State’S Again Best At Using Technology Group Cites Education, Year 2000 Response

Washington state government is the best around at using technology to serve its residents, the Progress and Freedom Foundation said Thursday.

For two years running, the nonprofit organization has ranked the 50 state governments on their use of technology to provide service and information. Both times, Washington has won the glass statue and finished first.

“Being No. 1 twice was not a matter of continuing to do the good stuff you did last year,” said Jeffrey Eisenach, the foundation president. “Being No. 1 twice means starting anew.”

Washington was credited with improving education technology and dealing with technological problems related to the year 2000.

“I think we are driven to do this, to use digital technology, because of the expectation of our citizens and the example our high technology businesses provide,” said Joseph Dear, chief of staff for Gov. Gary Locke.

Competition for the award was close. Last year’s top score would have earned Washington 17th place this year. Wisconsin has been reaching for first, but has finished second for the second year in a row.

Idaho finished 44th in the foundation’s rankings while Montana finished 47th.

“The Industrial Age believed in standardization,” explained Eisenach. “In the Digital Age things tend to be much more diverse and customized, so it is difficult to compare.”

The group ranked states in eight areas: K-12 education, higher education, business regulation, taxation, social services, law enforcement, access to legislators and other initiatives.

One of Washington state’s strongest showings this year came in K-12 education, which focused on providing computer hardware and wiring classrooms for Internet access.

Last year, the state finished 19th in that category, the only one in which it did not finish in the top 10.

The realization that many states were doing more to provide technology in schools came as a wake-up call to the Washington Department of Information Services, which runs the state digital technology. So the past year brought strides in technology available in schools and rapidly moved the state up in the rankings.

That was keeping with a goal of the foundation - to let states know in what areas they needed to improve.

“People know what technology can do,” Dear said. “They see what it can do for the best managed businesses and they wonder why their government can’t do the same.”

Washington is looking to finish first again next year.

Representatives for the state showed off a prototype of a new state Web site, Access Washington, that brings together separate state service Web sites. The focus has been on combining common themes and putting them under easy-to-understand headings.

The new Web site began running in its prototype stage this week. In November, www.access.wa.gov/ will provide services such as allowing business taxes to be filed over the Internet.

RANKINGS These are where area states were ranked by the Progress and Freedom Foundation on how well they use technology to provide service and information to residents. 1. Washington 44. Idaho 47. Montana