Nolan Finley

Engler: Mich. should swing for the fences

If you buy the Democratic libel that a rapacious John Engler laid waste to Michigan, you probably should stop reading right here. The rest of this column is only going to make you cranky, and who needs that on a rainy summer day?

I'm a big Engler fan and have thought often during the past six-and-a-half years that Michigan wouldn't be drifting through this crisis if it still had a governor with his my-way-or-the-highway style of leadership.

I talked with the former governor when he returned to Detroit recently, not to critique the performance of the state since he left -- he won't do that -- but to get his ideas for what we should do next.

His response: Michigan needs a big play -- one headline grabber to scream real change.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm wanted to make that Hail Mary pass by doubling the college graduation rate. She got off to a good start, increasing the merit scholarship grants and imposing a rigorous high school curriculum to better prepare students for college. But the effort stalled.

Engler advocates picking one thing and sacrificing everywhere else to come up with the resources to make it happen.

He suggests committing to a zero high school dropout rate. Every child gets a diploma, no matter what it takes.

That's a goal with multilayered benefits. A more highly skilled work force would serve as a magnet for jobs and investment. And erasing the dropout rate would sharply curb the two most voracious consumers of budget dollars -- Corrections and welfare.

Most of the inmates in state prisons and the bulk of the welfare caseload are dropouts.

Michigan's statewide dropout rate approaches 20 percent, about equal to its current poverty rate. To compete for the high-tech, clean energy jobs the Granholm administration sees as the keystone of an economic recovery, the state needs smarter workers and fewer dependents draining resources away from classrooms.

Zero dropouts would make the outside world take notice of our commitment to change.

So would scrapping the business tax, something Engler tried to do.

Michigan's business tax is a mess. An attempt to fix it two years ago simply made it more costly for many businesses and equally confusing. There's nothing about Michigan's tax climate that sets it apart from the pack. Except its generous incentive for movie makers.

That 40 percent tax subsidy has Hollywood jetting to Michigan to film movies, and studios are going up. That ought to tell us something about taxes.

Make the sacrifices needed to scrap the business tax, and watch the job creators rush in. Or it could be something else.

Engler's point is that Michigan can't hope to reverse its negative perception among those seeking places to invest their money by making incremental improvements.

It needs a bold stroke. Something that gets the investment world talking about Michigan as something other than a place to avoid.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV.