Governor’s tax cut proposal would benefit WTCS

From jsonline.com: “Scott Walker’s tax cut plan passes Senate, likely to become law” —Madison — Senate Republicans Tuesday narrowly passed Gov. Scott Walker’s $541 million tax cut proposal in a vote that guaranteed the cuts will become law.

The tax decreases — the third round of cuts by Republicans in less than a year — passed 17-15 with GOP Sen. Dale Schultz of Richland Center joining all Democrats in voting against the proposal. The proposal now goes to the Assembly, which passed a different version of the tax cuts last month with two Democrats joining all Republicans in supporting it.

With growing tax collections now expected to give the state a $1billion budget surplus in June 2015, Walker’s bill will cut property and income taxes for families and businesses, and zero out all income taxes for manufacturers in the state.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said his party was delivering on a promise to hold down taxes for the people of the state.

“The bottom line is what a great day for the state of Wisconsin — to finally be out of what was a dark time for Wisconsin,” Fitzgerald said, referring to the recent recession.

GOP lawmakers and Walker will use the unexpected windfall for the state as an occasion to trim overall state spending slightly for the next three years rather than increase it.

The votes on the tax cuts, which have split almost entirely along partisan lines in the Legislature, highlight the growing split between the two parties’ visions for the state.

Walker’s initial tax cut proposal would have drawn down the expected surplus and left the state budget in somewhat worse financial position in the future as measured by one commonly used method. To win over a holdout GOP senator concerned about the state’s finances, Walker agreed last month to cut state spending by $38 million to help offset the tax cuts.

Also Tuesday, the Senate voted unanimously to pass a second bill to increase spending on worker training by $35.4 million through June 2015.

Walker’s plan for the surplus prioritizes the tax cuts and a roughly $320 million overhaul of income tax withholding over calls from Democrats to decrease more than $1 billion in borrowing, strengthen the state budget and offset past cuts to schools. Democrats said that was a better approach to running state government and boosting the state’s economy.

“The property tax burden absolutely weighs down the citizens of our state,” Sen. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said. “But you know what else weighs down the citizens of this state? Not having a job.”

Under Walker’s bill, the average income tax filer would receive a tax cut of $46 in April 2015 and the typical homeowner would save $131 over the existing law on this December’s bills, according to the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office.

Also, the governor has separately had his administration alter income tax withholding rates so workers have less taken out of each paycheck — about $520 a year for a married couple making a total of $80,000 a year — starting in April.

“The more money that we give back to the taxpayers, the more money they can spend or save as they wish and the more our economy will grow,” said Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), co-chairwoman of the Legislature’s budget committee.

The bill would also lower income taxes for factory and farm owners by $36.8 million over the current two-year budget and $91.3 million over the following two years.

GOP supporters of this manufacturing tax cut in the bill see it as fuel for one of the state’s main economic engines.

Democratic opponents see it as a giveaway with a dubious payback to some of the richest people in the state, averaging about $800 for roughly 30,000 tax filers in 2015.

The deal between Walker and GOP senators would also use what is essentially an accounting maneuver to keep a chunk of the surplus — more than $100 million — in the state’s main account rather than shifting it to a rainy day fund.

Mary Burke, a former state commerce secretary and bicycle company executive running against Walker, has said the state should use about half of the surplus to set aside more money in the rainy day fund and reduce the state’s $2billion in new borrowing through June 2015. She would use the remainder for property tax relief and worker training programs.

Burke’s plan for property tax relief and separate plans put forward by Assembly and Senate Democrats would all funnel more money toward a state credit for parcels with a home or business on them. That would ensure low- and middle-income homeowners see bigger tax cuts than they would under Walker’s plan.

Republicans have said this so-called first dollar tax credit provides no relief to those who own undeveloped land and could draw a legal challenge to the credit if it is increased again.

Senate Democrats Tuesday offered their own plan for the budget surplus that would:

■ Provide a one-time property tax cut of $500 million through the first dollar credit. That means homeowners wouldn’t get the tax decrease in future years.

■ Double the transfer of money to the state’s rainy day fund by adding $228.7 million.

■ Provide $100 million more to the Wisconsin Technical College System and additional funding for rural K-12 schools and special needs students to offset past cuts to those areas.

■ Not provide the tax cut to manufacturers and not cut down on the amount of extra income taxes that the state is withholding.

The proposal would cut the state’s budget deficit in the next two-year budget to zero, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

“It’s hard to look past the next election toward the long-term interests of the state,” Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said. “Let’s transcend the politics.”

Candidate tours Chippewa Valley Tech College

From leadertelegram.com: “Candidate tours tech: Democrat running for governor discusses worker education, jobs” — By Joe Knight Leader-Telegram staff – Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke said Thursday she supports a proposal by her opponent, Gov. Scott Walker, to spend $35 million to help the state’s technical colleges provide additional training for high-demand jobs.

She also supports the governor’s initiative to find work for people with developmental disabilities.

However, Burke said the proposal would require future funding for technical colleges to keep those efforts ongoing.

Burke spoke briefly with reporters during a tour of high-tech industrial programs at Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Gateway Campus. She criticized Walker for cutting $71 million from technical colleges in the first budget he oversaw as governor “just at the time when our technical colleges needed a boost.”

At the time Walker said budget cuts were needed because of a $3 billion state budget shortfall.

Burke said the types of high-tech manufacturing skills being taught at CVTC would help the middle class and would help grow the state’s economy. She spent time speaking with CVTC students, asking them about their career aspirations.

Jamie Rasmussen, a 35-year-old CVTC welding student, said more funding for CVTC programs will help more of them receive the training they need to find jobs.

Asked whether the process she observed Thursday could help build bicycles, Burke, a former Trek Bicycle executive and a former commerce secretary under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, said she wasn’t sure but noted Trek works closely with technical colleges in southern Wisconsin.

Governor Walker signs two bills at CVTC ceremony

From chippewa.com: “Governor Walker signs two bills at CVTC ceremony” — Governor Scott Walker signed two bills into law Tuesday aimed at increasing the number of students who graduate ready to enter the workforce.

The bills signed at a ceremony at the Chippewa Valley Technical College Manufacturing Education Center in Eau Claire create a scholarship program for students who demonstrate excellence in technical education, and create incentives for K-12 school districts to graduate students with industry-approved technical certificates.

“Many employers are still facing a shortage of skilled labor, while too many of our neighbors are still unemployed or underemployed,” Governor Walker said. “Our emphasis on workforce development looks to find a solution to both situations.”

“These bills are a positive for the K-12 system, they are a positive for the technical college system, and they are a positive for the business community. I call that a win-win-win,” said CVTC President Bruce Barker.

Act 59 provides incentive grants to school districts that promote career and technical education programs. On an annual basis, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) will work with the Department of Workforce Development and the Wisconsin Technical College System to identify industry sectors that are facing workforce shortages including shortages of adequately trained, entry-level workers.

For every pupil who completes an approved, industry-recognized certification program, the DPI will award grants of $1,000 per pupil to school districts. Grants will be available beginning in the 2014–15 school year.

“This will be a great incentive for K-12 systems to create programs or expand programs, or to work with the technical college system on dual-credit programs,” Barker said.

Act 60 awards scholarships in conjunction with the Higher Educational Aids Board (HEAB) to students of excellence who are enrolled fulltime at a technical college. Between one and six scholarships will be available at each school, depending on the number of students. HEAB will fund $1,125 of the scholarship with a matching contribution from the technical college.

“We want to provide an equal incentive to some of our students with outstanding technical skills. We want our best and brightest not only in our universities, but in our technical colleges,” Walker said.

