Editorial: University president seeks end to Missouri's race to the bottom
From the St. Louis Post Dispatch
Missouri’s race to the bottom has a powerful new enemy.
His name is Tim Wolfe and he is the president of the University of Missouri.
Over the past two years, frustrated with the failure of the state’s top political leaders to make education at all levels the priority it should be, Mr. Wolfe has taken his message directly to the people of the state.
In 18 stops in cities and small towns from Palmyra to Poplar Bluff, from California to Chillicothe, he has laid out the stark facts to school superintendents, to voters, to parents, to business leaders.
Missouri can’t cut its way to prosperity. It can’t win economically if it continues to be near the bottom of state rankings in all the things that matter (44th in higher education funding, for instance), and near the top in measures of poverty, hunger and poor health outcomes.
“If we don’t change, we will be in a race to the bottom and we will win the race. It is not what Missourians deserve,” Mr. Wolfe told the Post-Dispatch editorial board on Thursday. “The categories we are number one in are the categories we don’t want to be number one in.”
Mr. Wolfe’s frustration is palpable.
A Missouri native and University of Missouri-Columbia graduate, he came back to his home state in 2012 to lead the four campuses of the state’s land-grant institution after a successful career in the technology business. He found a state wallowing in mediocrity led by a Republican Legislature fixated on making taxes in a low-tax state even lower, and a Democratic governor unwilling to lay out a vision for the future.
Simply hanging their political hats on “record” education funding while other states pass Missouri by isn’t good enough, Mr. Wolfe said. Bragging about keeping tuition hikes low misses the larger point.
“What do we want to be known for?” he asks.
The answer is the same one Gov. Jay Nixon trots out each year in his State of the State speech, but always fails to follow through on: finding money in the budget to inch Missouri up from the bottom.
“Better states, better organizations, recognize opportunities and establish a sense of urgency for change,” Mr. Wolfe said. “We are trying to change the conversation … if we can just have this unifying cry that education is going to determine the future competitiveness of the state of Missouri, if we can do that, then maybe we can start to move the needle.”
Mr. Wolfe calls his tour the Show Me Value Tour, to highlight the value that voters, parents and communities can gain when they invest in education.
At least part of that investment, Mr. Wolfe believes, should come from an increase in Missouri’s lowest-in-the-nation tobacco tax. He supported the 2012 tobacco tax increase that would have raised about $300 million for education. That tax, without support from the governor and many other top state leaders (Attorney General Chris Koster was a notable exception), failed narrowly.
Mr. Wolfe believes raising the 17-cents-a-pack tobacco tax should be put on the ballot again in 2016. He believes the results could be different. He’s challenging the state’s top politicians to lay out a vision for Missouri’s education future. He’s taking his message of the value of education directly to voters and local community leaders. He believes that the Legislature spends too much time listening to “one man” — a clear reference to anti-tax crusader Rex Sinquefield. He thinks lawmakers will reject Mr. Sinquefield’s misguided vision when voters statewide finally take a stand for investing in Missouri’s next generation, its best economic development tool.
This sort of leadership is refreshing. It’s needed in a state whose politicians ignore the mileposts that Missouri has passed on its race to the bottom.
• No. 1 in hunger.
• Child poverty on the rise.
• Lowest-paid state employees.
• 40th in state funding for K-12 schools.
• 44th in state funding for higher education.
• Job growth lagging the nation.
For decades now, Missouri’s politicians have believed in two economic fairy tales: That lower taxes will create prosperity through economic growth, and that corporate giveaways in the form of tax credits will pay for themselves many times over.
Between 1970 and 2006, Missouri was, on average, the 47th lowest tax state in the nation. But today’s lawmakers want to cut taxes even further, while saying with straight faces that they care deeply about education funding.
Mr. Wolfe is tired of elected officials failing to tell voters the truth, so he’s taking his message directly to the people.
What does Missouri want to be known for? Low taxes and mediocrity? Or a willingness to invest in its people?
Perhaps voters will get a chance to answer that question next year. The future depends on getting the answer right.
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