Small Business Has Little Time, Money To Invest In Higher Education

Small business proprietors, their lobbyists and their elected legislative representatives drew harsh criticism at a recent forum on higher education.

Seattle publisher and forum panelist Frank Blethen charged little operators with failing to give higher education sufficient support.

That struck a nerve with not a few small business owners and advocates who counterattacked from the floor of the forum.

They took turns giving the newspaper scion an earful of what it means to operate a small business today in this state.

The skirmish erupted during a panel discussion of higher education from a business perspective at a forum sponsored by Key Bank and the University of the Puget Sound.

Panelist Blethen raked over small operators for skimping on time, money and effort to secure added tax money for higher education.

But in the audience, Carolyn Logue of the National Federation of Independent Business, rose in defense of small operators, asking for appreciation of their limited means as contrasted with the resources of large corporations.

For little operators, Logue said, matters dealing directly with just keeping the doors open must take priority over raising taxes for higher education.

Several on the panel and in the audience seconded these sentiments, while others contended higher ed doesn’t need more money. Instead it needs to do a better job with what it gets.

Ironically, it was the newspaper owner who supplied what might well have been the news lead of this column. Responding to a clamor among participants in the forum for greater “productivity” on the part of higher education, the publisher of the Seattle Times dismissed that issue as “really a bogus debate.”

Instead, he said, “The real issue is the Legislature in this state has the reputation nationally as being among the most anal retentive legislatures in the world.”

Following an eruption of gasps and laughs, the moderator, inquiring if there were any newspaper reporters in the room, observed, “Frank Blethen just gave you your lead.”

But the real substance of this session was the small business perspective provided by Logue.

She said first of all that small businesses “do care very much about education.” But they must live with a “different dynamic” than big businesses with respect to tax policy.

“There’s not a lot of money they (small operators) are dealing with in many cases,” she pointed out, “and often the owner is the last one paid.”

So owners must keep uppermost in mind “the reason they went into business in the first place,” said Logue. “It is to make sure they can still manage to bring home something to their families - and their families often encourage them to bring home money.”

Self preservation is No. 1.

“You also have a very different dynamic in that you don’t have extra people in small businesses who can afford to go to various and sundry meetings all over the place, and participate on boards,” explained Logue. “Often the owner and his three or four employees are the ones actually making the business work.

“They can’t get to the boards. They can’t get to the meetings. They can’t serve on the state committees. They can’t do those things as much as a larger business which perhaps has staff that they can pay to go and attend things like that.”

So instead of demanding that little operators come to them, Logue encouraged higher educators to “reach out to the average chamber of commerce member.

“Go to their place of business,” she urged. “Find out what kind of relationships can be established, without requiring a lot from that small business owner. Get their opinion while in the place of business. We find this is often the most effective way to find out what those small business people are thinking.”

As it is now, she said, “small business often feels left out” of the dialog on education at all levels.

“The trend now I’m hearing,” she said of the evolving academic emphasis, “is that we are moving toward teamwork.”

But in real life, she said, when a business has just five employees, the owners says: “Yeah, we need people who can work together. But we are not going to be forming a team. You are going to be working on your own.”

Accordingly, employees must be self motivated. They must come equipped “with a basic underlying value system of hard work, integrity, and a willingness to get to work on time.” They must come with understanding and willingness to get the job done, “or the business doesn’t survive.”

So small businesses “screen their people from the K-through-12 education system as much as higher ed.” And very often, the advocate said, “The one coming out of a four-year college is the one, hopefully, who is starting the business.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel’s column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review