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Governor Kevin Stitt paid a visit to Tri County Tech on Thursday morning to meet with participants in the Skills to Rebuild program funded by the Governor's Emergency Education Relief Fund.

Skills to Rebuild helps train underemployed or unemployed Oklahomans to be able to obtain jobs identified in the local area. Gov. Stitt said Tri County Tech projects 450 graduates from the program by May with an average hourly wage increase of $3.04. He said some graduates have seen their salaries double in their new careers.

According to Gov. Stitt, 40-percent of Oklahomans are on the sidelines looking for work. Stitt said some are either disabled or are choosing not to be in the workforce because of other responsibilities, but there are also those that have given up on the hope of looking for work. He said these are the reasons why the Skills to Rebuild initiative is so important for Oklahomans to get back engaged.

If Oklahoma can get its "Labor Force Participation" up by four points, Gov. Stitt said the State will be in the Top Ten in the nation in that category. Stitt encouraged the public to get out and into a Career Tech like Tri County Tech. He said they want to help invest in you and get you into a successful career. 

Tri County Tech Superintendent and CEO Lindel Fields (pictured right) said they've seen 3,557 applications for the Skills to Rebuild program. Fields said that tells them that there are people that want stability. He said the way to stability is a good job, and the way to a good job is career training, the kind of career training that takes place at Tri County and other Career Techs in Oklahoma.

Skills to Rebuild was launched in the 2020-2021 school year in an effort to help jump-start the economy amidst double-digit unemployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fields, who will retire later this year from TCT, told the Oklahoma Council of Public Affair (OCPA), that they want to take the successful program statewide. He said the program has had “quite a bit of success with a completion rate of 85 percent.” In addition, at least 85 percent of program graduates have been placed in jobs paying an average of more than $13 per hour, a three dollars per hour increase over their pre-program earnings.

Now, Fields said, he has asked the governor’s office to use new COVID relief funds to support $10.3 million in scholarship funding for Skills to Rebuild programs at 15 other career tech centers.

“Those funds would support programs for some 11,800 more students to move them into jobs paying an average of $17 per hour,” Fields said, noting that many of those employers have already been identified as awaiting trained workers. “That would result in an annual payroll boost of from $307 to $350 million.” 

Pictured below, Governor Stitt speaks with students enrolled in the Skills to Rebuild program at Tri County Tech. From top to bottom, Aaron COMP TIA Security+ and Hannah, CNA Certified Nursing Aid, speak with Gov. Stitt.

At the top Oklahoma income tax rate of five percent that increased income would generate a potential $17.5 million in income tax revenue for the state in just the first year, easily repaying the initial scholarship investment.

Some of the funds would come from existing original CARES Act dollars allocated to Oklahoma while others would be drawn from the more recent Biden administration recovery legislation, Fields said.

“We have tried to keep the program as simple as possible,” he said. “People want stability, and a good job provides stability.”

Fields said he delivered his new proposal to the governor’s office in mid-March.

Charlie Hannema, communications director for Gov. Kevin Stitt, indicated that the governor could look favorably on Fields’ proposal.

“We are very pleased to see the many success stories that resulted from the initial Skills to Rebuild program and are actively considering ways to expand that program and give similar opportunities to more Oklahomans,” he said. Fields said the governor has accepted an invitation to visit Tri County Career Tech in early April. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has proposed a program there that mirrors Tri County’s original model and Fields’ proposed statewide expansion. Dubbed “Get There Faster,” it would allocate $75 million to expand vocational training programs in Florida.

Vocational training would seem to be ideally suited for addressing the job losses associated with the pandemic since it can craft and direct specific training programs to fit local job markets. It is also faster than other post-secondary education programs, especially two- and four-year colleges and universities.

According to the Association for Career and Technology Education, there are at least 30 million jobs in America paying in excess of $55,000 annually that do not require a college degree. Oklahoma career-tech graduates contribute $3.5 billion annually to the state’s economy, the organization says.