State rated on its big needs

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Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland Feb 6, 2018

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>State rated on its big needs</h1>
                <h2><p>How is the state doing on some of its biggest challenges, like education, transportation and job creation? The Washington Business Roundtable just updated its "Benchmarks for a Better Washington" report on how the state can excel in quality of life and job opportunity. The Roundtable, which tends to</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/joe-copeland-crosscut-com/">Joe Copeland</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>How is the state doing on some of its biggest challenges, like education, transportation and job creation? <a href="http://www.waroundtable.com/perspectives-on-policy/new-2014-benchmark-data-making-wa-a-top10state?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">The Washington Business Roundtable just updated</a> its "Benchmarks for a Better Washington" report on how the state can excel in quality of life and job opportunity. The Roundtable, which tends to be fairly middle of the road, noted that more patents are being issued here than any other state and that 8th grade math test results are among the top ten nationally. Not so good: Some costs of doing business are high (unemployment insurance rates and workers comp, in particular); the high school graduation rate and the number of college degrees awarded are both in the lower half of all states; and the condition of roads and bridges stuck or even slipping farther into the lower third  of all states. Now, is there any hope that, after next month's elections, our legislators might pause from their partisan squabblings long enough to actually create a to-do list from all of this? — J.C.</p>
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How is the state doing on some of its biggest challenges, like education, transportation and job creation? The Washington Business Roundtable just updated its "Benchmarks for a Better Washington" report on how the state can excel in quality of life and job opportunity. The Roundtable, which tends to be fairly middle of the road, noted that more patents are being issued here than any other state and that 8th grade math test results are among the top ten nationally. Not so good: Some costs of doing business are high (unemployment insurance rates and workers comp, in particular); the high school graduation rate and the number of college degrees awarded are both in the lower half of all states; and the condition of roads and bridges stuck or even slipping farther into the lower third of all states. Now, is there any hope that, after next month's elections, our legislators might pause from their partisan squabblings long enough to actually create a to-do list from all of this? — J.C.

By Joe Copeland

Joe Copeland is the former senior editor&nbsp;for Crosscut, where he has been an editor since 2010. Before that, he was an editorial writer and columnist for the Seattle P-I and editorial page edi