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In a close 7-6 vote today, the House Education Committee passed House Bill 2915. This bill delays, once again, the requirement that students pass a math and science test to graduate from high school.
WTIA testified and advocated against this bill. We were almost successful in keeping this bill in committee but Committee Chair Dave Quall of Mt. Vernon twisted just enough arms of his fellow Democrats to get the bill out of committee. Kudos to Rep. Marcie Maxwell of Renton for standing up for principle instead of politics and voting against the bill. Appreciation is also warranted for the 5 Republicans on the committee who all voted against this unnecessary bill. They are Reps. Skip Priest, Bruce Dammeier, Susan Fagan, Mike Hope and Norm Johnson.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2915&year=2009 Here is the link to the bill page on the legislature’s website. The “House Bill Analysis 2010” gives a good background on the bill and what the bill does.
In last year’s session the legislature pushed the deadline to pass a math test to graduate from high school from 2012 to 2013 and for science from 2014 to 2015. Now the Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn wants to push it back again two more years for each subject. With no plan to be ready when the deadlines do arrive. This is simply unacceptable and continues the educational mediocrity that has become the hallmark of our state, sadly. What is more disappointing is the lack of fortitude shown by legislators over this issue.
The bill now goes to the House Rules Committee. The members of this committee can be found here: http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/RUL/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx If you believe as WTIA does that this is another unnecessary delay that only hurts our students, please call the office of the Rules Committee members and ask them to vote against HB 2915. WTIA will continue to work against passage of this bill.
Over in the state Senate, a “companion” bill, SB 6553 that is the twin of HB 2915 is scheduled for a public hearing tomorrow morning (Wednesday) at 8 a.m. http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6553&year=2009 WTIA will testify against this bill as well.
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Hello Readers,
With the legislature in full swing in Olympia, your scribe has been busy tracking the flow of bills being introduced and referred to legislative committees for hearings. In the even-numbered year, the legislature meets for just 60 days, so it is like a sprint, as opposed to year-round legislatures that are more like marathons.
As is true in every sesssion, there are a slew of bills related to both K-12 and higher education that WTIA follows. We advocate for improving K-12 education, especially around math and science and for increase numbers of STEM degrees from our state's universities.
This year the state has an opportunity to really advance K-12. Senate Bill 6696, http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=6696&year=2009 is a bill that would help Washington compete for Race to the Top federal dollars to improve education. In order to qualify for RTTT funds, a state must have a plan to close persistently failing schools, a teacher evaluation system based on student data and robust student data collection systems. Charter schools and a STEM focus also bring extra points on the application.
This bill was requested by Governor Gregoire. She consulted with many education groups, most notably WEA, the teacher's union, who opposed last year's major education reform, HB 2261. While the Governor was successful in getting WEA to agree to evaluations, the actual bill language is not strong enough for the Feds. Amendments to the bill will be necessary.
WTIA, along with many other entities, testified in favor of SB 6696. Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn came out strong for the bill and for improving it. We applaud him for that. We will be working with the Excellent Schools Now coalition, http://www.excellentschoolsnow.org/, to make the bill as strong as possible so that Washington's application for Race to the Top stands a good chance of succeeding.
Unfortunately SPI Dorn is not quite as supportive of ensuring our high schoolers can demonstrate their mastery of math and science as he is the requester of HB 2915, http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2915&year=2009.
This bill further delays the requirement that high school students pass a statewide math and science test to graduate from high school. The bill pushes the deadline for math back to 2015 from 2013 and to 2017 from 2015 for science. This is simply unacceptable. We need to redouble our efforts to ensure that schools and students are ready by the current deadline.
WTIA, along with many other groups, testified against HB 2915 this morning in the House Education Committee. This bill is likely to be voted out of committee unless legislators hear from you. Please contact the House Education Committee members today. http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/ED/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx
You can contact them via e-mail using lastname.firstname@leg.wa.gov as the naming convention. Thank you for your support of this issue. If you have any questions, please contact us at Lmcmurran@washingtontechnology.org.
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Hello Readers,
A bill to further delay the requirement that students pass a statewide math and science assessment to graduate has been introduced in Olympia at the request of Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn.
Two separate bills, HB 2915 and SB 6553, have been introduced in the state House and Senate, respectively. The House version is attached.