 

Walker signs bills encouraging more technical education

From weau.com: “Walker signs bills encouraging more technical education” — Governor Scott Walker visited the Chippewa Valley Technical College to sign bipartisan bills SB 334 and SB331 into law today.

The first one provides scholarships to promising students who are looking go in technical education fields. The second sets up a grant program to help high schools provide more students with advanced technical educational opportunities.

He says there is a tremendous need in our state to train workers for the jobs that are available. Many of those open jobs are in technical fields like IT, health care and manufacturing.

“We want our best and our brightest not only in our four year colleges and universities; we want them in our technical colleges as well” Walker said.

Walker added, “The earlier we start people thinking about those career paths, the earlier we will see what they are good at and plug them that, the more likely they are going to be to fill those positions in the future.”

But we all know education and training is expensive, and that’s where Walker says these grants and scholarship will help bridge the gap.

“That’s not only good for education it’s good for the economy,” said Walker.

SB331 sets up an incentive grant program to have career and technical education programs in high schools. It says schools will get $1000 for each student enrolled in an advanced technical program.

Chippewa Valley President Bruce Barker says he hopes the legislation will also help build more partnerships between high schools and tech colleges across the state.

“The entire technical college system was created to meet the employment and training needs our business and industry that was specific design so programs like this again highlight that partnership,” said Barker.

 

Governor visits Lakeshore Tech

From fox6now.com: “Gov. Scott Walker visits Lakeshore Tech. College on Wednesday” — Governor Scott Walker toured Lakeshore Technical College on Wednesday, November 6th to learn about their apprenticeship program and mobile training lab.  Lakeshore Technical College is hosting a two-week public open house of its facilities and lab to celebrate Manufacturing Month.

“Lakeshore Technical College is providing critical, high-quality training to students, employees, and high school teachers,” Governor Walker said.  “We need partners in the technical college system and business community to make our commitment to worker training a success.  Manufacturing Month was about more than just touring technical colleges and manufacturing companies. We wanted to take the opportunity to emphasize how a job in manufacturing is a great family-supporting career and one that is full of highly skilled and innovative workers.”

Lakeshore Technical College offers training to high school students, summer training for high school teachers, and assessments of workers’ skills and competencies.

Their mobile lab allows the college to provide on-site training in industrial maintenance and programmable logic controls.

The lab also helps high school students earn up to five credits in the electro-mechanical technology program; these credits help students enter the workforce quickly after graduation.

The fall legislative agenda includes additional investments in apprenticeship training, incentives for high school students who graduate with job ready credentials, and scholarships for students at technical colleges.

Additionally, the budget provided funding for career planning beginning in 6^th grade.

Many times our students do not understand the potential a career in manufacturing can have for them.  These investments are part of our commitment to growing the manufacturing industry and ensuring our students are ready for a career as soon as they enter the workforce.

View video from fox6now.com

Governor visits SWTC to talk manufacturing

From swnews4u.com: “Walker: ‘Manufacturing Matters'” — Wisconsin is open for business. Manufacturers are welcome.

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College hosted over 150 people, including Gov. Scott Walker, during a Manufacturing Month event Monday morning, Oct. 21.

“I think manufacturing matters,” Walker told his receptive audience, which included area dignitaries and high school students. “I think it has been a proud part of our state’s history, but more importantly I think it is going to be an even more dynamic part of our state’s future.

“We just got to make sure we have people ready to fill those positions.”

The event was made possible in part due to the efforts of the Southwest Wisconsin Chamber Alliance, a new collaboration of six Chamber of Commerce groups (Dodgeville, Fennimore, Lancaster, Mineral Point, Platteville and Prairie du Chien).

“As an advocate for all of our businesses and communities, we endorse southwest Wisconsin as an economically feasible region to start or relocate a business,” said Southwest Wisconsin Chamber Alliance co-chair Robert Moses. “Our goal for today is to bring a higher level of awareness for the manufacturing opportunities in southwest Wisconsin.”

In his opening remarks, Southwest Tech President Dr. Duane Ford noted several successes the College has enjoyed relating to manufacturing since 2011.

Southwest Tech has increased the number of workers it trains per year by more than 63 percent since 2009. In addition, the College has developed two new programs.

One program assists maintenance technicians to understand how the machines they utilize network with computer systems. The second helps electricians work in specialized environments of dairy and food manufacturing plants.

Ford noted Southwest Tech has benefited from more than $3.93 million in support from 27 different private, state and federal grants.

“What ensures our success is when employers, economies and state governments work in partnership,” he said. “So thank you, manufacturers, and thank you Governor Walker and Secretary [Reggie] Newson, as well as members of the legislature.”

Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) of the 51st Assembly District and Lee Nersion (R-Westby) of the 96th Assembly District were among those in attendance. Jeff Curry attended on behalf of Rep. Travis Tranel, who is currently traveling abroad in Taiwan.

Walker has toured other Wisconsin Technical College System schools this month, where Ford believes the governor has heard similar success stories.

“Southwest Tech’s story is not at all unique,” he said. “All 16 of Wisconsin’s technical colleges are at the heart of workforce, economic and community development within their local districts.

“All 16 listen and respond. All 16 succeed via productive partnerships with numerous private and public stakeholders. And all 16 are this month celebrating successes similar to what you see in southwest Wisconsin.”

Walker proclaimed October as Manufacturing Month to recognize the contributions of the state’s manufacturing employers and workers and to highlight manufacturing as a valuable career pathway.

“Our focus in October is on manufacturing, but really our focus needs to be all year around,” he said Monday morning.

“There are two key industries that drive this state’s economy: one is manufacturing and the other is agriculture.
“There are some great opportunities to grow and expand in that regard.”

Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector contributes nearly $50 billion a year to Wisconsin’s economy and ranks second in the country in the relative size of its manufacturing sector, which employed more than 450,000 workers as of July 2013.

Walker told the audience when it comes to manufacturing in Wisconsin, there are many key areas the state government can help.

“One is lowering the cost of doing business in Wisconsin,” he said. “More often than not, it is just getting out of the way.

Walker noted he signed into law Sunday a property tax relief bill. The two-year, $100 million increase in state school aid is projected to save $13 for the typical homeowner this December.

He also mentioned the Manufacturing and Agriculture Credit, which is available for income derived from manufacturing or agricultural property in the state. It will offset a share of Wisconsin income taxes.

In 2016, the credit will increase to 7.5 percent.

“When you lower the cost of doing business, you put money into the hands of people, as consumers, and into the hands of employers,” Walker said. “That makes tremendous business.

“The time is right for us for us, particularly when it comes to manufacturing, to make a case that we have a pretty compelling argument to be in the state of Wisconsin.”

Walker also explained the state aims to become a better partner in the role of education.

“When it comes to manufacturing, one of the things we did, in particular in this budget, is we put funding in so we in the future can start as early as sixth grade, doing academic and career planning,” he said.

The state’s technical colleges will also be counted on to play a role.

“We want to stress when it comes to manufacturing, how important it is to have good technical colleges focused on advanced manufacturing, healthcare and IT, those are the areas with the biggest work shortages in Wisconsin,” he said. “We think filling those positions, and putting more resources in our technical colleges and worker training programs are key to economic growth and ultimately more jobs in the state.”

Walker said some members of his generation are in need of a “wake up call” in regards to the changes in manufacturing.

“If you look in the state of Wisconsin, the average manufacturing job will pay $52,000 a year,” he said. “That’s 25 percent higher than all jobs out there.

“It’s not just a higher salary, 87 percent of all manufacturing jobs have benefits, compared to 72 percent of jobs statewide.”

The turnover rate in manufacturing careers is 4.7 percent, compared to 8.1 percent across all jobs, Walker pointed out.

