Editorial: Technical colleges are vital

From thenorthwestern.com: “Editorial: Technical colleges are vital” — Wisconsin has a problem that’s only going to get worse. It’s been described in great detail, and will accelerate with the fruition of demographic trends that are neither new nor unexpected.

How quickly and decisively it is addressed will determine whether Wisconsin will be relegated to a rust belt relic or undergo an economic transformation. A lack of skilled workers is holding back the state’s economy today, and will certainly cripple it tomorrow as more Baby Boomers leave the workforce.

There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing thousands out of work and job openings unfilled for lack of enough properly trained workers. Worse yet, the crisis will become acute when existing skilled workers retire and replacements cannot be found.

The solution doesn’t require anything more than affirming the values that made Wisconsin an economic powerhouse in the first place: the Wisconsin ideal retooled for the new economy. We’ve already seen the fruits of the cooperation between higher education and industry, such as Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s partnership with Marinette Marine to train workers to help the company fulfill major government contracts.

Still, Marinette officials sounded a warning during a legislative hearing held last week at Fox Valley Technical College’s Riverside Campus in Oshkosh, and co-chaired by State Sens. Jessica King, D-Oshkosh, and Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse. The vice-president of human resources at the company said significant challenges remain.

“My concern is, I have a rapidly aging workforce, and these are highly skilled positions,” Marinette’s Steven Baue told the committee. “I should not have to work this hard to find employees.”

Officials from the Wisconsin Technical College System estimate employers will require 39,000 more workers with technical college training than the system can produce with current resources. Inexplicably, the state cut 30 percent from the state technical college system in the last budget, even as Gov. Scott Walker embarked on his goal of creating 250,000 new jobs.

The state must invest in its technical college, much like the voters that overwhelmingly approved a referendum last spring for Fox Valley Technical College to expand its Appleton campus and make needed improvements across the system. Taxpayers recognized that investing in the technical college to train and retrain workers is critical to our economic health and well-being.

As it crafts its 2013-2015 budget proposal, the Walker administration has an opportunity to connect its aggressive job creation goals with workforce realities. Companies will not create jobs without trained workers to fill them. Wisconsin technical colleges have a great track record of working with businesses to build a stronger economy.

The Final Thought: State must invest in technical college system to remain economically relevant.