Two counties, few similarities
Just forget all the moralizing talk about how education expands the mind, lifts horizons, builds self-confidence and tames the savage instincts in us. And dismiss the claims a liberal education humanizes society and gives us the self-assurance to deal with new and challenging ideas.
If I may speak crassly, education means money.
This is, of course, not a revelation. But data released last week from the 2000 U.S. Census dramatically reinforce the well-known correlation between educational attainment and earning power — for the individual as well as for society as a whole.
Warren and Williamson are near-neighbors at the bottom of the list of Tennessee counties in alphabetical order, but they’re poles apart in other, more meaningful, respects.
Williamson County has experienced rapid growth not just as a bedroom community south of Nashville but also as a financial, health-services and commercial powerhouse itself. Interstate 65, bisecting the county north to south, has been a major corridor for transportation and development, and the recent completion of the I-840 east-west leg is a powerful stimulus for further growth.
One could argue all this economic progress has its downside, as farmlands are transformed into office parks, luxury condominium complexes, and manufacturing and retail trade facilities. The conflict between the I-840 construction and preservation interests has been a conspicuous example of this social tension (I-840 won).
But what can’t be denied or even argued is the fact a large portion of Williamson County residents enjoy the highest standard of living, measured in purely material terms, in the state and the nation.
The census shows 44.3 percent of Williamson County residents have earned a bachelor’s degree or above (graduate or professional degree). Median income there is $32,496, meaning half of all residents earn less than that figure while the other half earn more.
In Warren County, where 9.1 per cent of our citizens have a bachelor’s degree or above, the median income is $28,409. The difference in the monetary measure may seem not too great — a little over $4,000, or about 14 percent. But closer examination of the data yields a picture of stark contrast.
Among Warren countians, 33.2 percent make more than $50,000 a year, a favorable circumstance creditable mostly to a few large industries like Bridgestone/Firestone, Carrier and Yorozu, whose ownership is based out of state or out of the country. Our fellow citizens who are fortunate enough to be bringing in $100,000 or more could all fit into a small space: 160 of them, accounting for 5 percent of the workforce.
In Williamson County, where there are more than four times as many workers with higher-education degrees than we have here, nearly 73 percent of the population is earning $50,000 or more a year. That number includes 35.2 percent who are pulling down more than $100,000 a year.
On the other end of the scale, 3.5 percent of Williamson County residents were living below the official poverty line in 1999. Here, that figure was 13 percent.
The Census also revealed significant, though not surprising, differences between Tennessee and other states. In line with long-standing tradition, the Volunteer State maintains its status as one of the lowest in public investment in education.
With a per-pupil expenditure of $5,343, we rank fifth from the bottom, with only Idaho, Arizona, Mississippi and Utah investing less in the future of their children. And Warren County’s effort, according to the 2001 school system report card from the Tennessee Department of Education, is about 10 percent below the state average.
One other important difference between Williamson and Warren counties came to light in an academic study of the impact of the proposed state income tax. In comparison to the state tax burden we’re presently carrying, mainly through the retail sales levy, our affluent friends in the other county would pay much more while Warren countians would pay less.
(Bill Zechman is chairman of the Warren County Commission’s Education Committee.)