“Manufacturing is the place, and we need to do a better job of selling that, particularly to schools,” he said. “There is a tremendous need and opportunity out there, and it is only going to get bigger.”

The third and final area Walker indicated the state could assist manufacturing is in infrastructure.

“You need a good transportation system to get product from market,” he said. “That is why we invested $6.4 billion in the state’s transportation system this year.

“Whether you are a manufacturer, whether you are a cheese maker, or a dairy farmer, or anything else, you have got to have a good transportation system. And it has to be in all parts of the state of Wisconsin, not just around the big cities.”

In closing, Walker referenced a voluntary portal for employers to list job openings. Many of the 30,000 to 40,000 jobs listed weekly are manufacturing jobs.

“Consistently, we hear from manufacturers that one of the challenges is not that they don’t have jobs open, they do, the challenge is not having enough training to fill those jobs,” Walker said. “So we got people looking for work over here, and we got jobs over here.

“We need to do more to connect the dots, to make that connection.”

Following his remarks, Walker told the media gathered it is an exciting time to be a young person in Wisconsin, but also an exciting time as Governor, as he tours the state and learns success stories.

“Today is a good example, you have a great crowd here. You have some young people, you have some businesses,” he said. “It is similar to when I was earlier in the year was over at Cabela’s and we saw some of the students involved in the Gold Collar program, and saw the partnerships not just with Cabela’s but other businesses that were partnering with that as well.

“What I like about what you see at Southwest Tech, and you see it at other great technical colleges around the state, is a very real connection between the technical college and employers in that region. And I think that is the key to success.

“We can’t just have people going through courses, whether it is in our technical colleges or for that matter our University of Wisconsin system. We have got to have a focus on, what are the needs, what kind of perspective employees are employers looking for and how do we help make sure there are more?”

State leaders encourage students to consider manufacturing jobs

From wisconsinrapidstribune.com: “State leaders encourage students to consider manufacturing jobs” — GRAND RAPIDS — State and local leaders are encouraging students across Wisconsin to consider manufacturing jobs when planning their academic future.

As a major part of the state’s workforce, manufacturing jobs play a key role in growing the economy, Gov. Scott Walker told students today as part of the Heart of Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce’s Heavy Metal Bus Tour, which gave dozens of south Wood County middle and high school students the chance to tour local manufacturing plants and hear about the industry.

“I’d love to have it in every community, connected with every technical college and employers in every part of the state of Wisconsin, just because it’s a great opportunity to open the eyes of not only students, but really of parents, of guidance counselors and others to see there are great careers — not just jobs — but great careers in manufacturing,” Walker said during a lunchtime stop at Mid-State Technical College’s Wisconsin Rapids campus. “Getting these kids interested early on is key to this.”

The local event coincided with October Manufacturing Month in Wisconsin, which is designed to spur job creation through the promotion of manufacturing as a career. Nearly 75 seventh- through 10th-graders from across south Wood County participated in the bus tour, which took them to Domtar Corp., Corenso North America, Tweet Garot Mechanical and Mariani Packing Co., said Melissa Reichert, president of the Wisconsin Rapids-based chamber.

“They’re learning all kinds of things about the great careers that are here in central Wisconsin,” Reichert said. “These are good-paying jobs that average over $52,000 a year, and these companies are hiring.”

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Department of Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newson, state Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, and state Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome, also participated in today’s event.

The state should financially support programs that make technical education more affordable and expose students to the importance of manufacturing — through hands-on learning and other activities — at an earlier age, Krug said.

“We’re looking to close that financial gap (and) make sure it’s accessible to everybody,” he said. “Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, those programs are important … (in) helping local employers fill those jobs they have open right now. It’s a no-lose situation, and it’s a small investment for the state to make.”

On a more local level, Mid-State Technical College continues to work with local employers and other agencies to help address the so-called “skills gap” — the difference between the qualifications company leaders are looking for and the skills potential workers possess, MSTC President Sue Budjac said.

“When we talk to employers in manufacturing, what they’re telling us is that in the very near future, they’re going to have retirements on a massive scale, and they are going to need skilled and qualified workers to fill in behind those retirees that are going to be leaving their industry,” Budjac said. “We are adjusting our curriculum — the content and our courses — in ways so that we make sure that we’re responsive and delivering the skill set that they need.”

Such local efforts — one of two programs in the state and three rural sites nationwide — can serve as a model for other parts of the state as a successful partnership between private-sector employers and post-secondary education and training institutions in order to help spur workforce development that meets employers’ needs, Walker said.

“The more frequent (the) communication, the more partnership there is, the more shared accountability there is; employers will step up and put money and time and resources and equipment, in many cases, behind technical colleges that are responding to the needs that they have with the jobs they have right now as well as those in the future.”

Governor visits Western Technical College to highlight manufacturing careers

From lacrossetribune.com: “Walker ‘still focused’ on jobs” — By Patrick B. Anderson – Training programs and new businesses will drive Wisconsin job growth, Gov. Scott Walker said Monday during a tour of Western Technical College.

The governor and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch visited with educators and students at the local technical college. Wisconsin is not on pace to add 250,000 private sector jobs by 2015 as Walker promised when he was elected. However, new businesses and schools such as Western will help more Wisconsin residents find work, Walker said.

“We’re still focused on that,” Walker said. “New jobs are going to come from small businesses, not big corporations.”

The governor toured Western and local offices for the Job Center of Wisconsin. The visit followed Walker’s proclamation of October as Manufacturing Month.

Kyle Larson, 21, took a break from his work at a vertical milling machine to talk to the governor. He started at Western’s machine tool program after struggling to find a job working on cars. Manufacturing work seemed to offer more opportunities to find work and move up the ladder, Larson said.

“I didn’t want to waste my time,” Larson said.

Lukas Bright, 19, saw the same type of job opportunities in welding. That’s partly what drew him to the field, the Western student said. He’s still in his first year, but already he’s already got work prospects.

“There’s hundreds of jobs available,” Bright said.

Western president Lee Rasch shared with the governor the local campus’ plans to add new facilities and take on more students. Voters passed an $80 million referendum last year for Western building upgrades, and work has already begun on some of the projects. Remodels and additions will create new learning opportunities for students who want to land a manufacturing job out of college, Rasch said.

The $32.6 million overhaul to Western’s technology center, for example, will help the college better mimic real world work environments and give students the skills they need to impress local employers, Rasch said.

“They’re looking for skilled workers,” Rasch said. “They want to know what we’re doing.”

Wisconsin added 24,305 jobs between March 2012 and March 2013, ranking 34th in the nation in job creation, according to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state added 72,710 jobs from when Walker took office until March, according to the bureau.

However, the state has added 11,000 new businesses under his leadership, and new businesses will help add more opportunities for Wisconsin workers, Walker said.

“We want to build off of our positive foundation and move the state forward,” Walker said.

Walker said his office has poured $100 million into workforce development. But direct state aid to Wisconsin’s technical colleges was held flat this year, and will increase by about $5 million next year. Western will also have more flexibility next year to use categorical grants from an existing $22 million pot of funding for worker training programs.

Worker training programs are a major focus for Wisconsin lawmakers, Walker said.

“As employers tell us as we go around the state, they have jobs,” Walker said. “We want to make sure we’re putting our money where it has the biggest impact.”

 

Governor visits NWTC

From fox11online.com: “Governor unveils new job search tool at NWTC” — GREEN BAY – During a visit to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College on Monday, Governor Walker unveiled a new job search tool.

The governor said the skill explorer is a free tool from the state’s department of workforce development.

The tool lets people search for jobs which match their skills and training.

Governor Walker said the program will also help employers find workers that match the skills they need.

