For the Central Valley to regain lost ground, however, we’ve got to keep investing in ourselves. We need to build on our infrastructure in a responsible way, develop in a manner that supports economic strength and vitality decades down the road, and make things hospitable for new and existing businesses without losing sight of health and safety concerns. Perhaps most importantly, we must address the serious issues that have emerged with public education. We can make no greater investment of taxpayers’ money and attention than K-12 schools, community colleges, the University of California system and the California State University system. We must address the dropout problem, continue to provide vocational opportunities for new graduates, and bring California up to speed in science, technology and engineering. As badly as we’ve fared in those areas statewide over the past decade, we’ve fared even worse in the Central Valley. The to-do list for 2010 starts with a realistic state budget that brings us to some semblance of sanity.

Read full article [here].
by The Editors, The Bakersfield Californian.

Posted: January 2nd, 2010, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.