Editorials: Bon voyage, grads

We teach them how to read and write, and what do they do but shake the husks from their pant cuffs and catch the first ride out of Iowa. So it appears from a recent Des Moines Register review of an Iowa Workforce Development study of Iowa collegians: Just 41% intend to remain in the state following graduation.

Those most likely to leave have highly valued degrees in science, engineering and business. The trend has been getting worse through the years as state appropriations declined, tuitions rose and debt loads ballooned. The reasons for the exodus are familiar: The grass is in fact greener elsewhere. The jobs and the money are in the cities, increasingly so. In Newton, it was just announced that the hospital no longer will deliver babies because they don’t have the doctors. The hospital in Keokuk was closed last fall. It is not an incentive for young people hoping to start families.

Young folks told The Register that politics plays a role in making them want to leave. Women eye the abortion ban. Gays feel hostility. Schools ban books by the thousands. Why hang around for that? Plus, you get paid less — the annual salary expected by students who plan to leave Iowa is $62,000, while those who plan to remain expect a salary of $55,000. Fewer opportunities and lower salaries are the main drivers of the brain drain.

Iowa’s economic growth rate is closer to Mississippi’s than Minnesota’s. Mississippi ranks second for brain drain, behind South Dakota, and ahead of #9 Iowa. It’s a flight to opportunity. That’s the main reason the drain is worsening.

Iowa is actively encouraging the consolidation of rural life into 25 trade centers (Storm Lake being one of them). The survey shows that trade school graduates are more likely to stay. State university grads are more likely to bail out of necessity.

During the same period of rural consolidation, the legislature began a steady erosion of higher education funding in the service of income tax reduction. Pocahontas and Sac counties are petitioning to build jails, not schools. As a result, more students want to flee: In 2007, nearly half of those surveyed said they intended to stay; now that number has dropped to 41%. The percentage who say they intend to leave keeps rising every year.

Backwards politics has a lot to do with it, because it leads to a second-rate economy and a downward spiral. Relieving tuition costs and debt loads is key to retaining the best and brightest, who can create new economic opportunities. The legislature and governor remain committed to eliminating the income tax. That means higher tuition, which will worsen the brain drain, which diminishes opportunities. After all these years, you would think Iowa could learn but the smart folks apparently took the lesson to Minnesota with them: Fund education, watch the economy grow, help families build communities. We used to do that.

Aiding small business

Kamala Harris is rolling out her economic agenda that includes $50,000 start-up tax credits for small businesses. If she really wants to help small business, Harris should eliminate the health-care burden for small employers. Obamacare was a fair start, but health insurance costs continue to rise faster than we can keep pace.

We have pleaded many years to get health insurance off our backs to little avail. Democrats are content to cap some drug prices. They are afraid to argue for single-payer health insurance, or even to extend Medicare to folks over age 55. Bringing younger people into the program helps pay for it. It should be available to all.

The issue drove the Bernie Sanders campaign to two victories in the Iowa Caucuses. He and the issue have been shunted aside.

The editors are of an age to enjoy Medicare benefits. They are superior in every respect to the private health insurance plan we offer to our employees. They deserve the same health package as us old geezers or Members of Congress. Medicare works. Doctors in Newton are comfortable enough making bank on Medicare that they do not resort to delivering babies.

For reasons seldom discussed, the issue is not discussed much. Everyone deserves affordable health care. It is not affordable, and the system is not necessarily accessible to everyone. It is not fair to expect small businesses to eat the health care cost increases. Giving small businesses a break for offering good health insurance to employees would help us. A $50,000 start-up grant will not.