Education, energy gets attention

Education, energy gets attention
by Kelly Bell/ Contributing Writer

More support for career technical education was the major point of comments recently made before the Governor’s Competitiveness Council by John Stroud, executive director of the Longview Economic Development Corporation.

“The high school drop out rate in Texas is 35% and as high as 50% along the border with Mexico. A major goal of a “competitiveness council” must be to keep more of our students in high school or otherwise we will have lost all opportunities for good jobs or going to a two-year or four-year college,” according to Stroud.

70 to 80% of jobs in Texas require a high school diploma, certification, or two-year degree according to studies completed by Perryman and Associates. “We know that students who participate in career technical courses have better grades, better attendance, and higher graduation rates – all of which are significant in helping fill the talent gap.

According to Stroud, there are several forces at work creating shortages looming on the horizon: baby boomers retiring, economic growth, in Texas and East Texas, and changing skills. “We have highly skilled jobs that pay very, very well that employers have not been able to fill due to shortages in manufacturing, mining, and health care.”

According to Governor Rick Perry in a draft report of the Competitiveness Council: “To remain competitive in the 21st century global economy, Texas must create a seamless system of opportunity and innovation, starting when young Texans enter grade school and continuing until they graduate from college, qualified for jobs that will keep our state at the forefront of the global market.” “Talent”, according to the Council, “is the foundation for the next generation of emerging industries that will serve as the engines of prosperity in the coming decades.”

Mayor Jay Dean of Longview appointed a Task Force early this year to address workforce readiness so schools will have the flexibility to teach career technical courses in stead of the fourth year math and science now required. According to James Wilcox, superintendent of the Longview ISD, who is heading the task force, schools will be able to provide many opportunities to teach in a more relevant manner.

The Governor’s Competitiveness Council, a group of private-sector leaders has released a report with recommendations on Texas energy policy. Basically, the report supports the existing competitive energy market.

The most controversial of the recommendations involves the creation of a “public-private partnership among industrial and large commercial energy customers, petroleum and generation companies, chambers of commerce, the PUC, TCEQ and RRC to educate the public on the cost of carbon regulation to Texans. This partnership should inform its work by conducting a study highlighting the cost of carbon regulation versus environmental benefits to Texans.” The report refers to carbon regulations proposed at the federal level as “draconian.”

The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club immediately attacked this recommendation. “Instead of putting our heads in the sand and hoping that global warming legislation doesn’t pass, and then having public money spent on telling Texans that it’s bad, in Texas we should prepare ourselves to reduce global warming gases and become real leaders on a new clean energy economy,” said the Sierra Club’s Cyrus Reed. “We can reduce global warming gases, create jobs and save consumers money if we are smart on how we respond to the challenge of climate change and expected federal legislation.”

Additionally, the report proposes sales tax exemptions for solar power equipment and clean coal technology.