The Akron Beacon Journal released this editorial praising Gov. Kasich’s request for universities to work together to advance Ohio rather than competing for state dollars. We encourage you to read the editorial below and share it with your friends and family:
Collaboration often is easier to talk about than to achieve. Challenged by John Kasich, Ohio’s public colleges and universities have shown they are up to it. In the process, they have done much to advance the idea of the institutions as a functioning system of higher education.
The governor gave the 37 schools a tight time frame to submit a single capital-funding request that captured their priorities within the reality of the state’s strained resources. On Wednesday, the Higher Education Capital Funding Collaborative, led by Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee, delivered a unified funding proposal, stressing its systemwide, strategic approach.
Until now, universities and colleges have engaged in an each-for-itself fight for state funds, the chances of funding determined by formulas and by lobbying clout at the Statehouse.
The $350 million request submitted this week represents a radical shift, featuring a more prominent place for the interests of the state as a whole. Together, the schools have clarified principles and guidelines for funding, while addressing key structural and workforce priorities without short-changing individual institutions.
For instance, mindful of immediate workforce needs as the shale-gas industry grows, the panel recommends Stark State College receive $10 million for an Energy Industry Training Center. Among the many line items, the University of Akron is up for $16 million to renovate Zook Hall, a recognition of the need for long-term maintenance to protect the huge investment in facilities. In the category “engineering meets science,” Kent State is in line for the same amount to repair Cunningham, Smith and Williams halls and for multidisciplinary research labs.
The governor has applauded the proposal as unprecedented — and for good reason. Faced with a tight budget, he has provided the essential leadership, pounding home the message of “cultural change” in how state operations are conducted.
Governor Kasich recently visited Zulily in Obetz to join the company in announcing over 500 new jobs over the next several years. Columbus Business First has more below:
Online retailer Zulily Inc. has quietly built up a work force of about 200 employees in the past two months as the seller of discounted merchandise forges ahead, apparently without consideration over how quickly it will hire workers for its Obetz distribution center.
Gov. John Kasich, state and municipal economic development officials and Zulily executives toured the operation at Creekside Industrial Center on Wednesday. One of those attending was Kenny McDonald, chief economic officer for the Columbus2020 economic development organization, whose group lauded the “several hundred jobs” Zulily is expected to add during the next five years.
“They’re just growing so fast,” McDonald said, “they just want to stay away from large numbers.”
McDonald said the company has hired about 200 workers since it signed a lease on the 3051 Creekside Parkway building in December. The company pushed 10,000 orders a day out the door this week, he said.
“They’re hiring like crazy,” he said.
Seattle-based Zulily is expected to eventually hire 580 workers at the distribution hub as thecompany told the state Tax Credit Authority last year.
In an effort to strengthen the communication between those who educate/train workers and those that employ them, Governor Kasich has tasked the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development with streamlining this process. You can read more from the Newark Advocate below:
Ohio’s work force development systems are overly complex and fragmented, Gov. John Kasich said.
There are 77 programs spread out across 13 agencies, all depending on a number of state and federal funding sources.
Ohioans need jobs — and Ohio employers need workers with the right skill sets. So Kasich has created an umbrella office, the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, to oversee and coordinate the state’s worker training efforts.
But uniting all the various efforts is easier said than done — which might explain why it hasn’t been done sooner, said Dan Navin, assistant vice president of tax and economic policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
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A cornerstone of Kasich’s effort will be involving the private sector in the work force development process. Private companies will be responsible for informing the state of their needs.
The biggest challenge this office will face, Navin said, is defining the central mission of the many entities involved.
“There tends to be some duplication of effort and intent in terms of programs,” Navin said.
While delivering the State of the State address in Steubenville recently, Governor Kasich emphasized the need for better partnerships between universities and job creators so that our kids can find great jobs right here in Ohio. Read more from the Dayton Daily News below:
STEUBENVILLE — Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday said that jobs in manufacturing, logistics and other industries are moving back, but the state needs to revamp public education and align work force training to match job openings.
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“We are alive again. We are out of the ditch,” he said.
The state’s unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in December 2011, down from 9.5 percent a year earlier, just before Kasich took office.
Honda, Chrysler, U.S. Steel and other companies have announced major investments and hiring plans. Ohio’s sales tax and income tax revenues are running slightly ahead of projections, according to a monthly financial report due out next week.
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Kasich said he is asking four-year universities to commercialize their research, collaborate to avoid duplicative programs and step up the graduation rates.
He is also pushing community colleges to align courses with available jobs and is asking businesses to forecast what sort of skills they need in future employees so that they can be trained.
“If we can train, if we can educate, forecast, use our location, use our great people, use our resources, use our assets, we’ll be the No. 1 state in America,” Kasich said.
In Governor Kasich’s State of the State address, he mentioned that Ohio will soon be investing to raise the speeds of the state’s broadband network speeds – a move that will make Ohio more attractive for job creators. The Columbus Dispatch has more below:
Gov. John Kasich’s plan to “open the faucet” on the state’s broadband access is drawing praise and a little caution — but most analysts agree that Ohio’s economy will benefit from the move to higher network speeds for business and research institutions.
The plan, announced Tuesday in the governor’s State of the State address, would invest approximately $10 million in the state’s broadband infrastructure through a recent agreement with Cisco Systems and Juniper Network.
