If Steve Ballmer were governor ...

If Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer were in charge of Washington state, shoring up education would be a higher priority even than easing the commute to Redmond.

"If you're the CEO of the state of Washington, the first thing that you have to do is recognize that there is a capacity problem in our four-year institutions," Ballmer said, when asked what he would do to help more people take advantage of job openings in high-skill fields here.

Ballmer answered questions about his company's online strategy, innovation and the future of online social networks before hammering on the education message, which was a broad theme of the Technology Alliance's "State of Technology" luncheon Thursday in Seattle.

"We have some issues about traffic ... but at the end of the day, the most important thing in the context that we're talking about here is education," Ballmer told the Alliance crowd, an umbrella organization of tech companies, groups and early-stage investors.

Microsoft is a major supporter of the College & Work Ready Agenda, an Alliance education effort backed by other Washington businesses and industry associations. The company produced and is sponsoring a series of pro-math public-service announcements airing in the region. Future spots could include Ballmer and Xbox executive J Allard, among other local professionals.

Some specific Agenda goals include increasing the state's high-school graduation requirements from two years of math to four, and expanding the number of degrees conferred by the state's universities in high-demand fields such as computer science, engineering and life sciences.

"Washington children absolutely need math and science to succeed in a 21st century economy," said Marty Smith, chairman of the Technology Alliance, another participant in the Agenda.

Smith cited forecasts from the state Employment Security Department showing that Washington will have thousands of job openings for computer specialists during the next several years.

"We actually now project about 4,400 a year through 2014," said Greg Weeks, director of the state's Labor Market and Economic Analysis Branch, citing the most-recent figures.

Smith also said Washington is producing fewer than 700 graduates a year in the field.

Weeks agreed that Washington would benefit from more graduates in these fields, but noted that especially in computer science the job market is global.

"The state does not need to produce 4,400 computer and math occupation workers every year," Weeks said. "The state needs to hire that many every year. ... Some of them are going to come from Ohio or overseas."

Filling job openings with people from other parts of the world contributes to a "diversity of innovation," Ballmer said, noting that the statement might be viewed as "semi-controversial."

"I think bringing more of the best and the brightest to Washington state is net-net accretive in terms of long-term growth, job creation, startups, angel [investing] opportunities and the like," Ballmer said.

Microsoft is one of several major technology companies lobbying Congress to ease laws that govern immigration of high-skill workers.

Benjamin J. Romano: 206-464-2149 or bromano@seattletimes.com