LEAWOOD, KS — April 1, 2004 — Expansion Management Magazine, a monthly business magazine for executives of companies that are actively looking for a place to expand or relocate their facilities within the next one to three years, has recently published a ranking of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with the best overall public school systems. The magazine rates secondary school districts as a way of providing its readers with a basis for comparing the type of work force they are likely to encounter in various communities around the country.

“Just about every metro area in the country is faced with the same situation: an urban public school system with a high dropout rate and low test scores, surrounded by high-achieving suburban public schools,” said Bill King, chief editor of Expansion Management. (For rankings, see bottom of press release.)

Using the data from its 2003 Education Quotient™ study (published in our December 2003 issue), which compared 2,800 secondary school districts throughout the country, Expansion Management grouped the individual districts according to their respective MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area). Every secondary school district in the United States with an enrollment of at least 3,300 students was included in the survey.

For those unfamiliar with the EQ, which Expansion Management has published annually for the past 13 years, school districts throughout the country are compared against one another according to a variety of categories, such as college board scores, graduation rates, beginning and average teacher salaries, per pupil expenditures and student-teacher ratio.

College board scores and graduation rates, which measure the output of the education process, are most heavily-weighted, while community and state spending on education is less important to the overall final (EQ) score.

EQ scores are calculated as a percentile compared with the other 2,800 school districts, with 1 being the lowest and 99 being the highest. In order to come up with an EQ score for the entire metro area, each school district’s relative contribution was weighted based upon its enrollment as a percentage of the total metro student enrollment.

Let’s use the Washington, D.C., metro area as an example. The namesake District of Columbia Public Schools, while ranked poorly in comparison to the rest of the nation’s schools, accounts for only 8.7 percent of the overall MSA public school student population. On the other hand, the suburban Montgomery, Md., school district is twice as large, accounting for 17.5 percent of the overall MSA student population. Just across the Potomac, the even larger suburban Fairfax County, Va., Public Schools makes up another 20.3 percent.

Both of these suburban districts are among the best in the entire country. In fact, 53.2 percent of all public school students in the D.C. metro area attend school in Gold Medal districts. In order to receive a Gold Medal designation, a district must rank in the top 17 percent of all school districts nationwide, while Blue Ribbon districts rank in the top one-third.

“In today’s knowledge-based global economy, nothing is more important to businesses than the ability to find, and employ, an increasingly well-educated work force,” said King. “The Education QuotientTM provides them with a way to compare communities nationwide in terms of the quality of the work force they are likely to encounter should they choose to open a manufacturing, distribution, or other business facility there.”

Expansion Management magazine is mailed to more than 45,000 CEOs, vice presidents, directors and other officers of companies that have indicated they are considering expanding into new geographic areas.

To read the article, “Which Metros Have the Best Public Schools?” — along with the Top 20 listings of the metros with the best public schools — go to Expansion Management’s Web site at www.ExpansionManagement.com.

Expansion Management is a monthly magazine published by Penton Media (www.penton.com), a diversified business-to-business media company that provides high-quality content and integrated marketing solutions to the following industries: aviation; design/engineering; electronics; food/retail; government/compliance; business technology/enterprise IT; leisure/hospitality; manufacturing; mechanical systems/construction; health/nutrition and natural and organic products; and supply chain. Founded in 1892, Penton produces market-focused magazines, trade shows, conferences and online media, and provides a broad range of custom media and direct marketing solutions for business-to-business customers worldwide.

# # # Best Overall Metro School Districts (regardless of size of enrollment):

Metropolitan Statistical Area Metro Enrollment

1. State College, Pa. 7,589

2. Lawrence, Kan. 10,418

3. Charlottesville, Va. 16,396

4. Iowa City, Iowa 10,531

5. Eau Claire, Wis. 15,585

6. Madison, Wis. 46,901

7. Dubuque, Iowa 9,701

8. Sheboygan, Wis. 10,128

9. Cedar Rapids, Iowa 25,713

10. Sioux Falls, S.D. 19,350

SOURCE: Expansion Management magazine, Education Quotient™ (EQ) 2003.

Best Large Category MSA (more than 100,000 students overall Metrowide):

Metropolitan Statistical Area Metro Enrollment

1. Austin-San Marcos, Texas 193,310

2. Washington, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. 783,026

3. West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla. 164,796

4. Middlesex-Somerset-Hunterdon, N.J. 103,804

5. Monmouth-Ocean, N.J. 128,437

6. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C. 183,197

7. Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz. 301,044

8. Pittsburgh, Pa. 202,529

9. Richmond-Petersburg, Va. 103,584

10. Omaha, Neb.-Iowa 113,624

11. Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. 210,159

12. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla. 363,617

13. Dallas, Texas 589,542

14. Baltimore, Md. 399,350

15. Newark, N.J. 194,056

16. San Jose, Calif. 123,674

17. Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas 306,549

18. Honolulu, Hawaii 183,629

19. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.-Wis. 443,217

20. Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, Va.-N.C. 240,551

SOURCE: Expansion Management magazine, Education Quotient™ (EQ) 2003.

Best Medium Category MSA (between 40,000 and 100,000 students Metrowide):

Metropolitan Statistical Area Metro Enrollment

1. Madison, Wis. 46,901

2. Des Moines, Iowa 51,083

3. Bergen-Passaic, N.J. 86,525

4. Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. 41,882

5. Grand Rapids-Muskegon-Holland, Mich. 80,140

6. Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Pa. 60,474

7. Spokane, Wash. 44,950

8. Lancaster, Pa. 57,201

9. Ann Arbor, Mich. 59,677

10. Galveston-Texas City, Texas 65,584

11. Brazoria, Texas 42,205

12. Ventura, Calif. 94,648

13. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa. 71,419

14. Columbia, S.C. 87,369

15. Manchester, N.H. 48,436

16. Melbourne-Titusville-Palm Bay, Fla. 72,529

17. Boulder-Longmont, Colo. 48,699

18. Trenton, N.J. 70,343

19. Corpus Christi, Texas 57,019

20. Lansing-East Lansing, Mich. 45,269

SOURCE: Expansion Management magazine, Education Quotient™ (EQ) 2003.

Best Small Category MSA (less than 40,000 students Metrowide):

Metropolitan Statistical Area Metro Enrollment

1. State College, Pa. 7,589

2. Lawrence, Kan. 10,418

3. Charlottesville, Va. 16,396

4. Iowa City, Iowa 10,531

5. Eau Claire, Wis. 15,585

6. Dubuque, Iowa 9,701

7. Sheboygan, Wis. 10,128

8. Cedar Rapids, Iowa 25,713

9. Sioux Falls, S.D. 19,350

10. Cheyenne, Wyo. 13,092

11. Columbia, Mo. 15,185

12. Rapid City, S.D. 13,363

13. Appleton-Oshkosh-Neenah, Wis. 38,939

14. Wichita Falls, Texas 18,922

15. Fargo-Moorhead, N.D.-Minn. 21,973

16. Amarillo, Texas 36,617

17. Roanoke, Va. 27,140

18. Bryan-College Station, Texas 20,982

19. Myrtle Beach, S.C. 28,466

20. Danbury, Conn. 24,808

SOURCE: Expansion Management magazine, Education Quotient™ (EQ) 2003.