WTIA opposes the further delay of the requirement that students pass a statewide assessment in math and science.
You can view information about this bill here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=2915&year=2009
House Education Committee Chair Dave Quall has scheduled a hearing for next Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 10 am in the O'Brien Building on the Capitol campus. Here is a link to the House Education Committee members: http://www.leg.wa.gov/House/Committees/ED/Pages/MembersStaff.aspx
You can reach any of them by e-mail using this convention: lastname.firstname@leg.wa.gov
We encourage you to express your opposition to this proposal to committee members. Now is no time to be slowing down on the commitment to improving math and science education in Washington. Washington students have not performed well on statewide math and science tests.
However, it is also not a requirement to graduate. When emphasis was placed on reading and writing, scores improved and passage rates on the statewide assessment surpass 80% on both--plus the knowledge by students that they needed to pass the test to graduate.
Once the students who are now high school freshmen know they have to pass the test to graduate, scores will improve dramatically from the 45% passage rate in math now. We need a redoubling of efforts to ensure the new end-of-course exams test the right material and are diagnostic. Getting good teachers trained is certainly a challenge but one that needs to be done for the 2013 deadline.
Pushing it back to 2015, as the bills propose to do, simply takes away the incentive to get this done sooner rather than later. Our students cannot wait any longer. They are capable of doing well in math and science.
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Hello Readers,
The state Dept. of Revenue has requested amendments to the digital goods tax that passed last legislative session and went into effect July 2009.
This is the new law that applies sales tax to the sale of certain digital products and digital automated services.
There was confusion over services like cloud computing, data storage and advertising services that are clarified in this new bill, among other provisions.
Please review the attached bill and have your tax person take a look as well. There is a public hearing scheduled for next Friday, January 22 in the House Finance Committee at 2 p.m.
If you want to know more about the legislature, legislative hearings and proposed legislation, go to www.leg.wa.gov.
WTIA maintains a bill tracking system on our website. Check out a few of the proposals we are following: http://capwiz.com/washingtontechnology/issues/bills/?type=ST
In addition to tax legislation WTIA is very involved with K-12 and higher education policy. We are working to improve K-12 and promote more STEM graduates from our state's colleges and universities. Both areas will see serious budget cuts this session that will impact math and science curriculum, STEM programs in middle and high schools and higher education capacity and financial aid.
Please contact us if you are concerned about the digital goods bill or any other topic of legislation in Olympia. Lmcmurran@washingtontechnology.org is the best way to reach us.
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Hello Readers,
Please see text below for Cleveland High School's kickoff event for their ambitious STEM program.
They are looking for tech industry representatives to set up display tables and show how STEM related education matters in the "real world". This is an excellent opportunity for tech companies to market themselves and turn students on to science and math related careers.
Here are the particulars of the Jan. 23 event:
Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is committed to providing an excellent education so all students graduate from high school ready for college, careers and life. To help meet this goal, Cleveland High School will be designated as a Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) Option School in the fall of 2010—which means that students from all across the District can enroll in this challenging and innovative program.
Seattle Public Schools (SPS) is hosting an open house and recruitment fair at Cleveland High School on January 23, 2010. A continental breakfast will be served at 9:30 a.m. with the program and remarks by Superintendent Dr. Maria Goodloe-Johnson starting at 10:00 a.m. This will be an opportunity for families and students to learn more about this dynamic new program, tour the school and see examples of engaging and interactive STEM lessons.
As part of this event, Cleveland will provide a forum for showcasing higher education, community, business and labor partnerships. This is an opportunity to connect STEM to what really matters: college and career readiness. We would like to invite you to set up a display table at the event on January 23rd.
Below are additional details regarding the information fair:
· Anticipated audience of 200-300 families and students.
· Exhibitor tables will be set up in the gym. Clothed banquet tables will be provided.
· Exhibitors are asked to bring eye-catching signage and informational materials. (Relevant materials in other languages are strongly encouraged.)
· This event is primarily targeted at incoming 9th- and 10th-graders.
· Exhibitors are encouraged to bring hands-on activities and/or give-aways to entice families and students to visit their table.
· Materials should focus on any existing or planned STEM programming at Cleveland. Employers should focus on exciting STEM related career opportunities and/or examples of how real-world problems will be integrated into Cleveland’s STEM curriculum.
