasons for strengthening the education system so the state produces a higher percentage of high school graduates and a greater number of in-state college graduates. That is also a good thing.
It is time to put the fallacious Colorado paradox in the closet with beanie babies, floppy drives, and Nehru jackets.