As the School Board struggles to close down surplus schools,
we as a community need to discuss how we can attract employers who will employ
people between the ages of 30 to 50 who have families and are most likely to replenish
our sagging school age numbers. Using .7 as the average number of
children per family and to strive for a school population of 500 per grade
level or 6500 we need about 2800 jobs (150 short per grade) to fill the
buildings. I am open to any correction of the numbers since I am relying
on memory and that is getting harder to do.
How can we as a community focus on understanding the
importance on getting jobs for people in Winona? How can we
get our local elected officials at all levels to understand their and our collective
interest in striving to attract employers to expand, relocate or start in Winona? What
type of work would it be; faced with increased global competition in almost
every facet of our economy? What kind of incentives are we willing to
provide knowing what others in the U.S. and world are
offering and to avoid, in the future, the pain caused when the numbers fall,
the jobs leave and cuts are repeated?
Should we consider what many countries did after WWII and
offer baby bonuses to encourage more adoption, more births if each child is
worth $6,500 per year to the school system what are we willing to spend to
attract those families? (Again correct my numbers)
How may main line churches are looking for that same age
group 30 - 50 and their children as they realize the void in their programs and
attendance?
Are we content to be the Sun City of the Midwest? I don’t
think so….
So how do we get the ball rolling to aggressively go after
the jobs, the family age workers, as it is always more fun to have growing
pains than trying to figure who will be the last one to turn out the light?
Paul Double
