Highlights from Summit III:

Day 1

---

Wisconsin Economic Summit III opens in Milwaukee

PK-16 education promoted as important state economic cluster

MILWAUKEE - Education is a vital economic cluster that pumps an estimated $32 billion into the state's economy each year, according to panelists who took part in a Wisconsin Economic Summit III workshop on Monday.

That economic contribution will continue to grow if education is increasingly viewed and treated as an industry in the state, panelists said.

Monday's 24 summit workshops at the Midwest Express Center were well attended.

"We are certainly a very critical part of Wisconsin's economic future, and we should not be shy about talking about ourselves in that way," said Katharine C. Lyall, president of the University of Wisconsin System.

During a workshop titled "Education as an Economic Cluster," Lyall said the state realizes more than 15 percent of its gross domestic product through jobs, spending and taxes associated with public K-12 education, the state's private colleges and universities, the Wisconsin Technical College System and the UW System.

The UW System alone contributes nearly $10 billion to Wisconsin's economy each year and supports 150,000 jobs in Wisconsin communities, according to a recent economic impact study commissioned by the university.

Wisconsin Technical College President Richard Carpenter and UW System President Katharine C. Lyall were panelists during a workshop entitled "Education as an Economic Cluster."

Lyall joined panelists Rolf Wegenke, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities; Elizabeth Burmaster, state superintendent of public instruction and a member of the UW System Board of Regents; and Richard Carpenter, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System, for the panel during the start of Wisconsin Economic III.

The summit opened Monday with 24 workshops about local and regional economic development efforts. Panelists spoke on topics including venture capital, nonprofit organizations, homeland security, public and private partnerships, small business, tourism and e-commerce.

Events will continue Tuesday and Wednesday at the Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee.

The panelists stressed that all sectors of PK-16 education in Wisconsin - public and private - must streamline resources and integrate services to achieve mutual goals. Any necessary competition among these education partners must be constructive and benefit graduates, Lyall said.

"In a sense, we are an education highway," Lyall said of the PK-16 education system in Wisconsin. "You need all pieces of that highway to get where you're going."

Rolf Wegenke, president of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities and Elizabeth Burmaster, state superintendent of public instruction, discuss the economic impact of Wisconsin PK-16 education at the economic summit Monday.

Wegenke said that while education alone cannot solve the economy's ills, the cluster should be recognized and nurtured as an economic resource and generator of wealth. Wegenke said in today's knowledge economy, workers at all levels are asked to make vital decisions, and education is the key to their success.

"Education provides our essential resource - brainworkers," Wegenke said. "In the knowledge economy, it is ideas that are bought and sold."

Burmaster said that by providing 112,000 jobs in 426 school districts, public K-12 education contributes approximately $18.3 billion to Wisconsin's economy. That's more than 10 percent of total economic impact in the state and equals 4 percent of the state's employment base, she said.

"We can see that K-12 education is big business in its own right," Burmaster said.

Wisconsin Economic Summit III Co-Chair Jay L. Smith welcomes participants to this year's event at a Monday reception.

Burmaster said the top priority in PK-16 education must be to close the achievement gap, which in turn would close the state's income gap. For example, a high-school dropout earns just 55 percent of what an average adult worker earns each year, she said.

Carpenter said workers stand to increase their earnings by 40 percent with each post-secondary degree they earn. As ideas are the product of the knowledge economy, it is highly skilled workers who emerge from technical colleges and turn ideas into products and services, he said.

Summit co-chairs thank participants for ideas and energy

At an evening reception, summit co-chair Jay L. Smith pledged a strong program for this year's participants and thanked workshop presenters for their time and energy during the day's sessions.

Lyall also thanked the participants for attending this year's summit, which she said is especially relevant in light of the state's current economic troubles.

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and University of Wisconsin System President and Summit Co-Chair Katharine C. Lyall share a moment at Monday's reception.

Lyall then introduced Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, who stressed the importance of economic partnerships and called attention to Wednesday's final session entitled "Collaboration - Our Economic Future Depends on It."

"In a very real sense, our economy is intertwined across the state," Walker said. "There are many ways we are intertwined here in Milwaukee County."

--Tuesday's sessions are scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and include remarks from UW Board of Regents President Guy Gottschalk, UW System President Katharine C. Lyall, Summit Co-Chair Jay L. Smith and Gov. Scott McCallum, as well as a general session on fiscal policy reform.

Photos by Tom Grimm, UW-Milwaukee.