Wisconsin technical colleges would gain greater flexibilities to control state funds used for training students under a bill introduced to a Senate committee on Monday.

Under current law, the Technical College System Board may award a grant to a technical college to help provide skills training for students working at a local business.

In order to receive funds, the business can have no more than 100 employees or have had no more than $10,000,000 in gross annual income in its most recent fiscal year. This bill expands the program to businesses with under 250 employees.

Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said the main goal of the bill was to provide assistance with market expansion and business diversification in the state of Wisconsin. She said it was part of a larger initiative developed by her and Rep. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, to promote job growth in the state.

“Expansions of the grant are meant to make small businesses to be competitive in the global economy by providing financial assistance in order to address the changing financial market,” Shilling said.

She added this bill also would not require any additional funding from the state than already allocated, which is around $500,000 per year for small businesses.  

Doyle said the bill had bipartisan support and had already passed the Colleges and Universities committee in the Senate. He also explained how exactly the fund can help companies compete on a global scale.

“Let’s say company ‘XYZ’ makes widgets, and they’re good, but the Chinese are making a super widget,” Doyle said. “Using a grant under this bill, the tech school can assist a company to retool its operation to make the same super widgets in China that are selling like hotcakes.”

When asked what he would do to get the bill moving on the Assembly floor, Doyle said he was working with Republicans to bring it up to get scheduled in their caucus. Doyle said he’s talked to people in both parties who support the provisions of the bill.

President of the Wisconsin Technical College System Duane Ford said he liked the expansions in the bill but was concerned about the changing the maximum amount of employees from 100 to 250.

“I’m not sure how much that $500,000 would be diluted if things went forward,” Ford said. “Would the larger companies get more of the dollars? I’m concerned we might shortchange the smaller businesses.”

Committee Chair Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, said while he would still like to make some changes to the bill, he looked forward to pursuing it in the next legislative session. 

According to its website, Madison Area Technical College provides access to these funds through the Workforce Advancement Training grants. The website said these grants support strategically focused training at approximately 50 percent of customized training rates.

A statement released by MATC in January said the school is currently administering a WAT Grant Interest Survey that allows the school to collect data on what kind of comprehensive training projects would best address the students’ needs.