Michael Bernick, Director, Employment Development Department, State of California

Dean Florez, State Assemblyman, Chairman of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee, Central Valley

William Frey, Senior Fellow, Milken Institute

Arianna Huffington, Syndicated Columnist and Author

James Rosser, President, California State University, Los Angeles; Chairman, California Council on Science and Technology

Moderator:

Bill Rosendahl, Vice President, Political Affairs, Adelphia Communications

Summary:

William Frey uses the term "barbell" economy to describe a situation wherein the very rich and very poor are clustered at the ends of the socio-economic spectrum, with an ever-diminishing middle class in between these extremes. His statistics showed that the gap between the "haves" and "have-nots" begins with education: Hispanics and African-Americans have high school dropout rates, while Caucasians and Asians tend more to graduate college. This phenomenon cuts across California′s geographic regions, and is also reflected in the rates of child poverty among those ethnic groups.

Dean Florez reinforced Frey′s findings and emphasized that political interests are keeping the state′s attention focused on urban areas rather than his constituency, the San Joaquin Valley. He called for more vocational education, high-speed rail and moving food processing industries closer to the agricultural growing areas in Central California.

Michael Bernick asserted that wage mobility in California is high, and "new middle class" jobs related to the technology industry are being created. He touted the state′s Career Ladders program as an initiative to increase the wage mobility of low-wage workers in many different sectors and industries. He rejected criticism that the political system is apathetic, claiming that his office is working with organized labor to upgrade job structure and looking for "what works."

James Rosser outlined the Critical Path, a state program to focus efforts on science and technology-oriented education, an area in which the United States lags behind other industrialized countries. He lamented the fact that most elementary school teachers in California are not qualified, and thus the schools are turning out too many students who are not prepared for higher education. He also drew a parallel with the global war on terrorism. "There is terrorism in every school in Los Angeles," he charged. "If we want to fight terrorism, let′s start in our schools."

Arianna Huffington remarked that clearly there is a lack of political will to grapple with the problems of education and poverty. She blamed entrenched lobbyist interests for blocking the necessary reordering of priorities.