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Lt. Governor Attends NGA Regional Leadership Workshop

September 14th, 2018 by WCBC Radio

– Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford this week attended a Regional Leadership Workshop hosted by the National Governors Association (NGA) in Pittsburgh, Pa. The workshop focused on NGA Chair Governor Steve Bullock’s “Good Jobs for All Americans” Initiative, an effort to ensure that governors play a key role in addressing challenges posed by changes in technology, skills requirements, work relationships, and demographics, and to highlight innovative actions governors can take to connect workers to 21st century careers.

Lt. Governor Rutherford participated in a panel discussion about the “Workforce of the Future” and highlighted some of the key efforts of the Hogan administration related to changing technology and ensuring that the state has a trained and educated workforce that reflects the needs of the high-tech industries and employers in Maryland.

“We know that technology is, and will continue to be, the driving force behind every industry,” Lt. Governor Rutherford said. “Along with reading, writing, and arithmetic, computer science education should be considered a foundational skill. In Maryland, we are expanding career and technology education, focusing on STEM education, and expanding apprenticeship opportunities, which helps create alternative career paths into technical fields and allowing for on-the-job training.”

Under the Hogan-Rutherford administration, Maryland has been a leader in innovative workforce development programs. As of June 2018, nearly 3,500 unemployed and underemployed Marylanders have completed training programs through the nationally recognized EARN Maryland program, 81% of which have secured employment. The state is also working with community colleges to develop pathways to connect an apprentice’s instruction and training with additional education and programs, and in 2017, the governor issued an executive order directing the Governor’s Workforce Development Board to develop specific recommendations on how Maryland can more fully develop a market-ready workforce and provide equitable opportunities for all Marylanders to succeed.

The Hogan-Rutherford administration has also launched key initiatives aimed at putting Maryland students on a path to fill the STEM jobs of the future. In 2017, the administration launched its Achieving Computer Science Collaborations for Employing Students Statewide (ACCESS) Initiative, which includes legislation creating statewide standards for computer science and funding for teacher training and professional development. Early in the administration, the state launched its first Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH schools, which offer students an integrated six-year education program that combines high school, college, and workplace training, and the program has expanded to eight schools across the state.

The NGA is a bipartisan organization through which governors share best practices, speak with a collective voice on national policy, and develop innovative solutions that improve state government and support the principles of federalism. Its members are the governors of the 55 states, territories and commonwealths. Governor Larry Hogan currently serves as Vice-Chairman, which means that he will automatically ascend to serve as as the organization’s next Chairman from 2019-20.

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