Today, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ran a small, unobtrusive article titled "Walker plans to link job training money, local education reform." According to the article, today Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is announcing "a new policy to disburse hundreds of millions of dollars in federal job training funds each year - and will link the funds to reforms of local education curriculums."
At present, the federal government distributes job training funds to five state agencies which then distribute the funds to various organizations according to their own formulas. Walker's new plan will change that completely. The funds will no longer be distributed to those agencies. Instead, regional "workforce investment boards" will apply to the Governor's Council on Workforce Investment (a federally required state body founded about a decade ago) for the funds.
What is new, and shocking, is how distribution of those funds will be determined. According to Tim Sullivan, the current chairman of the CWI,
"(f)or the first time, job training funds will be tied directly to commitments to reform the curriculums of each region's K-12 school systems, as well as each region's technical colleges. Educators will be required to create programs tailored to the needs of local employers.Sullivan also said that the new plan amounts to an education reform."
Apparently, schools around the state will have their educational curricula set based on what local employers want to see in future employees.
According to the notes from a June 2, 2011 CWI conference call, the "Governor’s vision is to create a flexible statewide workforce system." Some of Walker's priorities include (according to the conference call):
-Improving the alignment between the skills needed by private sector employers and the education and job training systems that provide the pipeline of workers (emphasis theirs);-Allocating funds to regions where business, the K-12 system, post secondary education and training systems (technical colleges/universities) and other key stakeholders and regional sectors are aligned in purpose;
-Aligning school system curricula with the education and training needed for successful job placements, including basic education requirements for all systems along with the ability to tailor programming to reflect the needs of a local area.
Other "priorities" are noted in the link.
Although I can see the benefit of including some agricultural science curriculum in schools that serve children from agriculturally dominant areas, I do not believe that is the extent of what Scott Walker has planned. And a google search did not find other similar agenda in other states. The only further mention I can see of Walker's plans comes from a tweet he posted on his "Office of the Governor" website earlier today:
"Just spoke @ gathering of community fdns from around WI about how they can partner on education, social services & development."I will update when possible. But so far, other than the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article, there has been nothing else written about what seems to me to be a shocking development.
