The Joint Finance Committee unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that would provide a $400,000 increase in manufacturing grants for state technical colleges.
Under Senate Bill 40, the existing Workforce Advancement Training Grant program, which received $2 million for the 2010-2011 school year, would receive $2.4 million for 2011-2012, according to the bill.
The program is a public-private partnership, matching the needs of employers with the capabilities of college training, said Teghan DeLane, spokesperson for Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee.
“It’s about job development,” DeLane said. “It’s people getting back to work, giving them the training to get back to work.”
Companies will identify a need for some kind of technical training within their organization for current employees, and in collaboration with a technical college, develop customized training, according to Morna Foy, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Technical College System.
The funds provide special courses for employees that aren’t usually offered by standard curriculum at the technical colleges.
She said training is in demand for fields like biotechnology and advanced manufacturing. Employees come from a wide variety of different industries with education that may not adequately suit a particular job’s needs.
While some Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, agreed technical colleges have play an important role, he believes the advancement for the institutions is not cleanly cut.
“Our technical colleges do provide the types of associate degree programs the students want. But that doesn’t necessarily mean those students are going to have jobs when they get out,” Tara Baxter, a spokesperson for Olsen, said.
If the state Legislature passes the bill, its first two years will be funded by JFC appropriation, according to Baxter.
Baxter said the additional funds from the program in its first two years would be coming from money left over from an overestimation in Capitol security costs.
“This program matches existing businesses with the technical college to educate, to train people who are going to have a job in that field when they finish school,” Baxter said.
After the first two years, the funding would become part of the state’s base budget, she said.
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, was optimistic about the additional funding.
“[Education is] critical for job creation, and it could be there’s finally some realization … that we need to be investing in education if [members of the Legislature] want to do what Walker claims he wants to do, which is create 250,000 jobs a year,” he said.
DeLane said the bipartisan support of the bill shows a willingness from both parties to work together on critical issues in order to spark economic development and job availability in the state.
With enrollment at Wisconsin technical colleges reaching record highs with nearly 400,000 students, Foy expressed concern about technical colleges’ limited resources as demand for courses continues to rise.
“We’re hearing a lot from businesses – the governor is hearing it as well as he goes around the state – that there are jobs available, but the individuals applying for those jobs don’t have the right skill set,” she said. “We need resources if we’re going to increase the number of people we can get into our programs and to attract people into industries they may have not been thinking about before.”
