Ed Lazowska’s assessment of education in Washington State.

“Unfortunately for the state, the University of Washington Seattle is one of the few bright spots amidst an otherwise struggling education system with regard to producing tech talent. While Washington ranks fourth in the nation for tech-related companies, the state comes in a disappointing 46th for participation in science and engineering graduate programs.”

But this goes way beyond science and engineering: “Washington has “pipeline issues” from secondary to postsecondary education. One-third of the kids in Washington who are eligible forHead Start or other Pre-K programs are denied access because the state doesn’t provide adequate funding. Among tech states, Washington has the highest dropout rate from 9th-grade to college. And depending on what you count, Lazowska said, the state ranks somewhere between 35th and 49th in the country in bachelors education participation rate per capita.” Here is a visualI wrote about this back in 2005, but Governor Gregoir at the time had no interest in addressing the issue.