This editorial appeared in The Oklahoman on December 13, 2011

BY TOM WALKER

Oklahoma is home to an amazing economic resource — and I’m not talking about oil.

The Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics (OSSM) is a two-year public, tuition-free, residential high school created and funded by the Oklahoma Legislature. This school is open to all Oklahoma students who wish to apply during their sophomore year.

OSSM isn’t some elite, ivory tower place. Certainly, the school is academically competitive — all outstanding schools are. Applicants need to be smarter than average with good grades and test scores.

But they don’t need to be rocket scientists to learn about rocket science. OSSM students are regular kids with strong abilities who are curious and want to learn. OSSM is a school that teaches bright young people how to think, focus and stretch their natural abilities to solve problems.

If equity capital is the life blood of entrepreneurship, talented and technical entrepreneurial teams are the heart. Engineers, mathematicians and scientists are absolutely critical to an innovation economy. It is impossible to extend the economic benefit of new companies if there aren’t enough qualified applicants to fill the new jobs those new companies create.

Between 1989 and 2000, the number of engineering degrees granted in the U.S. decreased more than 11 percent. We had fewer graduates in engineering and engineering technologies in 2009 than in 1989.

While the decline in students seeking engineering degrees is going on in other places, OSSM is working to reverse that trend among Oklahoma’s young people.

OSSM has produced 300 practicing engineers, 94 medical doctors, and 53 Ph.D.s. Ten OSSM graduates have started their own businesses in Oklahoma.

These days cutbacks in education may be the norm. Unfortunately, cuts at OSSM have been severe, with a 23 percent reduction in funding and 25 percent fewer employees than three years ago. This has forced the elimination of courses and made furlough days a necessity for the remaining teachers and staff.

More of us should be champions of OSSM.

I’ll continue to write about OSSM to emphasize how important this school and its mission are to Oklahoma.

Tom Walker is president and CEO of i2E, Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state’s technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state appropriations from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Contact him at i2E_Comments@i2E.org.