COEUR d'ALENE - Education is the foundation upon which an economy rests, and when one is strong, the other will be also.

This concept was demonstrated Friday by Idaho Business for Education (IBE) President and CEO Rod Gramer during the Coeur d'Alene Rotary Club's weekly meeting at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"As a community, and especially those of us in the business community, we must connect the dots between a strong education system and a strong economy," said Gramer, of Boise. "We must help our friends, our employees, our neighbors, our customers, and especially our policy-makers in the Legislature, we need to help all these folks understand the connection between a strong education system and a strong economy and a higher quality of life for all Idahoans."

While Gramer pointed out some positive highlights regarding education in Idaho, he said it was important to examine educational concerns and challenges because "that encourages us to stay the course and maintain the momentum that we're building in education so that we can help create a world-class education system here in Idaho."

He presented several statistics, including information detailing an education gap that will arise by the year 2018 when 60 percent of all jobs will require some level of post-secondary education. He explained that this is problematic because only about 40 percent of Idahoans will have the credentials necessary for those jobs.

"It's IBE's mission in life to narrow this gap," he said, adding that three things may happen to the economy if the gap is not closed - existing businesses won't be able to grow, attracting new businesses will be difficult and businesses will leave the state.

"We're already seeing that here in Idaho," Gramer said, sharing an example of a Boise company sold to Microsoft with an understanding to stay in Idaho for two years.

"About two years and 30 seconds later, Microsoft moved all those jobs to Seattle," he said.

Gramer discussed how about 50 percent of Idaho's kids aren't prepared for kindergarten, which means they'll be catching up through elementary school and beyond. And if they aren't proficient in reading by fourth grade, learning will be even harder as they progress in their schooling.

"You can see that these are very daunting statistics," he said, adding that the stats are even worse for disadvantaged and Latino children, "and they are the fastest-growing population in the Idaho public school system."

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. As the workforce modernizes and steps are taken to support students from kindergarten through college, Gramer said. He believes Idaho has the momentum to propel Idaho from being a state that ranks low in several educational aspects to one that exudes success. He said several education bills regarding teacher standards and salaries, community college coaches and STEM efforts are helping with Idaho's progress.

"We must remain focused on improving the education system, seeing education as an investment in our future and not an expense," Gramer said. "We can set our kids up for success in school and life."

Coeur d'Alene School District Superintendent Matt Handelman said he also sees the correlation between education and economic health.

"That's an important thing," he said. "Generally, our district does better than the state, but we also know that we have plenty of room for improvement."

Info: www.idahobe.org