Upgrades will target network systems dedicated to research institutions and businesses. This is separate from the Internet access people use in their homes.
The plan aims to raise broadband network speeds from 10 gigabits per second to 100 gigabits per second.
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Kasich said the upgrade to the state’s “data highway” would directly benefit fields including manufacturing, engineering, medical research and education, leading ultimately to job growth.
In medical research, Kasich said, the upgrade would mean that “researchers no longer have to rely on overnight mail to share their massive files on hard drives but can email them instantly. This allows our research hospitals and universities to compete more successfully for the research grants that create breakthroughs in jobs.”
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New Albany is an example of how the upgrade could create economic development, said Scott McAfee, public information officer for the city.
“Our broadband network has been crucial in bringing in new jobs,” McAfee said. “It’s brought in over 3,500 jobs in the last three years to New Albany. It’s opened up new niches for us as well. We’ve been able to recruit data centers and create a niche with Fortune 500 companies we didn’t have previously.”
Governor Kasich delivered his second State of the State address in Steubenville recently and spoke about his administrations accomplishments along with the legislature, in stabilizing Ohio. With continued momentum, Ohio is sure to see brighter days ahead. The Herald Star has more below in this editorial:
Ohio Gov. John Kasich brought a positive message to town Tuesday when he delivered his State of the State address from the Steubenville High School auditorium.
The governor covered a wide range of topics in his 90-minute speech, the first time the annual report was delivered outside of the Statehouse.
While Kasich touched on subjects that were of interest to all Ohioans, he made a special point of singling out the work educators in the Steubenville City Schools are doing at Wells Academy. Wells has been recognized as being the top-performing public school in the state, with 100 percent of its pupils testing proficient in math and reading during the 2010-11 school year.
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Kasich also pointed to the successes Ohio has seen in his first year in office. He pointed out that the $8 billion deficit that existed when he took office had been wiped out, the state had become the No. 1 job creator in the Midwest and the Rainy Day Fund, which not too long ago contained just 89 cents, now holds $247 million.
At the same time, the state’s unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent in December, down from 9.5 percent in December 2010.
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The governor said he felt at home in Steubenville, which reminds him of his nearby hometown of McKees Rocks, Pa. He said the people in those communities are common-sense, God-fearing people who might get knocked down but always get back up.
Those are strengths we have always pointed to with pride and qualities we are sure can make a difference for all Ohioans.
Governor Kasich often comments that although we’ve stopped Ohio’s free-fall with a balanced budget, improved regulatory environment and the beginnings of the groundwork for job creation, we still have a long ways to go in our efforts to fix our great state. The Dispatch has more in this preview below about how far we’ve come so far. Please use this link to read the entire article.
The state of our state is stabilizing, an annual Dispatch review of key economic indicators shows.
“If we think of Ohio as a patient in a hospital, the patient has been moved out of intensive care,” said James W. Brock, an economics professor at Miami University in Oxford.
“The patient’s condition is not just stabilized, but it’s improving.”
Some form of that message is likely Tuesday in Steubenville when Gov. John Kasich gives his second State of the State address — although his exact words are impossible to predict because he does not use TelePrompters or prepared remarks.
It’s an analogy Kasich himself has used in the past, and it has been suggested by confidants as a key theme: likening the state to a hospital patient who was badly injured before Kasich was sworn in on Jan. 10, 2011.
The patient is no longer in danger of dying from his wounds, Dr. Kasich says, but he’s barely begun to travel the long road of recovery.
Leaving aside some of the particulars for a moment, such as what or who was responsible for the accident that nearly killed the state and its economy, cold, hard data show Ohio is indeed off life support and nursing itself back to health.
Ohio added 72,400 jobs in 2011 — the fifth-most of any state in the country — according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The state’s unemployment rate fell by 1.4 percentage points to its lowest level since December 2008. Only 12 states had a steeper decline.
And as manufacturing began to make a major comeback across the country last year, only Texas and Michigan added more jobs in that sector than Ohio’s 18,300. Economists predict Ohio’s manufacturing numbers will improve this year, in large part because of the continued resurgence of the auto industry.
Lt. Governor Mary Taylor was recently in Anna, OH to join Honda in announcing a $98 million investment and the creation of 150 new jobs. The Dayton Daily News has more below:
ANNA — Honda will invest $98 million in its engine plant here and create 150 new jobs in Ohio as part of a plan to become the “fuel efficiency leader in every segment” of the North American auto industry, company leaders said Wednesday.
About 100 of the new jobs will be added at the company’s transmission plant in Russells Point. The rest will go to the Anna plant, Honda’s largest engine factory.
The Anna plant has 2,400 employees, while the Russells Point plant has 1,050 workers.
“We believe this is just a beginning, and we are not done,” said Hide Iwata, president and chief executive of Honda of America Manufacturing Inc., who gathered with other company leaders Wednesday at the Anna plant, about 50 miles north of Dayton. “We are on the way back.”
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“Honda is on its way back, and so is Ohio,” said Ohio Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor.
Since November 2010, Honda has announced or embarked on $504 million in investments in its Ohio facilities. Honda employs about 1,300 from the Dayton area and an additional 1,400 from Clark and Champaign counties.
Governor John Kasich was in Toledo recently to join BX Solutions in opening their doors again and along with new jobs, welcoming back over 200 former employees. Please watch the video below:
