If Utah wants to prepare workers for the 21st century, the state must improve its workforce training and education systems, according to a report released by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. on Monday.

"If we do nothing, other states and countries will seize the opportunities that the 21st Century presents," the report says.

More than 100 Utahns -- including educators, community leaders, business leaders, labor leaders and representatives from state agencies -- spent nearly 5,000 hours studying the state's education and workforce training systems before delivering the report as part of the governor's 21st Century Workforce Initiative.

"This report offers a serious assessment of where we are as a state and what we need to ensure we have a competitive workforce," Huntsman said in a statement Monday. In January, the governor plans to lead a group of education, business and government leaders in developing a plan to address the report's recommendations.

The report makes 10 main recommendations including eliminating inefficiencies and increasing coordination when it comes to workforce development by creating a governance structure over agencies and groups that prepare workers.

The report also points out that the state lacks a coordinated process for training and measuring the success of school leaders. The report recommends Utah establish a system.

"Uneven school leadership results in low teacher morale, uneven teacher performance and teacher attrition, underperforming students and poor public relations," the report says.

The report also recommends Utah develop a process for recruiting, retaining and paying the best teachers; identify and address the causes of school dropouts; and establish a system of support for early childhood education, among other things.

"The problem is not that we don't know what works," the report says of early childhood education. "The problem is that we do not have political support to do what needs to be done."

The report goes on to say that though Utah is ranked third in the nation for high school graduation rates, it's ranked 45th for high school graduates going on to higher education. Also, half of students who enter postsecondary education need remediation -- more classes to get up to speed, according to the report.

"There are some areas of huge waste in our system, and one of those is that we keep remediating students," said Gayle McKeachnie, who chaired the group that led the effort. He said finding ways to prevent the need for so much remediation and ways to keep more teachers from leaving during their first five years could save the state a lot of money. One study found that more than half of Utah teachers who left teaching in 2006-2007 had taught for five years or less.

McKeachnie said participants tried to base recommendations on facts and research, not opinion. They also tried to address problems by recommending changes to entire systems, rather than offering smaller band-aids.

The report outlines a number of projects the state should undertake to improve Utah's future, including some relatively low-cost projects the group hopes Utah will be able to implement despite impending budget cuts.

"Certainly there are budget constraints, but I think it's important to look at the whole scope and then go from there," said Huntsman's spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley.

The full report is available at www.utah.gov/governor/actnow/index.html.