WORKforce development

Purpose

To promote policy designed to more effectively provide the business community with a high quality and skilled workforce.   

2019 Legislative Initiatives

K-12 Policies, as adopted from Oklahoma Achieves

• Protect accountability systems, like A-F school site report cards and the Reading Sufficiency Act, to ensure schools have strong metrics by which to measure growth and improvement

• Reform Oklahoma’s school funding formula so it is more transparent, student-centered and, as much as possible, allows funding to follow a student

• Expand access to programs that expedite credential attainment, college credit and concurrent enrollment for students statewide

• Fund advancement opportunities for teachers through the newly-created teacher licensure ladder

• Develop and fund a mechanism to assist educators with loan forgiveness through public-private funding who agree to stay in the profession, with increased funding for teachers who teach in a high-need subject area or school

• Support the passage of policies that promote school choice in order to give students free market choice when selecting the school that best meets their individual needs

• Give public charter schools equal access to similar resources as traditional public schools and oppose efforts to restrict charter school expansion

• Support additional funding to the State Department of Education’s Competitive Grant Pool to provide additional resources to schools for innovative, research-based programs

WORKFORCE AND POST-SECONDARY 

• Create incentives for hiring more STEM and critical occupation related educators in postsecondary education to meet workforce needs and to be comparable with the private sector

• Prioritize education funding and student recruitment efforts for programs and reforms designed to address current and future Oklahoma workforce needs in STEM and other critical occupations utilizing a performance review process

• Support initiatives that encourage businesses to participate in career pathways or career exploration programs that are specific to the current and future needs of Oklahoma’s economy

• Increase access to degree and industry endorsed skills certificate programs tied to critical occupations and support employer incentives for programs such as apprenticeships and internships

• Support and expand access to higher education and Career Tech programs through Oklahoma's Promise and maintain its continued funding

• Promote collaboration among educational entities and the private sector to strengthen the state’s workforce pipeline to meet the needs of current and future jobs in critical occupations by aligning their courses and curricula with industry-identified needs and skills 
   

Issue Brief: Workforce Development (2017)
Workforce Development Member Profile: Brad Boles, President for Wilco Machine & Fab, Inc.
2016 Accountability for a Competitive Economy (ACE) Book