“I think we built the positive environment by which we improved the business climate; we’re helping put people back to work.  It’s why you see such a vibrant lab here is because there are jobs available; our next big quest is to make sure people have the skills they need to fill those jobs,” said Governor Walker.

The website also explains the available jobs, including pay, and training or background knowledge needed.

Walker, GOP legislators to focus on job training

From jsonline.com: “Scott Walker, GOP legislators to focus on job training in fall session” — Madison — Ahead of a major jobs report expected this week, Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature’s top two GOP leaders said Tuesday they will spend $8.5 million more in state money over the next year and a half to train the state’s workers for in-demand jobs such as manufacturing.

Walker, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) laid out worker training as one of their legislative priorities for the fall, saying they plan to pass eight Republican and Democratic bills aimed at that goal. Walker said the three leaders would have more announcements in the coming days on creating jobs and improving schools.

One of the bills highlighted Tuesday by the governor would put $1 million more over the next two years into the state’s Youth Apprenticeship program that works with on-the-job trainees as well as high school students. Overall, the new proposals would pull down an additional $14 million in federal matching dollars over the next year and a half.

“People are hungry to do more things to create the economic environment in the state where businesses can create jobs,” Walker said of state leaders.

So far, Republicans have outlined a modest agenda for the remaining legislative session ending this spring, including a bill to allow a mining company to close off its land to protesters, hunters and the public and another to hold private voucher schools receiving taxpayer money to standards similar to those of public schools. Other potential bills include an overhaul of election laws and a ban on taxpayer money covering abortions under public employee health plans.

Over the past 21/2 years, GOP lawmakers and Walker have passed so many elements of their conservative agenda that they’ve been moving slower since they returned to the Capitol this fall. The Assembly chose not to take to the floor in September, putting off votes until next month.

Democrats have criticized Walker and Republican legislators for cuts they made to technical colleges and their training programs two years ago. The current budget gives tech schools $5 million more in state money over two years, but that doesn’t make up for the 30% cut passed in 2011, which dropped state funding for technical schools from $119.3 million a year to $83.5 million.

“It’s inadequate to a state that is significantly lagging in job creation,” Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said of the proposals highlighted Tuesday. “This is far too little far too late to really have the kind of impact that’s necessary at this time.”

The state’s economy will play a key role in the re-election campaign next year for Walker, who in his initial 2010 campaign promised to create 250,000 private-sector jobs in his first four-year term.

With 16 months left in that term, the state has created 89,882 jobs, according to a PolitiFact Wisconsin analysis of the latest estimates. That’s a little more than a third of the way toward his goal.

Fitzgerald said he hoped to pass the jobs bills by the end of the year, saying they would improve on the state’s current efforts rather than make a radical departure.

“I think what you’re seeing is a fine-tuning of existing programs,” he said.

The bills would:

■ Pay for up to 25% of the cost of tuition for an apprenticeship program, with maximum payments of $1,000 per student.

■ Give incentive payments to school districts of up to $1,000 per student if they developed programs encouraging students to get certificates in high-need industries before they graduate from high school. The measure would initially provide $3 million in additional funding for schools.

■ Provide $4 million in state funds for vocational rehabilitation services for people with disabilities. The program is expected to lure $14 million in federal funding as well, helping to serve another 3,000 people over two years.

■ Create a scholarship program for top students who want to pursue a technical education.

■ Revive a program that allows people to get job training while they are unemployed and continue to receive unemployment benefits while they do so.

■ Allow students to take state licensing exams before they complete their training, with the license issued as soon as they finish their training. This would prevent graduates from having to wait weeks or months before taking a licensing test.

■ Create a new transitional jobs program outside of Milwaukee so low-income people could build their job skills. The program would supplement one for Milwaukee included in the state budget.

In other news Tuesday, Wisconsin ranked as one of the best states in the country in a monthly index of economic activity issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

Last week’s report from the state Department of Workforce Development showed that Wisconsin added an estimated 7,300 private-sector jobs in August, though those preliminary numbers are subject to heavy revisions.

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate also declined last month to 6.7% in August from 6.8% in July. The rate fell mainly because several thousand unemployed Wisconsinites quit looking for work, which removed them from the official tally of the unemployed.

Nationally, the proportion of Americans working or looking for work fell to its lowest level in 35 years.

The most comprehensive set of jobs numbers for Wisconsin — a more reliable but less timely report covering the first three months of 2013 — comes out Thursday.

Lawmakers won’t just be considering jobs bills this fall.

The Senate, for instance, has yet to decide what to do with two abortion bills passed by the Assembly this year. One would ban abortions that are chosen because of the fetus’ sex and the other would bar public workers from using their government health insurance to pay for the procedure.

In June, the Assembly also approved a bill allowing online voter registration and doubling the amount of money donors can give candidates for governor and the Legislature. Senate leaders have not determined what they will do with the measure.

An earlier version of the measure included changes to election laws, and Assembly leaders have said they would like to adopt at least some of them later this session. The earlier package would have made it harder to recall municipal and school officials, limited early voting and modified the state’s voter ID law, which has been blocked by a judge.

 

Robotic welding program brings Walker to FVTC

From thenorthwestern.com: “Robotic welding program brings Walker to FVTC” — Learning to weld is normally a hands-on experience, but 14 Fox Valley Technical College students are taking a very hands-off approach to a new course.

Fox Valley Tech has introduced a course in robotic welding at its Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center on Oshkosh’s south side this semester as it responds to changing demands of area manufacturers.

The new program, and the eight robots mounted with MIG welding guns, caught the attention of Gov. Scott Walker, who toured the manufacturing campus Tuesday afternoon.

“We can compete with anybody in the world, anywhere around the world, but we’re not going to compete the way we used to,” Walker said. “Advanced manufacturing means people who have multiple skills that can be applied using not only crafts they’ve learned here, but also all the technology that goes with it.”

FVTC Metal Fabrication and Welding Instructor Ben Cebery said the college was able to use a portion of a three-year, $3 million Advanced Manufacturing Pathways Plus grant the U.S. Department of Labor awarded FVTC earlier this year to develop the robotic welding course’s curriculum.

“We’re seeing more automation in manufacturing,” Cebery said. “Surveys with local companies suggested it was a good idea for students to be exposed to automation. This program prepares students for what we’re seeing and the demands of industry.”

Jay Manufacturing CEO Matt Jameson said the company has six robotic welding stations and a lot more manual welding stations at its west side fabrication shop. He said the company has hired several welders recently, and needs to hire as many as 20 more. He said the company views robotic welding training as a definite plus.

“The more versatile a person is, the more we can do with them,” Jameson said. “If they know manual and robotic welding, that’s just a bonus. In addition, the people we have interviewed who tested well almost all had some form of technical college training.”

Joe Serio, of Menominee Falls, and Austin Kopplin, of Oshkosh, both said they’re excited to learn how to program the robots and get them to execute precision welds. Serio said he knows welders are in high demand, but learning more advanced skills like computer programming is vital to finding a good job.

“Usually, we don’t get to deal with computers much while welding, but there’s always someone who needs to run the robot in case something happens,” Serio said. “This comes easy and it’s a pretty nice skill to learn.”

Kopplin said he’s been impressed by the amount of programming required to get the robots to work and the precision with which they execute commands.

“It’s consistent and perfect every time,” Kopplin said. “You get jittery welding for six hours at a time, but these things can run all night.”

Cebery said the college reached out to companies who said students need to be familiar with robotic welding and asked them to provide one or two robots they use. He said Ariens Co., in Brillion, and Muza Metal Products, in Oshkosh, are just two of the companies that stepped up to help out.

“Getting eight robots on the floor would have cost an astounding amount of money,” Cebery said. “Finding another way was vital. Fortunately, we were able to find a way via donations and gifted equipment that exposes students to the different types of robotic welders. They get to learn on each of them.”

