Beebe to convene education-economic development summit

LITTLE ROCK Gov. Mike Beebe's first summit on education and economic development will coincide with the 80th annual conference of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce - Associated Industries of Arkansas.

The chamber on Friday rescheduled its meeting to Oct. 15, the day before Beebe's event "Arkansas Works 2008: The Governor's Summit on Education and Economic Development."

Many of the same people planned to attend both events, prompting officials to reschedule, Beebe spokesman Grant Tennille said.

Business, education and policy leaders from all 75 counties will gather to develop a vision for every community and the leadership to implement the vision, according to chamber President Paul Harvel.

So far, many business and community leaders have gotten Beebe's message that education and economic development are inextricably linked only on a broad level, Tennille said.

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"When anybody says that now, everybody nods their heads," Tennille said. "This an effort to say, 'And here's what that really means. Here's what you as a community need to be focused on to begin to prepare your workforce to compete for the jobs of the 21st century."

Organizers hope to start a dialogue between local leaders, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, the state Department of Higher Education, the Department of Education, and the business community on ways to improve high school graduation rates, college-going rates and college retention.

College scholarship programs, similar to Murphy Oil Corp.'s El Dorado Promise, a program that provides graduates of El Dorado High School with tuition scholarships in amounts based on their time in the school district, mentoring programs and other initiatives will be topics of discussion, Tennille said.

"We want to talk to people about the fact that education will be driven by the work force," he said.

Murphy Oil CEO Claiborne Deming, ASU President Les Wyatt and state Sen.-elect Joyce Elliott will serve as co-chairs for the conference.