Almost anything that frees state taxpayer money from well-worn channels, allowing cash to flow to where it's needed, is good for the state's growing areas.
Therefore, Sen. Jane English's deal on job training is good for Northwest Arkansas.
English is a state senator from North Little Rock who got some basic reform of the workforce training system. In exchange, she voted for renewing the funding for the private option health care package. News accounts have rightly focused upon the most important aspect of that deal: It secured the needed super-majority for the health care plan in the state Senate. English's reforms hold a lot of merit of their own, though, and the issue she addresses matters to us.
Something close to a thousand skilled trade jobs opened up in Northwest Arkansas last year. Guess how many local folks graduated or attained some certification in those fields, such as welding or operating an industrial-scale refrigeration system. Less than a hundred. I'll have the details in a news story coming out next month.
Our region has long been able to attract people with skills to move here. That's great, but a whole lot of people who are here already aren't getting a chance. Too many people already here are left behind.
Too much of our state's limited workforce training money gets spread around too widely. Like all government spending, there's pressure to not leave anybody out. Therefore, a lot of programs all over the state get something while none get enough money to do real good. That's a harsh and crude assessment, but it's true at the core.
English's reform would spend more money wherever there are jobs to fill. That sort of thing sounds nice and has been tried before. So the best thing about English's demands are the hard-edged political realism they show.
For instance, the Arkansas Economic Development Commission would direct more of the job training money. The AEDC is much more concerned with jobs than with maintaining the status quo of spending among, say, community colleges with their backers in the Legislature.
There's a reason English's reforms show insight. Before she was a state senator, English served as director of the state's Workforce Investment Board from 2001 to 2004. Before that, she was a senior project manager for Arkansas Industrial Development Commission from 1984 to 1999. (The industrial development commission got the Legislature to change the agency's name to the economic development commission in 1997.) English has expressed her frustrations before.
"We are not going to start another program at a two-year college or anywhere, in high school or anything, if it doesn't meet industry standards," English said when her deal was struck. "We are not going to have one every five miles."
Nothing helps gets a thing done quite so much as knowing exactly what you want to do. Then, when your chance comes, you're ready. Fixed in your aim, supple in your methods, steadfast in your patience and fast when you act. That's how reform gets done.
Companies have more data about a local community than they've ever had before. A new company thinking of moving anywhere in Arkansas will, as likely as not, check the local workforce training system before ever taking a good look here. English's changes will make us look better.
Veteran political observers have expressed some surprise at how good a deal English got. Even English expressed some wonder at how quickly the governor snatched up her proposal. This surprise isn't warranted. Political leverage works both ways. The governor can now carry out some much-needed reform. When the hue and cry goes up, he can say "Hey, I had to pass private option." And when local lawmakers hear complaints about money being cut and sent somewhere else -- such as Northwest Arkansas -- they can say "Hey, we needed private option to save the local hospital."
Political news coverage focuses on the big, dramatic stories. Smaller tragedies don't make headlines but matter more when there are enough of them. This recession has been hard on the young. Too many people launched their working lives in a sluggish economy. Far too many will never see their earnings catch up, stuck behind the curve for good. I can pine for all the lost paper riches of my 401(k) from now on. I wouldn't, and shouldn't, get much sympathy from anyone who's never had a job with retirement benefits at all.
English's deal addresses a real-world problem. She and the governor are to be commended.
Commentary on 02/23/2014