Governor stops at Western Technical College to tout budget

From wxow.com: “State budget outlines K-12 funding” — Governor Walker made a stop at Western Technical College Monday, as part of what he’s calling his “Working for Wisconsin Tour.” The governor’s speech focused on the newly signed budget and what he sees as the benefits for the state, including a $650 million income tax cut. The budget also includes K-12 education funding for the next two years.

“We want to continue to transform education in this state so we put more money in our public schools, about $300 per student over the next two years, in our public schools,” Gov. Walker said. “We provide more educational options for our families.”

All Democrats in the Senate and Assembly voted against the budget, in part because the K-12 education funding. Rather than $300 dollars per pupil over the two years, Democrats hoped for close to $550 per, money they say could have come from other portions of the budget.

“We don’t think that the income tax break is a really logical thing because most people won’t even notice the couple dollars a week that it’s going to benefit them,” said Rep. Steve Doyle, a Democrat from 94th Assembly District. “That money we think would have better gone to K-12 education so that we really can fund our schools to the level they need to be funded. Talking with my local school superintendents, they’re not sure what they’re going to do to make ends meet in this next budget.”

But the governor says schools are finding ways to operate within their state mandated means, citing a Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism report released last week, that shows many districts in the state maintained the same amount of full time staffers or close to it over the last few years. The governor says the funding Democrats wanted just wasn’t in the numbers.

“The last time the Democrats had control of the budget process, they raised taxes more than $1 billion, they raised taxes via local property taxes, and they still cut money from public education,” Gov. Walker said.

Still it’s not all disagreement between the two parties, one portion of the budget garnering bipartisan support is a two-year tuition freeze for UW-System. Both the governor and Rep. Doyle say that will be boost for students and the state.

During the Assembly budget debate, Democrats didn’t bring up any amendments. Rep. Doyle says Republican leadership told the caucus they would reject the democrats proposed changes anyway. Rep. Doyle says instead, they will bring up the reforms in various pieces of legislation next session.

 

 

Walker stops at NWTC for Jobs Tour

From nbc26.com: “Walker stops in Green Bay for Jobs Tour” — Governor Scott Walker talks manufacturing and jobs Monday at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College.

He was part of a round-table discussion at NWTC. The Governor says his main goal Is to make it easier to create jobs In our state. “Manufacturing is still our bread and butter,” Walker explained. “It’s about 20 percent of the state’s GDP. It’s a little bit higher here in the northeast, and so today is important.. working with the chamber here and our regional partners to talk about manufacturing.”

The Governor says he plans to take part in similar discussions all throughout Wisconsin.

Video from nbc26.com

 

Governor visits Gateway’s iMET Center

From journaltimes.com: “Governor’s manufacturing message resonates at Gateway” — STURTEVANT — As Gov. Scott Walker shook hands around the room at Gateway Technical College’s SC Johnson iMET Center Thursday, Brandon Dear pressed a small metal disc into the governor’s hands.

“It was kind of a token of appreciation,” explained Dear — a welding circle with the technical college’s name and Walker’s initials stamped into the metal.

Walker spoke Thursday at the iMET, or Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering Technology, Center as part of his Forward Manufacturing Tour, a statewide speaking circuit designed to connect with manufacturers and reinforce the value of the evolving industry to Wisconsin’s economy.

Dear, 24, was one of several Gateway students in attendance, along with local officials, business owners and state leaders who braved the rain to reach the center at 2320 Renaissance Blvd. in Sturtevant.

The governor reinforced positions from his state budget, including closing the skills gap through job training, and starting career tracks and workforce development training earlier. He talked about expanding exports to China, something the governor’s upcoming tour to the country is designed to foster.

Walker also summoned his oft-used punching bag to the south to favorably compare Wisconsin’s pension system, business taxes and bond rating to those in Illinois.

Those factors aside, in recent months Illinois’ job growth has actually increased at a faster rate than Wisconsin’s, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which recently knocked the dairy state to No. 44 in job growth nationally.

Walker announced plans to stimulate those stumbling numbers by convening local business and political leaders near state lines, and “invite hundreds of northeastern Illinois manufacturers to come up and visit us.” The goal, he said, is to show them the state’s positive business climate and incentivizing tax credit, ideally luring businesses across state lines.

To Dear, those promises are personal. Gaining skills means getting a job, he said, and getting a job means providing for his family, including a three-year-old daughter.

Although he was more or less ambivalent on the governor’s specific proposals, Walker’s core idea really resonated with Dear: “We do need a lot more jobs,” he said. “We need skills to get a job that supports our families. (Gateway) gives us those skills.”

Technical colleges head likes Walker’s budget incentives

From wpr.org: “Technical colleges head likes Walker’s budget incentives” — The head of Wisconsin’s technical colleges told state lawmakers yesterday that she supports the way Governor Walker’s budget would tie future state funding to performance.

Under Walker’s plan, the amount of state money tech schools receive would be tied to factors like how many students they place in the workforce and the number of degrees they award in high-demand fields. Wisconsin Technical College System President Morna Foy says it should lead to increased funding for tech schools, since these are already areas where they excel.

“I think the hope is that it’s going to make an easier decision and a more likely decision that new resources allocations to the technical college system will be seen as an investment from the state in which you are getting some great return.”

Democrats pointed out that Walker’s budget would boost funding for technical colleges by just $5 million in this budget, after cutting them by $71 million in the last.

Walker signs bill providing $15 million in work force training grants

From jsonline.com: “Scott Walker signs bill providing $15 million in work force training grants” — Madison – The state will distribute $15 million in worker training grants under a bill Gov. Scott Walker signed into law on Wednesday.

The measure will also create a system to better and more quickly track jobs data in an attempt to guide workers to in-demand professions. The jobs database is scheduled to be in place by next year.

The measure has broad bipartisan support, passing the Senate unanimously and the Assembly 94-4 in recent weeks. Despite minority Democrats’ support for the bill, they said it fell short and lawmakers should do more to develop workers’ skills.

“We all agree we need to continue to do everything we can to ensure workers have the necessary skills for the jobs available today,” Walker said in a statement. “This bill will help address the skills gap by investing in worker training grants and developing a Labor Market Information System. Altogether, these investments will focus a concerted effort to connect workers with jobs.”

The jobs database and training grants are part of the Republican governor’s platform of improving the skills of the state’s aging labor force and boosting the state’s economy in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The training plans draw on reports by Competitive Wisconsin and Tim Sullivan, the former Bucyrus International chief executive officer.

Democrats, however, have noted that Walker has proposed far less new money for training workers than the hundreds of millions of dollars that he and GOP lawmakers cut two years ago from the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Technical College System to help balance the state budget.

Walker made those cuts, as well as ones to local governments and school districts, just after approving a measure that all but eliminated collective bargaining for most public workers and required them to pay more for their pensions and health care. He has argued that those savings and the added flexibility offset the cuts, saying the bill he signed Wednesday amounts to new money.

The governor’s proposed budget would provide additional money for state universities and technical colleges, though the increase would be less than the amount he cut in 2011. Lawmakers will decide this summer whether to keep or alter Walker’s proposal on higher education spending.

The competitive grants available under the new law would go to technical colleges, local workforce boards and regional economic development organizations working in partnership with state businesses, which could provide matching funds.

 

Senate approves worker training bill

From jsonline.com: “Senate shrugs off snow, approves worker training” — Madison — The Senate plowed forward Tuesday, unanimously passing a $15 million worker training bill in spite of a snowstorm swirling around the statehouse.

