The Arizona Department of Education unveiled its plan to tackle workforce shortages in Arizona.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne hopes private sector expertise combined with the experiences of countries on the forefront of education innovation will provide industries the workers they'll need in the future.
“My obsession is to make sure that Arizona’s public school students are academically prepared to succeed in our economy, and the Arizona Education Economic Commission is critical to achieving that goal," Superintendent Horne said.
The Arizona Education Economic Commission is a collaboration between education and industry to develop and maintain Arizona's future workforce.
"I think my biggest fear in what hasn't happened today is not necessarily the workforce that's today available. It's 3 years from now," said Scott Holomon, the human resources director for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
The TSCMC chip manufacturing plant in north Phoenix pushed back its start day to 2025 because it won't have enough trained workers to do the jobs necessary. "The only way we're going to do that is with qualified diverse workers. And that's why we're all here committed to get stuff done," Holomon said.
During former Governor Doug Ducey's administration, the state invested in Arizona's Community College System, encouraging companies like Lucid Motors in Pinal County to develop curriculums that can create a homegrown workforce. The newly created commission will use a model created by the nation of Switzerland which developed apprenticeship programs for students as early as junior high school.
Noelle Trinder with the Arizona Organization for Nurse Leaders thinks it can be used in the healthcare industry. "They're going to be able to be ready to go, let's say a CNA or Med Assistant. Start working, start getting benefits, 401K and let's stairstep them up into a post-secondary nursing."
The goal will be to build scalable work-based and learning apprenticeship programs for multiple disciplines. How that looks in a year remains to be seen. But the Commission says it's committed to the challenge.
