Education & Workforce Development

Education Reform & Efficiency

  • Advocate for reducing barriers and creating incentives which result in sharing & consolidating of business services and noncore functions (i.e. transportation/food service) with the goal of reducing the number of K12 school districts in Michigan.
  • Advocate exempting school construction projects/consolidation from the “Prevailing Wage” Act.
  • Ensure open and competitive bidding is achieved when evaluating public school employee’s health care insurance premiums. In addition, require minimum employee contribution toward health care premiums. 
  • Advocate that public school employees are moved out of a defined benefit style retirement plan to a contribution style retirement plan.

Why? School consolidation drives more tax dollars into the classroom for student instruction. At a minimum, school districts should be encouraged to consolidate administrative services while retaining local control of academics. Efficient use of funds at the administrative level, as well as privatization of services like transportation and food service, will shift the focus from continuously trying to meet the revenue demands of the school bureaucracy to producing better results for students, parents and employers.

Education Quality

  • Support full implementation and accountability of the new Michigan high school graduation requirements (MCL 380.1278a, MCL 380.1278b, HB 6247 of 2008).
  • Advocate for promoting and incentivizing innovative educational opportunities, professional/ leadership development and increased use of technology by schools/school districts.
  • Support the Michigan Department of Education, Legislature, Office of the Governor and the broader education community in holding ‘Schools of Education’ accountable for the quality of teachers and administrators they graduate and credential.

Why? Our future economic security and prosperity demands a generation of graduates with solid academic knowledge, worldclass technical skills, reliable and professional work habits, and enthusiastic, creative analytical minds. High standards as well as opportunities to achieve must be available to all students, and schools must be given the opportunity and flexibility to develop and implement innovative educational opportunities.

Career Preparation

  • Support the alignment of Michigan’s curriculum with the needs of emerging industries.
  • Support prescriptive program opportunities for local businesses to make a measurable difference in education quality and results in their communities, including programs such as student career exploration and the Chamber’s Educator in the Workplace initiative.
  • Actively participate in developing and promoting initiatives that increase graduation rates and improve academic achievement by strengthening and supporting school districts, including programs such as the Grand Rapids Public Schools’ new Centers of Innovation and the Schools of Hope program.
  • Actively promote, communicate and educate stakeholders of the Consensus Principles for Education: Focus on the K12 System.
  • Advocate for legislation and initiatives that promote childhood and youth development. 

Why? Today’s economy demands a careerready workforce, conscientious of employable skills and driven by innovative, future focused curriculum. The education of tomorrow’s workforce is the responsibility of not just teachers, but also business and industry.

Workforce Development

  • Advocate for future focused reeducation of dislocated, transitional and incumbent workers, concentrating on transferable skills and lifelong learning. 
  • Advocate learning incentives for both employer and employee which embrace and result in life long learning of employable skills. 
  • Promote increased adoption of the National Career Readiness Certificate as a valid and valuedriven skills certification tool and work to build employer recognition of, and demand for, NCRC/WorkKeys testing in West Michigan.

Why? As the state faces one of the highest unemployment rates in history, the focus of businesses, industries and education systems needs to be on reeducating those already in the workforce. This, combined with the growing concern of retaining the talented products of our school systems, places pressure on employers to encourage employee training and development, and to tailor this training to the needs of the market and its emerging industries. By providing future focused training and lifelong learning opportunities, businesses and industries can better position themselves for an economic upswing. Employees must embrace a new concept of continuous life long learning to be employable in the future workforce.