The bill, which passed the Assembly 94-4 last week, aims to help Wisconsin’s labor force overcome challenges from overseas competition and its own advancing age. It now goes to Gov. Scott Walker, who proposed the legislation and will sign it.

The legislation aims to launch by 2014 a faster system to track jobs data and guide workers into in-demand professions. It would also provide state grants to groups that would help train workers for those jobs at a cost of $15 million over two years.

“This bill really does care for the working people in the state of Wisconsin,” the proposal’s lead sponsor, Sen. Rick Gudex (R-Fond du Lac), said.

The proposal from Walker is part of his administration’s larger platform for improving the skills of the state’s aging labor force and boosting the state’s economy in an increasingly competitive global marketplace. The governor’s agenda on worker training draws on reports by Competitive Wisconsin and former Bucyrus International executive Tim Sullivan.

Democrats, however, have pointed out that Walker has proposed far less new money for training workers than the hundreds of millions of dollars that he and GOP lawmakers cut two years ago from the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin Technical College System to help balance the state budget.

Democratic senators didn’t dwell on that, though, making no criticisms of the bill on the floor and leading with a statement from Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson of Milwaukee.

“While this bill only provides a small Band-Aid to an enormous gash in the budgets of our technical schools, there’s no doubt it’s a step in the right direction,” Larson said.

Walker made the UW System cuts – as well as ones to local governments and school districts – just after approving a measure that all but eliminated collective bargaining for public workers and required them to pay more for their pensions and health care. He has argued that those savings and the added flexibility offset the cuts, and that his proposed spending, including the bill that passed the Assembly on Thursday, amounts to new money.

The governor’s separate budget bill also provides additional money for state universities and technical colleges, though it is still less than the full amount of the 2011 cuts.

The competitive grants available under the bill would go to technical colleges, local workforce boards and regional economic development organizations working in partnership with state businesses, which could provide matching funds.

Last week in the Assembly, Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) offered an amendment to have the workforce programs run by the state’s technical colleges rather than the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Mason said giving the grant programs to the labor department amounted to duplicating work already done by technical colleges. Assembly Republicans voted to set aside that amendment 58-40, largely along party lines. They also tabled several other amendments that Democrats said would add accountability to the programs and make them less redundant as well as reduce the number of state jobs that would have to be created to do the work.

Also Tuesday, the Senate passed a bill to reduce certain routine state audits in order to allow state auditors to focus on problem areas. Lawmakers have been seeking more audits of programs such as one in which a private foster care agency allegedly defrauded taxpayers of millions of dollars.

Madison College officials comment on Walker’s funding plan

From madison.com: “Madison College officials wary of Scott Walker’s funding plan” — For some time now, Republicans in general, and Gov. Scott Walker in particular, have suggested that the state’s system of higher education is not focused enough on readying students for jobs.

How the governor would address that concern remained vague, particularly with regards to UW-Madison and other UW System schools, whose appeal comes at least in part from world-class liberal arts programs — few of which purport to guarantee young people high-paying jobs right out of college.

But this week he took his first stab at it, proposing to tie funding for technical colleges to the ability of their graduates to find jobs.

Says the governor’s summary of the plan:

“(T)he budget will phase in performance funding for all of the state aid given to technical colleges. It will begin at 10 percent in 2014-15 and would eventually total all $88.5 million general aid through performance by 2020. This would be roughly one-tenth of Wisconsin Technical College System school operational budgets. The funding formula would be developed by WTCS with Department of Administration oversight. The formula would be required to have a focus on job placement and programs focused in high-demand fields.”

So what do local tech school officials think about the proposal?

Terry Webb, provost of Madison College (formerly Madison Area Technical College), says accountability and even performance-based funding is welcome, but that tying funds to job placement is a flawed approach.

“Madison College and all the technical colleges are equipped to be tested on the career readiness of our graduates. We have systems in place that objectively measure that,” he says.

The ability of a qualified, well-trained student to immediately get a job in his or her field, however, is based on a number of variables that are out of the college’s control, he says, including the number of jobs available, the geographic location of the jobs and, of course, the personal choices the graduate makes after finishing school.

The school seems to be well-equipping its graduates for careers in health care, a rapidly expanding sector of particular importance to the Madison area.

For instance, according to Mark Lausch, dean of the School of Health Education, 100 percent of students graduating from Madison College’s dental hygiene program passed the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination, a required feat for anybody who wants to work in the field. Nationally, the pass rate was 83 percent.

The lowest pass rate comes in the medical assistant program, where 88 percent of students pass, compared to a national average of 67 percent.

“That’s a good reflection of how prepared our students are to find a job in the field they’re studying,” says Lausch.

But, he says, tying funding to job placement would fail to recognize the many students who attend tech schools with no intention of seeking a related job immediately after graduation.

“We have people who come here for a degree for something unrelated to what they’re working in. They’re looking for a credential or something that augments what they already know,” he says.

Webb says gearing the college’s programs toward job opportunities has always been the school’s chief concern, but that he hopes politicians and policymakers are wary of putting too much emphasis on whatever the “hot” sector is at the moment. After the tech bubble popped in 2000, he says, the college did not take resources away from information technology training, in recognition of the long-term benefits of such programs.

Nevertheless, there are frequently programs that are discontinued when the job prospects are deemed too bleak. For instance, the college recently ended its long-running printing program.

“The printing business went in some ways into a slump,” he says.

Governor wants to link tech college funding with performance

From jsonline.com: “University, college funding would be tied to job-readiness efforts” — Madison – To respond to global competition and an aging workforce, Gov. Scott Walker wants to invest nearly $100 million to build a faster system to track jobs data, tie technical school and university funding to filling high-demand professions and require nearly 76,000 people to train for work to collect food stamps.

The sweeping proposals – some of the biggest in worker training in more than a decade – would expand the Medical College of Wisconsin to Green Bay and Wausau and draw in millions of dollars in added federal money toward the goal of equipping the workforce for needed jobs as welders, nurses, accountants, machine operators and rural doctors.

The measures encompass big parts of the Republican governor’s 2013-’15 budget being introduced on Feb. 20, as well as separate legislation to be introduced on Monday.

Many of the proposals will likely find bipartisan support in the Legislature, while others will likely be greeted with dissatisfaction from Democrats pushing for bigger investments from the governor to backfill the cuts he has made in the current budget to the state’s technical colleges and universities.

One potentially contentious plank – and one with big implications for Milwaukee – is Walker’s proposal to require able-bodied adults without dependent children to train or search for work to receive benefits under the state FoodShare program. Providing the training will cost the state $17 million a year and won’t save money directly on the federally funded food benefits.

But in an interview, Walker said he believes the recipients will gain confidence and move into the workforce and off other costly state benefits.

“I want to provide a hand up, not a permanent handout, and I think the idea here is it’s not enough to just say, ‘You should go find a job.’ We’re willing to put our money where our mouth is and say we’ll train you,” Walker said.

The scope of the proposed changes is ambitious, reaching from 4-year-old kindergarten through university study and into training in the workplace. The measure draws on reports by Competitive Wisconsin, former Bucyrus International executive Tim Sullivan and Walker’s Read to Lead Task Force.

More investments in education will likely come in the budget, but likely not be enough to placate Democrats. They’ve stewed about Walker’s higher-education cuts in the current budget, which included some $300 million over two years to the University of Wisconsin System alone.

“Governor Walker made the biggest cuts to education and worker training in our state’s history,” said budget committee member Sen. Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse). “It has widened our skills gap and resulted in waiting lists (at technical colleges) of up to three years in some high-demand professions.”

Walker made the UW cuts – as well as ones to local governments and school districts – just after approving a measure that all but eliminated collective bargaining for public workers and required them to pay more for their pensions and health care.