· Tables will need to be set up no later than 9:00 a.m. Exhibitors will have access to the gym starting at 8:00 a.m. The event will conclude at 12 p.m.
If you are interested in participating in this event as an exhibitor, please reply to this email and/or contact *** Lee at rjlee@seattleschools.org or at 206-252-0476.
Thank you for your continued interest in the success of SPS students! Should you wish more information about the STEM program please see attached document.
Sincerely,
Princess Shareef
Principal, Cleveland High School
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Hello Readers,
I am repurposing a blog post from Andrew Fry about the first Tacoma start up weekend for 2010 at the end of the month. A link to the full post is attached.
There is a group that is headquartered in Seattle called Startup Weekend. They put on "start up weekends" all around the world and are trying to schedule 50 out of 80 applicants for 2010. Read more about them here.
To get them here in Tacoma by January 29th, 30th and 31st would not be possible.
BUT WAIT!! THERE'S MORE
That doesn't mean we can't take the idea for a dry run. Hey, we organized a 72 film festival in 2006 that is going strong into its fourth year and getting better all the time. Maybe we can do the same for businesses.
For those of you who participated in the Tacoma barcamp, expect the same great networking and do it yourself type of organization.
In fact, it will be held in the same location, through the generous sponsorship of Suite133. Maybe a company or two that comes from the exercise will end up working out of the suite.
The general idea is to bring people of different strengths, ideas and ambitions together for three days, starting on Friday evening. At the end of the weekend, hopefully, companies will launch from the effort.
Paraphrasing how the Startup Weekend folks describe it.
Friday at 6:00PM
Everyone meets at the Suite133 offices and introductions are made. Within the hour people pitch ideas for products, businesses or expound on something they wish personally to pursue.
At 8 o'clock we will self sort into teams based on interests and skill sets with the intention of coming up with a product or company idea. By nine or ten o'clock we break off to groups and either carry on or go home to rest for the next day.
NEXT DAY: On Saturday we meet up by 9:00am and get working on development, prototyping, business plan development and by the afternoon, even some possible coding or web development. Break off and go to lunch at noon.
By six o'clock everyone meets up for a recap of what they are working on and how it is working out. Think refined pitches, but now with prototypes.
By eight, nine or ten: Break for drinks or off to bed.
On Sunday the projects are being developed and even some live web sites are possible. As the Startup folks say, this is "sink or swim time for a weekend launch".
At the end of the day, presentations are made from each company about what did and didn't work. Contact information is exchanged and agreements are made as to what will move the product or company forward.
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What else can be expected? Well, I will line up guests where I can. I am trying to arrange for an Angel Investor to come by and talk. Maybe I can get someone from the Tacoma Angel Network. I will see if one of the folks from Startup Weekend wants to visit and gives us some direction for a later event. I would like to see someone from the Amazon or Microsoft cloud computing initiative introduce their services. Maybe the William M Factory folks can introduce the facilities for their new Technology Incubator building. (they have already expressed interest but I would need to schedule it)
At the onset, I will introduce a Business Planning template I use in one of my classes and give a short presentation on how to build out a successful plan.
You don't have to be there for every moment of every day. You can come and go. But if you get passionate about an idea, expect that there won't be enough time in the weekend.
If you are interested, send me an email at droid116@gmail.com.
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Hello Readers,
The U.S. government spends trillions of dollars a year on a wide range of items from Social Security payments to defense to roads to social services and everything in between.
While wasteful spending is common and "pork" is derided annually by government watchdog groups, the reality is that Congressional "earmarks" (requests for appropriations) are a fact of life and will not be going away anytime soon. There is, however, a greater emphasis on transparency and justification for Congressional spending, which is good.
The fact is that in some instances getting federal funds for a project may be the only viable means for a community to get important things done. Or federal outlays might be the catalyst for promising research to become commercialized.
Every U.S. Senator and Congressman has a process for requesting funds from the federal government. Below I have cut and pasted a letter WTIA received from 9th District Congressman Adam Smith on how to apply for federal money. The actual application is attached. The 9th Congressional district covers South King County, a good portion of Pierce County (not the City of Tacoma) and northern Thurston County (not the City of Olympia). Congressman Smith has also been a good supporter of the technology industry.
