LEBANON, Va. – Two former Virginia governors were among the speakers Tuesday at the 20th anniversary meeting of the advisory board for the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority.
Former Govs. Linwood Holton and Gerald Baliles spoke on the importance of education to future economic development in Southwest Virginia.
“They [industry] can put sewing machines in here overnight, and they can take sewing machines away overnight, as they have done; the same can be said of the telephones,” said Holton, who served as governor from 1970 to 1974, “but … if you have a trained workforce, the jobs will come and they won’t leave.”
Created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1988, the authority develops incentives and financing programs to encourage new job growth and economic diversification, particularly in the technology sector, in the Southwest Virginia counties of Lee, Wise, Scott, Buchanan, Russell, Tazewell and Dickenson, and the city of Norton – an area it has marketed as Virginia’s e-region. In 2008, according to its annual report, the authority approved $9.4 million in loans and grants for projects in the region. The report also states that over 20 years, the authority has helped to bring nearly 12,000 jobs to the region.
Baliles, who served as governor from 1986 to 1990, said infrastructure improvements are needed along with education to attract high-tech jobs – and significant, sustained investment of tax dollars is needed in both areas to attract business. Education, he said, must be considered as part of every public discussion and decision.
“Cheap wages, low taxes and physical labor are no longer guarantees of economic growth and development. If that were the case, Bangladesh would be an economic giant and rural areas everywhere would be thriving,” Baliles said. “Over the years we have seen how traditional technology and globalization have changed lives, economies and countries, and I’ve concluded along with Gov. Holton that increasingly, education is the engine that drives the American economy.”
Holton pointed out statistics that show a jump in average wages with each level of education – as well as lower unemployment rates for more-educated citizens. He said a student can figure that he’ll get back $7 for every dollar he pays to attend a community college, while localities get $1.50 for every dollar put into the colleges; the total benefit to the community is $13 for every dollar invested in the community college system.
He also said that in the past 20 years the average wage in Southwest Virginia has gone up significantly along with the number of available jobs – at the same time the number and type of educational institutions have grown.
“There’s bound to be a correlation between those increases in jobs and the higher income to the existence and the production of those educational institutions,” Holton said. “Education is the key to success.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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