He argued Friday that those savings and the added flexibility offset the cuts, and that to him his proposed spending in the next budget amounts to new money.

FoodShare

The FoodShare proposal would not affect the elderly, disabled or those with minor children. It would limit able-bodied recipients’ benefits to three months over any three-year period unless they are working or doing at least 20 hours per week of job training or searches.

The state will attract federal matching funds for the training costs for a total of $33 million over two years.

The proposal will face skepticism from advocates such as Sherrie Tussler, executive director of Hunger Task Force in Milwaukee. Tussler remembers previous state requirements as creating more jobs for social workers than it did for FoodShare recipients, who she said were taught just basic skills.

“There’s this huge bureaucracy to get people to do the work and make sure they’ve done it. It ends up costing more to mandate the work than the good you get. . . . You’re trying to take away people’s food to get them to get a job,” she said.

Currently, the training element to the program is voluntary, and Tussler said she has struggled to get state funding for a proposal to pay FoodShare participants $10 an hour to work at a farm growing vegetables for the needy. That’s because of tight federal restrictions, she said.

Technical Colleges

The governor is also proposing linking current state funding to technical schools with their performance at placing their more than 78,000 students in the right jobs.

Starting in 2014, Walker wants 10% of the general state aid to technical colleges to be awarded based on job placement and how well the schools do at catering to fields that are in high demand.

That percentage would ramp up in future years, until all state funds would be allocated on a performance basis, starting in 2020.

The technical colleges would see a $5 million boost in general state aid, bringing it to $88.5 million a year. That’s a 5.9% boost in its current funding, but does not come close to replacing all the money Walker cut from technical colleges in 2011.

That year, funding for technical schools dropped by 30%, from $119.3 million to $83.5 million.

The $88.5 million Walker will propose for technical colleges accounts for just a sliver of overall funding for those schools, which also receive property taxes, tuition and federal aid.

UW System

For state universities, Walker is proposing awarding $20 million for programs that help the economy, develop a skilled workforce and make higher education more affordable.

He also plans to give $2 million to the UW System to start up its flexible degree program – about two-thirds of the $3 million the system had requested.

The program is meant to allow people already in the workforce to get degrees in programs such as nursing, information systems or medical imaging more quickly by getting credits for knowledge they already have, whether they learned it on a job site or through online courses.

Walker’s budget would also require the university and technical college systems to establish a core set of 30 college credits that can be transferred between all public institutions in the state.

Private colleges would have a chance to opt into that system.

In a provision that could rankle GOP lawmakers, Walker wants to allow the UW-Madison chancellor to determine the pay plan for employees without going through the Legislature.

Similarly, the UW Board of Regents would be able to set pay for other campuses without getting sign-off from lawmakers – flexibility that UW System President Kevin Reilly said was essential to closing a pay gap with salaries at other institutions.

“Over time, if we can’t give our people hope we’ll be able to close that 18 percentage point gap, people who are mobile and attractive to other universities will leave,” Reilly said. “The biggest threat to students of the future is that they will not be taught by the best and brightest.”

Health care

Walker’s budget would also seek to increase the number of doctors and dentists in Wisconsin, particularly in rural areas.

It would:

• Provide $7.4 million in bonding so the Medical College of Wisconsin could establish campuses in the Green Bay and Wausau areas. In addition, the college would receive $1.75 million over two years to add 12 more family medicine residents.
• Give $3 million over two years to the UW School of Medicine so it can expand training for doctors who will serve rural areas and inner cities.
• Provide $4 million for rural hospitals so they can receive national accreditation and take on medical residents, along with $1 million in grants to hospitals so they can take more doctors in training.
• Give $520,000 to the Marquette Dental School so it can expand.
• Provide $5 million to the Wisconsin Health Information Organization, which is meant to make health care costs more transparent and make people wiser health care consumers.

Education, other items

Walker’s budget would also expand testing in schools so by the 11th grade teachers can identify and better prepare students who are ready for college or a career when they graduate.

The testing would cost $11.5 million over two years and would be covered by the state. The proposal would also screen the reading readiness of students in 4-year-old kindergarten and first grade in the fall of 2013. The following year, screening would also be used for second-graders. The plan would cost $2.8 million over two years.

Starting in sixth grade, students could develop an academic and career plan, under Walker’s budget. The plan would be updated throughout a student’s school career so he or she can graduate from high school with a job plan. Schools would receive about $1.1 million starting in the fall of 2014.

The second set of Walker’s proposed workforce changes will be stand-alone legislation that will be introduced on Monday, said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester). He said he hoped to pass the measure by the end of March.

That bill would cost $20 million over two years and would:

• Spend $15 million over two years in grants to organizations that train workers.
• The competitive grants would go to technical colleges, local workforce boards and regional economic development organizations working in partnership with state businesses, which could provide matching funds.
• Create a four-person state Office of Skills Development to coordinate the scattered worker-training systems of the state and adapt them to the needs of employers.
• Spend roughly $5 million to develop a system to better track the state’s labor market by some time in 2014.

If successful, it would more quickly deliver to students, guidance counselors and businesses data from the state’s unemployment system that currently takes six months to become public.

The system would link jobless workers to openings they are qualified to fill and provide students and guidance counselors with better information about career opportunities. If successful in getting the unemployed back to work even a week sooner, the system could save the state tens of millions of dollars.

Walker, who has struggled to meet his pledge to create 250,000 private-sector jobs in his first term, said the system wasn’t an attempt to gloss over the current figures, just deliver the same data more quickly.

MPTC boot camp graduate honored by Gov. Walker

From fdlreporter.com: “MPTC boot camp graduate honored by Gov. Walker” — When Diane Stepp was laid off last August, she probably didn’t think that six months later she would be recognized by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

In Walker’s Jan. 16 State of the State address, the Fond du Lac woman was among those honored for completing a vigorous 15-week Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machinist Boot Camp through Moraine Park Technical College. Stepp was one of 12 graduates who completed the first boot camp funded through the Wisconsin Covenant Foundation Inc.

The only female in her CNC class, Stepp was not intimidated by her fellow students after growing up with five brothers.

“All of my classmates were very good people and very smart,” Stepp said. “It seemed like everyone really enjoyed themselves and supported each other. We were all there to succeed and that was a good feeling. It was never a competition.”

Each student was required to complete an internship at one of the partnering companies. Stepp was placed at Ameriquip in Kiel for her internship and was asked if she wanted to continue working there in a full-time role as a CNC operator.

Six months ago the Governor awarded a $705,647 Wisconsin Workforce Partnership grant that allowed MPTC to quickly train students in CNC and welding, two job platforms in need of skilled workers.

In October, 12 students who were unemployed or working in a position unrelated to CNC entered the boot camp. On Friday, Jan. 11, they received completion certificates at Moraine Park’s West Bend campus.

Cmpleting the boot camp in addition to Stepp were Jeremy Blonigen of Eldorado; Jason Sippel of St. Cloud, Alex Anderson of Hartford; Paul Dadian of Jackson, Patrick Enright, Bob Lepak, Steven Maitz, and Jay Reisdorf of West Bend; Matthew Metrusias of Slinger, Michael Rath of Hubertus and Frank Vroman of Cedarburg.

The second set of 15-week boot camps begins in February. In all, MPTC expects to offer nine boot camps with the partnering companies and fill 108 new positions over the three-year grant period.

• For more information about the boot camps, visit morainepark.edu/boot camps.

 

Tech colleges are addressing skills gap

From channel3000.com: “Walker wants tech schools to address skills gap” — As Gov. Scott Walker looks to technical schools to address the skills gap, some colleges say they’re already doing what’s being proposed.

Walker has been making a continued case for performance-based funding for education, including for tech colleges, to send more skilled workers to businesses that say they can’t find qualified workers to fill needed positions.