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Dear Friend,
I wanted to share information with you regarding my office's process for handling programmatic and project requests for FY2011. While we will not know the precise timeline and process for the FY2011 appropriations season until the House Appropriations Committee has announced the details, my office is preparing to review appropriations requests assuming that Congress will follow the same basic process as in years past. As such, attached you will find an application form which should be carefully filled out in its entirety and submitted to my Washington, DC office no later than midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST) on March 1, 2010. Below are some guidelines for putting together a complete application.
o All submissions should be made electronically by e-mailing the completed form, and any letters of support or supplemental information, as attachments to wa09.appropriations@mail.house.gov.
o Please be sure to include the name of the requesting entity and the appropriations bill from which you are seeking funds in the subject line of your email.
o If you are requesting funding for multiple projects, each request should be submitted separately, in separate emails, to the above address.
o Please include any electronic copies of support letters for each project along with the submission of the completed application form. Letters of support from federal, state, or local government entities, or from non-government organizations and entities in the community help to demonstrate broader support for an initiative and greatly improve the viability of your request. Please note that some Appropriations Subcommittees require letters of support for projects that fall under their jurisdiction.
o Organizations/entities should provide project priority rank (ex. 2 of 3) based on the total number of projects requested of the office, in all appropriations bills.
o If you are requesting funds from either the Defense or Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill, please contact my office to request a copy of a separate questionnaire necessary for these specific bills.
o Please do all that you can to submit your application early so that any corrections can be made, if necessary.
Due to fiscal constraints, it is likely that there will be less money available for special projects in the FY2011 Appropriations bills than in previous years. For that reason, I highly recommend that your organization also consider applying for federal grants. The Catalog for Domestic Assistance, on the web at www.cfda.gov, is a complete listing of federal discretionary funding administered through the various Federal agencies. If you are a library or museum, please also visit www.imls.gov. My Grants Coordinator, Wendy Sonnemann, is also available to answer any questions in your search for federal grants and can provide you with a letter of support. Feel free to contact her at Wendy.Sonnemann@mail.house.gov or (253) 593-6600.
Thank you for your interest and for your work to improve the 9th District and Washington State as a whole. For your reference, I have provided a breakdown of the appropriations bills and which member of my staff is handling requests for each bill.
o Agriculture - Paul Hoover
o Commerce, Justice, and Science - Brian Garrett
o Defense - Brian Garrett
o Energy and Water - Kelsey Knowles
o Financial Services - Kelsey Knowles
o Homeland Security - Brian Garrett
o Interior and Environment - Paul Hoover
o Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
oLabor - Shawna Meechan
oHealth and Human Services - Shawna Meechan
oEducation - Kelsey Knowles
o Military Construction and Veterans Affairs - Brian Garrett
o State and Foreign Operations - Katy Quinn
o Transportation and Housing and Urban Development - Paul Hoover
Should you have any questions when filling out the form, please do not hesitate to contact my office at (202) 225-8901 and ask to speak to the appropriate staffer member. Again, please keep in mind the March 1, 2010 deadline.
Sincerely,
Adam Smith
Member of Congress
http://adamsmith.house.gov| YouTube | Twitter |E-Newsletter | RSS
If you'd like to receive occasional e-mail updates from my office, please visit my website to sign up - http://adamsmith.house.gov.
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Hello Readers,
Paul Kostek, a long time WTIA member and very involved with the local IEEE chapter, brought to my attention a legislative effort that IEEE is working on in Washington, D.C.
Here is a link to IEEE's website that explains their STEM initiative: http://www.ieeeusa.org/policy/careerflyin/default.asp
These are the kinds of programs that our schools need more of to train the next generation of engineers, scientists and technologists. Please take a look at the link and lend your support if at all possible.
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Happy 2010 Readers,
I wanted to point you to an interesting Newsweek article, http://www.newsweek.com/id/229210?from=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+newsweek%2FrBgp+%28Newsweek+Top+News%29&utm_content=Twitter that discusses how the prolonged recession is affecting business start ups and risk taking.
Since small businesses, especially high-tech ones, are the primary driver of job growth, it is necessary for lots of small businesses to start. Even though the failure rate is high for startups of all types, the new technologies, business processes and especially the hiring of new workers creates economic dynamism, which generates additional economic activity that generates new wealth and tax revenue for governments.
