Governor Perdue Stresses Importance of Economic Development and Education

SAVANNAH, Ga., September 21, 2006 – In a speech to the Georgia Economic Developers Association today at the Savannah Riverfront Marriot, Governor Sonny Perdue discussed the important link between economic development and education. He also announced that Georgia's high school graduation rate has surpassed 70 percent for the first time in state history.
The state's official graduation rate was 70.8 percent after summer school graduates were counted, according to the Governor's Office of Student Achievement and Georgia Department of Education. This year's percentage is Georgia's official rate under the No Child Left Behind Act.

In 2003 Governor Perdue inherited an economy in recession and a revenue shortfall of $640 million. Today the deficit has turned into a $580 million surplus and approximately 230,000 jobs for Georgians have been created during the last four years. Since 2003 the Georgia Department of Economic Development has announced almost 700 projects, creating more than 55,000 jobs and $10.6 billion in new investment.

Complete text of the Governor's prepared remarks is provided below.

Prepared Remarks of Governor Sonny Perdue
(Note: The Governor sometimes deviates from prepared remarks)
Georgia Economic Developers Association
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Savannah, Georgia

My friend had an experience recently that made me think about what it means to remain competitive.

He owns a small hardware store in Middle Georgia, and he called me up one day sounding pretty frustrated. A brand new store was about to open up next door to him. They put up a big sign that said, 'BEST DEALS,' and this new place sold the same things as my friend.

A month or two went by and business slowed a little bit, but he worked hard and kept most of his customers.

Then one day he called me up again. It seemed another competitor had opened up on the other side of his store, and they put up a sign that said, 'LOWEST PRICES.'
He was worried now, because in a small town there's not room for three hardware stores. He asked me for some advice.

I said, 'So let me get this straight. You've got a store on one side of you with a big sign that says 'BEST DEALS' and another store on the other side with a sign that says 'LOWEST PRICES.' And you all three sell the same product.'

He said, 'That's it. I don't know what to do, other than start looking for another job.' But I said, 'No – I know exactly what you need to do. You go out there tomorrow morning and put up an even bigger sign over your store that says 'MAIN ENTRANCE.'

I want to put that 'MAIN ENTRANCE' sign over Georgia. Here between South Carolina, Alabama, Florida – we are the main entrance to the growing South.

We've been working to make this known over the last four years, creating common-sense policies to turn Georgia into a business-friendly environment.

And I'll tell you what – folks are starting to take notice. Renowned economist Arthur Laffer has put Georgia at the top of his annual state rankings for economic outlook. Site Selection Magazine has recognized our progress by moving Georgia from 7th place in 2003 to 3rd in 2005 in its annual state business climate rankings.

Not to mention the endorsement that matters most – a record-breaking number of businesses locating and expanding in Georgia last fiscal year. I'll talk more about that later.

Now how did we accomplish all that?

We committed ourselves to a strategic approach to economic development.

We've moved beyond outdated methods of the past. Instead, we're capitalizing on the strengths of rural communities, fostering small business growth and facilitating innovation across all of Georgia.

We are targeting our efforts on 'Strategic Industries' – those 12 industry clusters, like healthcare, aerospace, agribusiness and energy that promise the highest growth and highest paying jobs. For the first time ever, we are connecting the dots between research, academics and the private sector by establishing Centers of Innovation to foster growth in these industries.

And we're working hard in Atlanta to make sure Georgia remains a great place to do business. Many of you have said that 2005 was the best legislative session ever for Georgia business. Folks, that is a badge of honor I wear with pride.

Tort reform…single-factor corporate tax…existing industry job tax credit…the small business tax break. These are policies we put in place for the express purpose of growing Georgia's economy by taking the shackles off our businesses and allowing them to create new jobs.

We've got a good playbook, a good offensive scheme…we even have a couple of trick plays in there. But you know what – it doesn't matter what's on paper unless you can execute on the field and put points on the board.

That's why, at the end of the day, we all look at the scoreboard to gauge our progress, to see how we've done. And this is more like football and less like diving – there are no points for form. It's all about getting the ball across the goal line.

So let's look at the past four years.

