Editorial: Judge Alexander's change of venue

The Council on Crime and Justice, Minnesota's leading voice on criminal-justice policy, burnished its already good reputation by landing Hennepin County District Judge Pamela Alexander as its new president.

Alexander turned heads 25 years ago, when she became the youngest person ever appointed to the district court bench in Minnesota. Since then, she's presided over the court's juvenile division, has served as assistant chief judge and has become a sought-after expert on children's justice issues. The 50-year-old council is in good hands.

Things you might not know, if you missed the documentary program "Vanishing Graduates & Minnesota's Future," aired on TPT-17 last Sunday:

• If you're a ninth-grader in Minnesota today, the odds that you'll have a college degree after high school are only 25 percent.

• The number of high school graduates in Minnesota is expected to drop 10 percent in the next decade.

• In spite of today's soft economy, many Minnesota companies have openings for college-educated workers that they can't fill.

• If current trends don't change, in 10 years Minnesota will have 13,000 fewer college graduates than its employers are projected to need.

These facts and projections aren't news to state policymakers. The Minnesota Private College Council's research arm has been telling them as much for years. But they aren't widely known or understood outside the Capitol -- and until they are, political interest in doing something about them will be less than keen.

That reality has led the Private College Council to spearhead a public information campaign, called LearnmoreMN. The video produced in conjunction with TPT is the campaign's impressive first project.

It's not a plea for higher taxes or new laws. Rather, it asks for citizens to get informed, for parents to visit schools, for educators to throw open schoolhouse doors and for employers to speak out about their workforce needs.

The program will be aired again at 7:30 May 11 on TPT-17; it's also available (and recommended for group viewing at all manner of civic meetings) at www.learnmoremn.org.