The article muses about this generation's appetite for risk-taking as people have lost jobs, homes and paper wealth of enormous amounts. Will 30 somethings still want to go out on their own if they are nervous about making the mortgage? Will aging workers with savings and a good idea still want to start their own business and leave the relative safe confines of a large corporation?
If America is to get its mojo back, we must not back away from starting new companies and trying new ideas. Government at all levels must be welcoming to entrepreneurs and not stifle them with unnecessary regulations or punitive taxes.
With the legislature starting January 11, WTIA will be in Olympia closely monitoring legislation that affects technology business owners. If proposals are introduced that would hurt the ability of entrepreneurs to start or maintain businesses, WTIA will be there to oppose those. WTIA will be pushing for improvements to K-12 education and to maintain funding for STEM degrees at the state's higher education instiutions.
You can read more about WTIA's advocacy here: http://www.washingtontechnology.org/pages/advocacy/advocacy_index.asp
Feel free to contact us at Lmcmurran@washingtontechnology.org to learn more or get involved.
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Hello Readers,
By law, the governor must submit a budget annually to the legislature. The state budget cycle goes from July 1, 2009 until June 30, 2011. Revenues are projected for this two year period and state agency budgets are made based on those forecasts.
When an economy turns recessionary, tax revenue is reduced as there is less economic activity to generate taxes. This has been the case during this biennium. An additional problem is that the tax revenue keeps coming in lower than the projections, which makes budgeting (and living within it) more difficult.
Gov. Gregoire proposed an "all cuts" budget last year to deal with an economy that was measurably worse than it is now. Even though there are signs of recovery, this has not yet shown up in hiring nor in tax receipts.
The current projection has the state spending $2.6 billion more than it will take in until June 2011. This put the governor in a position where she had to propose deeper cuts than last year to keep the state in balance. The state cannot have budget deficits, unlike the federal government. Here is the link to Gov. Gregoire's website announcing her budget: http://www.governor.wa.gov/news/news-view.asp?pressRelease=1391&newsType=1
The Office of Financial Management is the state agency tasked with handling the state's budget and finances, http://www.ofm.wa.gov/default.asp
The governor and some legislators have made noise that further cuts are "unacceptable" and that "new revenues" are needed. You can interpret this to mean that tax increases are on the table.
Attached is a document showing in detail the current budget for all state agencies and programs, the 2010 proposal and what the budget will be if passed. Numbers in parentheses are cuts to the current budget. "All Funds" indicates other non-general fund money that goes into those accounts, usually federal funds. The key number is "GF-State" or general fund-state dollars.
The two key areas that WTIA and our members take an interest in are K-12 and higher education. Because "basic education" is a constitutional requirement, there are fewer cuts to the K-12 budget. The governor proposes to slash an additional $159+ million there. Some of these cuts hit STEM related programs in the middle and high schools, as well as teacher recruitment for math and science; something that is badly needed.
Because higher education is not a "protected" part of the state budget, it gets nailed pretty hard to the tune of $349 million. There will be serious discussion of closing a university.
A big part of the problem was overspending when times were good. The state did not put away enough into savings and put into place too many programs, especially in health care, where future funding was unreliable or undedicated.
WTIA members highly value education and are willing to see the state spend more, but not without results. Same is true of higher education. However, it would not be prudent for the state to raise taxes or end useful tax credits without cutting programs, preferably those outside education, first. Plus, we need to see that the K-12 system is moving forward, particulary in STEM related areas, before new money is spent.
Most states are facing this same problem and most got there in the same way. What we do not want is to become like California, where public employee special interest groups hold too much sway over elected officials, stopping good government reforms from occurring and helping to prevent future budget problems.
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Hello Readers,
As Christmas, holidays and the new year approach, many of you (okay, maybe just the accountants) are thinking about taxes. The state legislature passed three new tax laws in 2009 that went into effect over the summer but I wanted to remind you of them once more before 2010 arrives.
The first one is a new tax law that has been discussed extensively in this blog and that is the taxation of digital products. This requires sellers of certain digital goods, digital automated services and remote access software to collect and remit sales tax from their Washington state customers for taxable sales of digital products.
http://dor.wa.gov/Content/GetAFormOrPublication/PublicationBySubject/TaxTopics/DigitalProducts.aspx This link takes you to the Dept. of Revenue web page on the taxation of digital products with related links to Q&A, forms you may need and Excise Tax Advisories. There will be legislation introduced in the 2010 legislative session to clarify some of the gray areas in this new law.
