Maine has set forth an ambitious policy agenda emphasizing workforce and human capital development. Underlying many state initiatives is a widely shared recognition of the urgency in more effectively preparing our citizens for success in life and work in a more demanding future. As long-term observers, advocates, and analysts of policies, and investments in Maine people, we applaud this renewed emphasis.

But as we pursue the pathway to achieving this preparation, the challenges before us — climate change, accelerated technology impacts, educational uncertainties from months of unreliable learning, rising inequality, and political upheaval — must remain at the forefront of our considerations and actions. They will also demand bolder responses than what we have heretofore been able to muster.

The governor and state officials have placed the highest priority on workforce development, issuing numerous reports with suggestions and plans for implementation. In November 2019, for example, the Maine Economic Development Strategy 2020-2029:  A Focus on Talent and Innovation report advanced strategies to propel Maine into the 21^st century economy via talent development and talent attraction.

Building on this, Gov. Mills appointed an Economic Recovery Committee in May 2020 to develop specific recommendations “to stabilize the economy and build a bridge to future prosperity.” Among them were accessible and affordable education and training options for working adults; investments in higher education programs and increased degree attainment; preparation of workers for new and challenging job opportunities; expansion of internship opportunities; restoration of immigrant rights to access public benefits and workforce development; and the building-up of a skilled early childhood education workforce to prepare children for lifelong academic and career success.

The one key ingredient missing: student proficiency. Without it, the aspirations of these and other reports are likely to fail. Sadly, a bare majority of fourth- and eighth-grade students perform at or above state proficiency expectations in reading while only 35% to 40% are at or above proficiency expectations in math. By the time Maine students reach the 11^th grade, there appears no marked improvement in these results. Absent higher levels of proficiency in these foundational skills for more students, we risk achieving meaningful progress towards preparing all of our citizens to become skilled workers, empowered citizens and informed navigators in a complex world.

For the state’s agenda to take us in to the future it must critically examine the low performance and achievement rates of Maine youth, as it is they who will make up the citizenry and workforce of tomorrow. Preparing people to choose and live a life of value, develop agency, embrace freedom, and undo structures of inequality built over generations cannot be absent from the discourse before us.

To harness the population’s potential, encourage a deeper sense of community, and erase a centuries-long system of inequality, MIT President L. Rafael Reif and Lumina CEO Jamie Meritosis call for building a future for work that harvests the dividends of rapidly advancing automation and ever-more powerful computers to deliver opportunity and economic security for workers.

The challenge, they portend, is to prepare individuals to work alongside smart machines doing that which only humans can: thinking critically, reasoning ethically, interacting inter-personally, and serving others with empathy. Rising productivity, shared prosperity and education remain inextricable.

Together they, and leaders throughout public, private, and non-profit sectors know that education and workforce development stand as the primary pillars for human capital formation and economic advancement. Yet neither on its own is enough to effectively prepare people for life and work in a complex, rapidly changing world and ensure human flourishing.

“Education, training in cognitive and non-cognitive skills, nutrition, health care and parenting are” writes New York Times columnist Thomas Edsall,  “all among the building blocks of human capital, and evidence suggests that continuing investments that combat economic hardship among whites and minorities — and which help defuse debilitating conflicts over values, culture and race — stand the best chance of reversing the disarray and inequality that plague our political system and our social order.”

Each year, governments make budget and policy choices whose long-term effects give shape to the social, environmental and economic conditions under which we live.  As we confront a rapidly evolving set of complex economic, social and environmental challenges, a more highly educated citizenry, able to digest data and make informed choices, will be a necessity.  Sharp political divisions, ideological struggles and loss of social cohesion will also demand more effective decision-making and consensus-building from our political leaders if we hope to reverse a course not now destined to bring the sustainability necessary to thrive.

In Maine, high-performing education and training systems will continue to be fundamental to growth and prosperity. By simply returning to old patterns, long overdue for change, we forego the opportunity we now have at hand for achieving generational progress. Absent a citizenry educated to perform within the complexities of these times, our civic, social, and economic institutions cannot thrive. The task before the Mills administration and the Legislature is not only to allocate but to hold these investments accountable.

Luisa S. Deprez is Professor Emerita of Sociology and the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. John Dorrer, a labor market economist, is the former director of the Center for Workforce Research and Information, Maine Department of Labor. They are members of the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications. Members’ columns appear in the KJ monthly.

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