Career center conference begins

SPRINGDALE — The state needs to examine whether it’s putting enough money into career education, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Monday during a speech kicking off a conference for Springdale educators.

Arkansas provides about $20.1 million annually for its 26 career centers, each of which draws students from multiple school districts. That total amount hasn’t changed in nearly a decade, even as new career centers have opened, Hutchinson said.

“So we’re going to have to look at the adequacy of that funding and would like to be able to put more money into it as we grow more career centers,” he said.

Hutchinson was keynote speaker of the annual Academy for Career Educators in Springdale, a three-day conference designed for educators to better understand the demand for skilled employees in Northwest Arkansas and career opportunities for students after high school.

About 35 educators from Springdale’s School District attended the first day of the conference, which is put on by the Springdale Chamber of Commerce. Mayor Doug Sprouse, Northwest Arkansas Community College President Evelyn Jorgenson and Northwest Technical Institute President Blake Robertson were among the others who turned out Monday, at least for the governor’s appearance.

Randy Zook, president and chief executive officer of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, spoke after Hutchinson. He reiterated the state is not investing enough in career and technical education.

“The payoff is enormous,” Zook said.

The United States is in the midst of a historic economic expansion that started eight years ago, Zook said. There are 6.7 million open jobs in the nation; that suggests somewhere around 67,000 open jobs in Arkansas, some paying in the six-figure range, he said. They include jobs in many fields including health care, diesel mechanics, welding and construction.

“All of those fields are screaming for people,” Zook said.

He mentioned a new company that moved to south Arkansas that pledged to hire 130 people within the first two years here. After 18 months the company employs 112 people.

Despite receiving hundreds of applicants, the company can’t find more employees for one of three big reasons: The applicants either have no demonstrated work ethic, they can’t pass a drug test, or they can’t read at a ninth-grade level, Zook said.

Hutchinson talked about the state’s plan to address workforce needs. Part of the plan is to eliminate the perception of career and technical education as being somehow inferior to the college-preparation track.

Another goal is to “break down the silos,” so that high

schools, higher-education institutions and businesses are working together to develop a skilled workforce, Hutchinson said.

Jared Henderson, the Democratic nominee for governor challenging Hutchinson this year, provided the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette a statement via email on job training initiatives in Arkansas. Too many high school graduates think college is the only path to a viable career, he said. Some companies in serious need of more skilled workers are willing to work with school districts to prepare students for jobs, Henderson said.

“For high school students who decide entering the workforce is their preferred path, we should encourage them with opportunities to learn new sets of skills that fit their interests and provide good-paying jobs that allow them to set out on meaningful, sustainable careers,” Henderson said.

Conference attendees, after hearing from Hutchinson and Zook, boarded school buses for a field trip to MultiCraft Contractors, a Springdale firm that employs about 700 people across a wide range of trades.

They got to tour the 17-acre campus on North Lowell Road and hear from company representatives about the kinds of career opportunities available.

Multi-Craft officials told the group one of the most important

things for potential employees to have are “soft skills,” such as being able to show up on time every day and being able to get along with people.

“If they have a good attitude and work ethic — things your mother should have taught you, as we say — we can work with that. That’s vitally important,” said Scott Barrows, Multi-Craft’s chief operations officer.

Multi- Craft, like many firms in its field, is looking to hire additional workers, said Kevin McDonald, the company’s safety director.

“The economy right now is really strong,” McDonald said. “If you don’t have a job right now, you really don’t want a job.”

Melissa Jennings, a chemistry teacher who just finished her first year at HarBer High School, has a small group of students she advises. She signed up for the conference to learn some things she might pass on to her students, she said. Jennings said she’s pleased with the initiatives the governor has announced for workforce development.

Robert Johnson, a career development teacher at George Junior High School, said he’s attended all three of the Academy for Career