Somewhat related to the digital products tax is the new law on seller's permits. If you are a buyer of digital products, you may be exempt from paying sales tax. In order to avoid paying sales tax that is not due, you will need a seller's permit. That form, which can be obtained from the Dept. of Revenue, is also attached with explanations about who and what is exempt.
If you are exempt but do not have a seller's permit, you will be liable for paying sales tax.
The last law that some of you may already be complying with is the mandatory "e-file" and "e-pay" programs of Dept. of Revenue. http://www.dor.wa.gov/Content/GetAFormOrPublication/PublicationBySubject/TaxTopics/MandatoryE-file.aspx This link takes you to the DOR page that explains more about mandatory e-filing and e-paying of taxes.
If you have any questions or concerns about any of these new tax laws, please contact WTIA at Lmcmurran@washingtontechnology.org or by phone at (206) 448-3033 x101. WTIA advocates and lobbies on your behalf in Olympia and with elected officials at every level. Let us know if there is something on your mind related to government.
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Hello Readers, today I am repurposing an e-mail from Mark Knittel, a Board Member of TAG, WTIA's Bellingham area partner. He is looking for support for the FIRST robotics program at Sehome HS in Bellingham.
FIRST is an excellent program for which WTIA has supported state funding. The following information gives a history of FIRST, what the program does, how to get involved, links to additional information and contact information. There may be a FIRST program at a high school near you. Find out and get involved. Thank you.
Greetings TAG members and followers:
For any of you that were at the November monthly TAG NW meeting, you’ll recall the inspiring presentation at the start of the meeting by Kevin Criez – a teacher at Sehome High School who introduced everyone to the FIRST Robotics national competition that Sehome High School is hoping to participate in this year. As a local business owner & TAG NW Board member, I sincerely believe the FIRST program is a great way to stimulate our younger students to pursue careers in science and technology related fields, and to prepare the future pool of talent that we will need to make Whatcom County an attractive location for technology companies at the same time. I’m sending you this email on behalf of the Technology Alliance Group for NW WA (TAG) Board because the FIRST program at Sehome High needs our support this year in two areas:
- Financial: Registration, materials, and travel expenses are expected to total around $13k. Kevin and the students have already managed to secure approximately half of the requirement from local business donors like BP, Murdock Trust, etc., but they still need help with the remainder. It’s not a lot, but it’s money that is not available in the school district budget, so if you or your business can find a way to help and would like to become a sponsor, please send a check directly to Kevin Criez at the address below, or call/email either Kevin or myself (contact info below) and we’ll make other arrangements.
- Advisors: One of the great features of the FIRST process is that student teams are allowed (and even encouraged) to get consultative assistance from local volunteers of any age or profession (just to be clear – the kids still have to actually build the robot on their own). This is a great way to build a relationship between the students and members of the local business/research/education communities that kids will hopefully see as role models for future careers. If you have skills in electronics, programming, mechanical engineering, CAD, project management, etc., please consider volunteering some time to meet with the students and participate in their exciting project for 2010!
Since it's inception just over 20 years ago, the nationwide FIRST program has grown to include nearly 200,000 students from over 1800 schools. As you might imagine, the Seattle/Everett area already has a large number of teams, partly due to the influence of larger firms such as Boeing, Microsoft, etc. As a TAG NW Board member responsible for ‘workforce development’ my vision is to foster the development of a large tech-ready workforce in Whatcom County, partly through the establishment of a local FIRST Robotics program that reaches all school districts and age groups, and rivals the relative scope and reach of the Seattle program. The Sehome High 2010 team is a great place to start that process; a similar program is just getting underway at Squalicum High, with more to follow if the funding and community support materialize.
If you’d like more information, you’ll find a short overview of the national FIRST organization and a web site link below. Otherwise, on behalf of myself and the rest of the TAG Board, I’d like to ask that you consider supporting the FIRST Robotics program this year at Sehome High. As the team progresses towards the actual competition we will be sending out periodic updates to the TAG membership, and will recognize all sponsors and consultants in those updates.If you have any other suggestions on how to support the team, or any other general ideas on how we can move forward in the area of workforce development, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would love to meet with you to discuss it.