“Whatever the reason is, we need to find a way to say not just offer the classes, not just have kids in the classes, but make sure they graduate and get plugged into those jobs,” Walker said on Monday.

But officials at Madison College said they’re already taking strides to do that, including having a business advisory board for every occupational program offered at the college in order to match curriculum and course offerings to what businesses need.

Turina Bakken, associate vice president for learner success at the college, said Madison College wants to be able to offer a diversity of programs but would be open to additional funding to target the skills gap.

“Certainly, there are going to be industry-specific areas where maybe things change more quickly than we’re able to react to, so that’s why any additional funding or creative partnerships we can get and build that will allow us to work in partnership with industry to meet those gaps more quickly, then we’re all for it,” said Bakken.

But the skills gap issue isn’t as simple as that at the college level.

Madison College said it’s graduating as many students as it can given the resources in some programs. In 2011, the college graduated dozens of automotive technicians, machine tooling techs, welders, maintenance technicians as well as medical lab technicians and IT positions. Based on surveys returned from those graduates, most of them got jobs right away.

But the college said that’s not all it can focus on.

“One of our dilemmas is when you get into saying, ‘OK, there’s a need for welders,’ but there’s also a need for child care workers and vet techs and paralegals,” said Bakken. “It’s difficult for us to start to put more value on one industry than another.”

Welding is one of the most popular programs at the college. But meeting the demand for some programs isn’t the only problem.

“For retiring and aging workers, we’re not getting the initial interest from younger (students). There are fewer younger students entering the manufacturing workplace,” said Lisa Delany, associate dean of applied technology at Madison College.

Dan Schmidt, of Lake Mills, is in the welding program at Madison College in hopes of starting a new career.

“The main reason I got into the program was because I lost my position I had after 26 years,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt’s career at Madison Kipp Corporation had given him years of experience but his layoff had him see the light that experience wasn’t enough for some employers.

“I had 12 interviews in a 10-month period, and nobody said, ‘Hey, you’re just the guy I’m looking for,” Schmidt said.

Now as a student at Madison College, he said he hopes a degree in welding will lead to re-employment.

The welding program is one of the most in-demand areas Madison College sees right now.

“We have hired three additional faculty. We’ve expanded our physical capacity here in Madison and at Fort Atkinson,” Bakken said.

Madison College officials said they’re already working with local employers to see workforce trends and to design programs around those trends.

The college also said that manufacturing, health care and IT are also the most expensive programs to fund, so that should be kept in mind when allocating funding to schools in the next budget.

 

Gov. Walker proposes changes to education funding

From madison.com: “Gov. Scott Walker unveils agenda for Wisconsin during speech in California” — Gov. Scott Walker unveiled major new policy initiatives Friday night in a speech in California, including decreasing taxes, boosting the school voucher program and requiring Wisconsin’s schools, technical colleges and universities to meet certain benchmarks to earn state funding.

Among the proposals was one to tie funding for technical colleges and the University of Wisconsin System with how well those institutions prepare students to take available and needed jobs in Wisconsin.

The glimpse into Walker’s legislative agenda came at the end of an hourlong talk at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Foundation in Simi Valley, Calif. Walker had been in Las Vegas for a meeting of the Republican Governors Association, where he was elected vice chairman.

The speech was not covered live by Wisconsin media but was available on the Internet. Among those in attendance was one of Walker’s biggest campaign donors, Diane Hendricks of ABC Supply in Janesville.

Walker’s talk focused on what the governor described as his successful initiatives to reduce the cost of benefits for public workers, improve the quality of education, boost the economy and maintain social services. After the speech, a woman who described herself as a “fellow Wauwatosan” asked what Walker planned to do now that Republicans had regained control of both houses of the state Legislature.

“We’re working on massive tax reform,” Walker said.

“We think if we want to continue the economic success we’ve had over the last year and a half, again one of the best ways to do that is to put more money back in the hands of entrepreneurs, more money back in the hands of small business owners, more money back in the hands of our consumers.”

Walker added he plans to push for lower property taxes, which is the primary revenue source for schools and local governments. And he said he will propose “aggressive income tax reduction and reform.”

Education reform

The Republican governor said his proposals for education reform will tie funding to outcomes, including how well the education system meets the need for trained workers. Walker said he has heard “tremendous concerns” from employers in health care, manufacturing and information technology “that they have jobs but they just don’t have enough skilled workers to meet those jobs.”

The governor said he plans to tie education funding to performance, ranging from kindergarten-through-12th grade schools, which now are evaluated by state-required report cards, to the technical college and University of Wisconsin systems.

“What we’re going to do is not just put money in … we’re going to make investments that are driven off of performance,” Walker said.

“We’re going to tie our funding in our technical colleges and our University of Wisconsin System into performance and say if you want money, we need you to perform, and particularly in higher education, we need you to perform not just in how many people you have in the classroom.

“In higher education, that means not only degrees, but are young people getting degrees in jobs that are open and needed today, not just the jobs that the universities want to give us, or degrees that people want to give us?”

Walker also said he wants to do more to help choice, charter and virtual schools in Wisconsin but offered no specifics.

Senate Minority Leader-elect Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee said he was disappointed Walker chose to unveil some of his initiatives in California before Republican supporters and donors rather than Wisconsin residents.

Larson said his impression from the talk was that Walker has no plans to moderate his stances and instead plans to continue a path of “divide and conquer.”

He contrasted Walker’s plans to “hyper scrutinize” public schools while giving more money to “unaccountable” private schools that studies show perform no better or worse than public schools.

The Democratic lawmaker said Walker’s proposal for higher education funding sounds like “social engineering” that would force students to study “what industry wants” rather than what students want.

UW System spokesman David Giroux said in the last state budget, the Legislature ended up for the first time giving the UW specific performance measures that it is required to report on annually.

When the UW System put in a modest request for new funding in this biennium, it said specifically that it would tie the funding to new initiatives focused on workforce development and economic development, Giroux said.

“In some respects at least, we’re already there,” Giroux said. “We’re not just asking for new money carte blanche. We’re asking for state investment. And we are promising to deliver a return on that investment.”

Christina Brey, spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers union, said it’s one thing for Walker to give lip service to world-class schools and it’s another thing to back his words with actions.

“The actions we’ve seen in the state are historic cuts to education funding, even though there is no better return on investment to taxpayers than education,” Brey said.

She said it defies common sense that the state would now refuse to direct aid to students who need it most, while at the same time telling schools they are responsible for implementing new accountability systems, educator evaluation systems, and Common Core standards — a uniform standard for what students should know each year that is used by most states, among other initiatives.

The public schools are responsible for all of these initiatives, Brey said, and to talk about cutting funding or refusing funding increases for schools that need it most, while siphoning more public funding away from public schools to the unaccountable voucher schools, is wrong.

GOP on board

State Assembly Speaker-elect Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said he saw snippets of the California speech and it contained simple ideas Assembly Republicans have been talking about on the campaign trail for the last six months: reducing the income tax rate, trying to make it easier for a business to begin and thrive, and ways to make the state’s education system more accountable and produce better results.

“I think it’s pretty much consistent with what we have been saying,” Vos said. “I’m excited about it. I think that Gov. Walker joins a cohesive group of Legislative Republicans who are all heading in the same direction. I hope the Democrats will take our hands and work with us to try to find some common ground.”

Walker’s vision for the state has focused on letting families keep as much of the money they earn in their pockets as possible, and have the state do things that are necessary, but figure out ways to do that more effectively, Vos said.

“He’s laying out a good first step,” he said, “which is to put the agenda out there and involve the public early, and now we’ll have an opportunity for the Legislature to get involved.”