43
Kasich unveils training plan at Brilex
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
John Kasich, the Republican nominee for governor, unveiled a proposal to provide job training to those who are working and vowed to simplify the state’s current job-training system for the unemployed.
It was the first campaign policy Kasich introduced outside Columbus. With Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor, his running mate for lieutenant governor, by his side, Kasich discussed his proposal Thursday at Brilex Industries in Youngstown.
“I’m really proud to do this in the Mahoning Valley where I think we need these kinds of things more than anywhere else,” Kasich said.
Taylor asked 13 local business owners at an Aug. 10 roundtable discussion in Boardman about problems with the state’s job- training programs. None of the business owners said he or she had problems with the programs. At the time, Taylor said she and Kasich had heard the opposite during discussions with business leaders in other parts of the state.
“The type of collaboration that’s occurred in the Valley is an example of what can benefit businesses across Ohio,” Rob Nichols, a Kasich-Taylor spokesman, said after Thursday’s event. “Businesses and training centers work closely in the Valley in an innovative way to address training needs. John’s proposal supports those efforts by strengthening training for workers who have jobs to help to prevent problems, not just react to them.”
Only $11 million of Ohio’s $150 million job-training budget can be used to train those who are employed with the rest going toward those without jobs, Kasich said.
Kasich plans to use $20 million in casino licensing fees for training vouchers for the employed in addition to the $11 million. After a year, the program would be re-evaluated, he said.
Because of its complexity, only 15 percent of small businesses and 17 percent of midsize companies in the state use public job-training programs, Kasich said.
Also, there are at least eight state agencies involved in more than 50 job-training programs without coordination, he said.
If elected governor, Kasich said he’d eliminate the Governor’s Workforce Policy Advisory Board and replace it with a “new substantive” policymaking group that would report to the governor.
Kasich wouldn’t commit Thursday to eliminating any other agency or program, saying he’d figure out which work and which need to go after he’s elected. He is challenging Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, in the November general election.
In response, Strickland said he’s already done what Kasich “only talks about.”
“Over the past few years, we have consolidated job- training programs to make them more business- friendly and placed them under departments that can best connect workers with businesses,” Strickland said.