Thank you for your generosity, and Happy Holidays!
Mark Knittel & the TAG Board
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FIRST Overview
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 in order to develop ways to inspire students to pursue careers in engineering and technology fields. Every year over 1,800 high school teams of 45,000+ students from the U.S. and many other countries compete to build 100 to 120 pound robots that can complete a task that changes every year. Teams are given a standard set of parts and the game details at the beginning of January and have just six weeks to construct a competitive robot that can operate autonomously and be guided by wireless controls to accomplish the game's tasks. In addition to the high school competition an additional 150,000 students are expected to participate this year in FIRST leagues in elementary and middle school, laying the groundwork for future high school FIRST competitors.
The vision for FIRST as articulated by Dean Kamen is: "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes." A recent study by Brandeis University of FIRST program graduates across the country clearly demonstrates the benefits – students that participate in FIRST are significantly more successful and involved in the community. Compared to a similar reference group, the FIRST students were:
· More than 3 times as likely to major specifically in engineering.
· Roughly 10 times as likely to have had an apprenticeship, internship, or co-op job in their freshman year of college.
· Significantly more likely to expect to achieve a post graduate degree.
· More than twice as likely to expect to pursue a career in science and technology.
· Nearly 4 times as likely to expect to pursue a career specifically in engineering.
· More than twice as likely to volunteer in their communities.
The experience at Sehome High School over the previous two years has shown similar results, and the interest there continues to grow rapidly. This is an effort that Kevin Criez has personally taken on himself, and it’s an inspiring story: Kevin is a shop teacher at Sehome High School that has taught himself to teach Applied Physics and Mechanical Engineering as preparation classes for students wishing to participate in the program. He’s gone a long way with only a little support so far – now we need to step up to help move the program to the next level!
Links:
- General FIRST information: http://www.usfirst.org/default.aspx
- Brochure: http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/WhatisFIRST_Brochure.pdf
- First at a Glance: http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/content.aspx?id=160
Contacts: Kevin Criez
Sehome High School
2700 Bill McDonald Parkway
Bellingham, WA 98225
kcriez@bham.wednet.edu
Mark Knittel
Owner, Data Doctors Computer Services
Bellingham, Washington 98225
360-389-2280 (Mobile)
360-527-8679 (Business)
mark.knittel@datadoctors-bellingham
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Hello Readers,
My friend Bart Preecs took issue with some of my comments in my Nov. 2 post on the elections and to beware of those that campaign on jobs, even though the vast majority of politicians have never created one. Below are Bart's comments that he offered me and I wanted to post them here.
"Government research and support has been a major contributor to all kinds of technology, from the Internet in recent times, to the transistor and semiconductor in the last century, all the way back to the telegraph and telephone industries in our country’s first hundred years.
This is true and the question of how government at all levels can best support economic development does deserve serious consideration. One obvious answer is that basic research is vitally important to our future prosperity and the WTIA has always strongly advocated for funding for the kinds of basic research that will fuel (pun intended) jobs and business in the years ahead.
Another critical support is the creation of public goods, like roads, bridges, and airports that would simply be impossible to build or maintain by private, for-profit companies. If every airline had to build its own airport, it’s doubtful that we’d have more than one airline in the country, and Boeing would be a much smaller company.
There’s a legitimate debate over whether broadband communications networks falls into that category as well, and WTIA members have the expertise and experience to promote a healthy debate about what steps governments at federal, state, and even local levels might need to play for our region and our nation to be competitive in a globalized, hyper-connected world. (Lew, if you want to refer to an interesting study of how the U.S. stacks up in broadband, you could link to http://www.fcc.gov/stage/pdf/Berkman_Center_Broadband_Study_13Oct09.pdf )
As we continue to seek ways to recover from the recent financial turmoil, and build a prosperous, sustainable future for our country and for the rest of our six billion neighbors, the proper roles of government action and private sector investment must always be a balancing act, one that we’ll continually need to revisit.”
Thanks Bart for putting this into perspective. BTW, Bart is currently looking for new opportunities. He is an excellent communicator and a great guy. You can reach him at bpreecs@gmail.com
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Hello Readers,
WTIA has long been supportive of efforts and public policies that promote teleworking and telecommuting. This is an arrangement between employers and employees that allows workers to work from home. While telework is clearly growing it is not being used to its fullest potential as a way to save time, money and energy by getting workers off the roads and allowing for flexibility to manage their duties.
