Editor’s note: This is the third of five commentaries addressing tax investment and reform raised in the study “No Place to Hide: Confronting Maine’s Economic Future.”

In my 12 years as president of the Maine Technical College System, I have accumulated a lot of reports on the need to raise college attainment. All are on target, and all offer a unique perspective.

But a different kind of report came out this summer that I found particularly compelling. “No Place to Hide: Confronting Maine’s Economic Future,” from the Institute for a Strong Maine Economy, raised a powerful case for why raising education levels in Maine is not just important, it’s an “economic imperative” – one that must be a top agenda item for Maine’s next governor and legislature.

The institute asserts that we will never build a strong, sustainable economy without investing in our people. The relatively low education level of our work force impacts Maine’s productivity and income levels, and is a key factor in our high tax burden. In fact, the report states, our chronically low per capita income is “absolutely predictable given the education level of the population.”

A look at where Maine stands today drives home our challenge. In the Maine Economic Growth Council’s 2002 report, all five measures related to lifelong learning and higher education – including associate, bachelors and graduate degree attainment and adult participation in education and training – failed to make any real improvement in the past decade. In some areas, we lost ground. Last year, only 36 percent of Maine citizens participated in an educational seminar or program – down from 51 percent two years before. Ten percent of those earning less than $35,000 participated in training paid for by their employer – down from 21 percent in 1995. And the trend continues with the next generation: only 55 percent of our high school graduates are enrolling in college the following year.

Like any major public policy challenge, turning this around will take tremendous political will and a bold agenda – as well as a strong bipartisan commitment to stay the course.

As policy leaders prepare their agendas, I offer three action items that I believe are necessary if Maine is to reverse these trends and make lifelong learning a natural and realistic part of Maine people’s lives:

Bring community colleges to Maine. States with the highest college participation have large community college systems, which provide low-cost access to nearly half of U.S. college students. Three out of four first-year students over age 23 attend community colleges. These institutions could provide access to many of those not enrolling in college – adults with limited time and resources, and high school graduates who are academically able but aren’t following through. Policy leaders have a solution in the Maine Technical College System’s plan to broaden the technical college mission and add 4,000 college students by the end of the decade. The plan has been endorsed by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council of Maine for its potential to strengthen our work force and overall economic health.

Engage Maine’s current work force in lifelong learning. Because Maine’s work force is not growing, increasing the education level of the current work force is an economic necessity. To do this will require a whole new level of public-private partnerships among business, government and higher education. Targeting those making less than $35,000 would ensure that those who need it most (and who are less likely to be supported now) are enhancing their skills and income potential. Offsets in tuition, offering release time for college and access to computers for online courses, and tax breaks for businesses that embrace such policies, would go far in making lifelong learning a “given” for our work force.

Target high school graduates not pursuing college. Engaging high school students who are academically capable but aren’t pursuing college would help break the cycle of low education and incomes in many Maine families, and raise the educational bar for future generations. The recent study by the Mitchell Institute provides valuable insight into this group: many come from families without previous college, have limited resources, and have not planned for college. In most states, these students would attend community college before entering the work force or transferring to a four-year college. In fact, more than half of community college students are first generation college students. The Mitchell report includes recommendations that are very doable if we all commit to reversing this trend.

There are many partners in the continuum of lifelong learning – in education, business and government – all of whom will offer sound solutions and play an important role in taking Maine to the next level of educational attainment.

The Institute for a Strong Maine Economy has laid out an agenda that should be a catalyst for setting Maine on a course to a healthier, stronger future. We know what needs to be done. Now we need the leadership, commitment and courage to make it happen.

John Fitzsimmons has served as president of the Maine Technical College System since 1990. He was Maine’s commissioner of labor under Gov. John McKernan from 1987 to 1990.