Well for starters, we transformed a $640 million deficit into a $580 million surplus.

Since 2003, the Department of Economic Development has announced almost 700 projects. These projects alone created well over 55,000 jobs and more than $10.6 billion in new investment.

Almost 2,900 prospects expressed an interest in coming to Georgia, and we converted 23 percent of those into job-creating projects. With the internationally competitive environment we work in, that's an extraordinary ratio.

But it gets even better. Of those nearly 2,900 prospects we have had contact with over the last few years, almost 950 of those came to Georgia just in the past year. The word is out – Georgia is a great place to do business.

Last fiscal year, we announced economic development projects that will create over 24,000 jobs and bring more than $5.6 billion in new investment to Georgia. These are record numbers for our state.

When you add the 55,000 jobs created with the help of GDEcD to the jobs created by our flourishing economy alone, you get a number that we can all be proud of – almost 230,000 jobs since 2003.

Now, GDEcD only tracks new projects and jobs that required state assistance. This assistance may have come in the form of workforce training, grant awards, site selection and a number of others. In FY06, GDEcD announced 254 new projects. Of those, 159 were located outside the 10 county metro Atlanta area.

That's over 62 percent of new projects in other parts of the state. These projects will bring in more than 18,000 jobs and $3.6 billion in investment.

Even more exciting is the fact that over 54 percent of the 254 projects from last year were located in rural Georgia, outside the metro areas of Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah. Folks, that's almost 14,000 new jobs and $2.9 billion in investment for our rural areas.

Think about those numbers and the impact they will have on growing Georgia as a whole. I want to thank all of you here today for the significant role you've played in creating Georgia's current economic environment. You are the ones out there on the ground dedicating your time and talents to growing your communities.

But what we've accomplished so far is really only the beginning. Our new Work Ready initiative is designed to improve on these positive trends.

When folks earn the Work Ready certification, they enhance their employability by demonstrating a clear skill and knowledge level. It also tells employers that you are willing to learn, and willing to work.

The second part of the program initiative is the Georgia Work Ready Community designation. The community certification indicates a high level of commitment to a competitive workforce.

The competitiveness of our workforce is extremely important. Today, the limiting factor is human capital. No variable matters more when a company is choosing where to locate than the availability of a motivated, well-trained and highly-skilled workforce.

Education is where this starts. The success of the Work Ready Initiative and other projects hinges on the desire of local communities to renew a culture of support for education and lifelong learning.

Part of becoming the main entrance to the South is educating our children so they can grow into the inventors and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

And with that in mind, I have an exciting education announcement to share with you today.

Our graduation rate has reached an all time high in Georgia – up to just over 70 percent. That's a seven and a half point increase over the graduation rate from 2003 when I took office.

Folks, this is great news – but not because 70 percent is the number we're shooting for. Make no mistake, 70 percent is still not good enough for a state with as much promise and potential as Georgia.

But what we are happy about is the progress we've made. We've seen an improvement in the graduation rate each year since I've taken office, and that's a positive trend for Georgia – one that I plan on maintaining.

This news about the graduation rate comes on the heels of our recent announcement about Georgia's SAT rankings. This year we jumped four spots from last place to 46th in the national rankings. Like this year's graduation rate, this is the highest SAT ranking Georgia has ever had.

Again, I have to stress that 46 is not where we want to be – but it is a marked improvement from where we were. And that's how we measure success…year-to-year improvements and steady growth.

Now I've said from the beginning – education, education, education. That's my top priority. We've invested over $1 billion in the things that matter – recruiting high-performance principals, lowering class sizes, building more classrooms and keeping our teachers the highest paid in the Southeast so we can continue to attract the best talent.

We've focused spending in the classroom – the hub of learning. And we've put 336 graduation coaches in Georgia high schools to give high schoolers an extra edge in the push to finish school, to earn that diploma.

We did all this because education and growing our economy are inexorably connected. We must work as partners to find innovative ways to strengthen education so we can continue our successes in economic development.

How well we do this will determine how well we do everything else in the future. I want all Georgians to have every opportunity possible for success. And I know you share that vision.

Together, we'll hang that 'MAIN ENTRANCE' sign over every community in Georgia.