The main resistance comes from employers who are fearful that employees will not do their jobs and that some employees may resent the ones that "get" to telework. It is more a lack of vision and planning that prevents more employees to work from home. Today, the technology exists to easily manage teleworkers. Granted, it is not appropriate for everyone but there are a substantial number of employees of all types that could work from home a couple days a week or more if employers were willing to figure out how to do it right. Just think of the reduced gas emissions if 10-20% of the commute trips were reduced. Transportation (cars, trucks, buses) produces about half of the state's greenhouse gas emissions.
The state of Washington promotes teleworking through its Commute Trip Reduction program, http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/TDM/CTR/default.htm WSDOT has funds available for employers who want to set up teleworking programs for their employees.
Kitsap County received $150,000 in the last budget cycle to promote teleworking. Here is a link to the Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council that administered the program: http://www.kitsapregionalcouncil.org/telework.html They developed a "Telework Toolkit" that you can find on that page. Poulsbo City Councilman Ed Stern has been a strong proponent of teleworking.
Sanjay Kumar, the CEO of vCustomer, has a compelling vision for teleworking not just for reducing commute trips in highly congested metro areas but also as a way to promote employment in rural areas for workers who have limited opportunities but are able to provide online or phone customer service, loan processing and other types of work that can be done remotely. A slide deck is attached that discusses his views of where teleworking can go. The technology exists to manage teleworkers; what is required is the will to do it.
WTIA encourages its members and the technology industry to adopt telecommuting/teleworking to a greater extent whereever possible. It is good business and good for the environment.
If your company is interested in setting up a telework program, please contact us at Lmcmurran@washingtontechnology.org or the WSDOT's Commute Trip Reduction program.
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Hello Readers,
Yesterday I spoke at the Rural Economic Development Summit at Cave B Inn and Winery in Quincy, WA. It is a beautiful spot just a couple miles from the Gorge Amphitheater. Despite the temperatures in the single digits, the scenery and stars were pretty amazing.
Speakers included state Dept. of Commerce Director Rogers Weed, Economic Development Commission Director Egils Milbergs, State Representative Judy Warnick, Quincy Mayor Jim Hemberry, and others.
The slides I presented are attached.
Quincy has become “data center central” the last couple of years. It, along with Wenatchee, 30 miles to the northwest are home to data centers owned by Microsoft, Yahoo, Intuit and VMWare. These data centers have been an economic boon to these communities that have been primarily dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods.
The construction phase of the data centers creates enormous economic activity as workers eat at the local restaurants and coffee shops, the hardware stores sell tools and other implements, the motels fill up rooms, etc. These activities, particularly the construction, generate millions of dollars in state and local sales taxes.
Once the data center is built, it is populated by skilled IT workers who make salaries above the state average, generating ongoing sales tax revenue and the data center itself generates property and B&O tax that did not exist before. For a small town like Quincy, this has allowed them to pave streets, improve law enforcement, clean up parks and fund the library. Plus, because of the way property taxes are calculated, the data centers have pushed the property tax rate DOWN by 25% in the last 3 years. One issue that the community is working on is how to reuse water to cool the facilities. But, all in all, data centers have brought prosperity to Central Washington.
However, several data center operators have looked at Washington and decided to go to another state, most often Oregon. Facebook is the latest company to bypass Washington after first looking here. Washington has lost Amazon and Google to Oregon and Oracle to Utah. Yahoo decided to expand in Buffalo, New York—not exactly known for being a pro-business state but calls from US Senator Charles Schumer and Gov. David Patterson helped seal the deal.
Other states are offering substantial financial incentives along with good “customer service”—essentially rolling out a community welcome wagon to show that these states want this kind of critical infrastructure.
While the inexpensive and reliable hydropower along with available fiber optic bandwidth make Washington attractive, we have virtually no financial incentives of any kind to compete with other states. That combined with a seemingly ambivalent attitude from the governor’s office makes one wonder if we aren’t even in the game.
We should certainly not be “giving away the farm” to companies simply because they are looking. But we should be putting our best foot forward to show data center operators, most of which are technology firms, that we are serious about wanting their business.
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