MPI and the Education Community
The April 22nd announcement that MPI Research will create 3,300 jobs in the Kalamazoo area, including 400 in downtown Kalamazoo, is wonderful news for the future of the Kalamazoo economy. This announcement suggests that the Kalamazoo area’s economic development strategy, which is focused on trying to create high-skill and high-wage jobs, is beginning to pay off.
The Kalamazoo area’s strategy has been spearheaded by Southwest Michigan First, and its CEO, Ron Kitchens. A part of that strategy is trying to promote the Kalamazoo area to businesses as the “Education Community”. According to Mr. Kitchens, as quoted in the March 30 Gazette, “You can’t be the Education Community if you don’t invest in education.” Therefore, a defeat of the millage renewal “would devalue the long-term economic structure of our economy.”
Of course, the MPI announcement, or any business location decision, has many determinants. The MPI expansion decision was probably based on many factors, including the location of its customers, the availability of real estate, the interest of MPI CEO William U. Parfet in the future of the Kalamazoo area, and tax incentives offered by state and local governments. But MPI’s expansion decision and other business location decisions depend in part upon the quality of life in the Kalamazoo metropolitan area.
Kalamazoo County and Van Buren County are part of one metropolitan area, which means that government statisticians have concluded that there is sufficient commuting across county boundaries that the counties are really part of the same labor market. Businesses are attracted to metropolitan areas that offer high quality of life to their employees, which makes it easier to attract and retain high-quality workers. Quality of life includes many factors. One of these quality of life factors is a high quality of education.
A high quality of education is particularly important to businesses, such as MPI, that employ many highly-educated workers. Highly-educated employees will be more attracted to a metropolitan area that offers many options for high-quality education for their children.
One example of how high-tech businesses value high quality education is that the former Upjohn Company helped initiate and fund the creation of the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center. This funding support may have been in part intended to help make the Kalamazoo area more attractive to potential employees such as research chemists.
Over the last 3 years, the enhancement millage has helped the 9 school districts in Kalamazoo County to maintain higher quality education services to students. Because the state has reduced real per student spending over the last 3 years, the $11 million provided by the enhancement millage is needed even more today. The millage renewal, as argued by Ron Kitchens, will help improve the “long-term economic structure of our economy.”