Proponent Testimony - Senate Bill 166 (Gregory T. Hyland, Cooper Electric)

Summary

Gregory T. Hyland, President of Cooper Electric, gives proponent testimony dated October 27, 2021, to the Ohio House Economic and Workforce Development Committee on Senate Bill 166 (Career-Technical Education). The testimony describes Cooper Electric as a 75-year-old electrical contracting company in Cincinnati, Ohio, that employs 33 people. It supports driver education as course credit because many co-op positions, internships and job shadowing opportunities for high school career tech students go unfilled when students lack driver licenses. It also supports the bill provisions limiting increases to insurance premiums, allowing a Bureau of Workers Compensation discount on premium rates, and creating the proposed withholding tax credit for employers.

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                                     COOPER ELECTRIC
                                 1769 Elmore St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45223
                                  (513) 271-5000/ (513) 527-3246 (fax)
                                       gregh@cooper-electric.net
                                         www.cooper-electric.net
                                         “Quality-Value-Service”
                                               Since 1946
October 27, 2021

Ohio House Economic and Workforce Development Committee
Hearing on Senate Bill 166 (Career-Technical Education)
Proponent Testimony of Gregory T. Hyland, President
Cooper Electric

Chairman Edwards, Vice Chair Powell, Ranking Member Upchurch, and Members of the Ohio House
Economic and Workforce Development Committee:

My name is Gregory T. Hyland and I am the President of Cooper Electric, a 75-year-old electrical
contracting company located in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am a veteran of 51 years in the electrical
construction industry. Cooper Electric employs 33 people, and annually contracts for over six-million-
dollars’ worth of electrical work. I am extremely proud of my long association with career centers in
the State of Ohio, having hired my first Co-op from Scarlet Oaks in the Great Oaks Joint Vocational
School District (JVSD) in the fall of 1977. I believe Senate Bill 166 will enhance workforce
development in the State of Ohio and support the bill for the following reasons:

Driver Education as Course Credit / Credential:

The unfortunate reality today is that many Co-op Positions, Internships, and Job Shadowing
opportunities for high school career tech students go unfilled simply because students do not have
driver’s licenses, and as a result cannot drive to the job locations. Anything that could be done to
provide students with the opportunity to complete driver’s education as part of their curriculum would
not only be advantageous to the students themselves, but would also be of great benefit to businesses in
Ohio like Cooper Electric, where frequently entry level jobs go unfilled because of a lack of access to
transportation.

I would like to illustrate my point by describing an incredible success story of a recent graduate of
Great Oaks Career Campuses. Our employee Tyler Drew (his name used with his permission) has just
graduated from apprenticeship school and has passed written examinations for a journeyman
electrician’s license in two different jurisdictions.

What makes his story special is that Tyler just graduated three years ago. Becoming a Journeyman
Electrician in three years when it normally takes four years was possible because Tyler was part of a
Youth Apprenticeship Program (YAP) and started his apprenticeship as a senior at Diamond Oaks,
when he started to Co-op at Cooper Electric. What a great Win-Win outcome! Cooper Electric adds
another trained Journeymen Electrician to our workforce, and Tyler Drew has the wages, benefits, and
prestige of being a Licensed Journeyman Electrician just three years out of high school.

But there is a very important detail that I have left out of this story:

Tyler did not get his driver’s license until after he turned 18 years old because he could not afford the
amount of money it would take to pay for driver’s education. He was very fortunate that his
grandfather was willing to pick him up from school and drive him to his Co-op job at Cooper Electric,
so he could start his apprenticeship as a senior in high school. Unfortunately, this is by far the
exception rather than the rule. The question is: What happens to the job opportunities for career
technical students that do not have a generous grandfather like Tyler or a driver’s license? The answer
is simple: Lost opportunity.

If SB 166 is enacted and Driver’s Education is incorporated into high school career technical training,
there can be no question that the students will be better prepared to make the transition from school to
work. SB 166 also allows career-tech schools to pull supplemental (weighted) funding to pay a portion
of the costs necessary to support driver’s education courses, further facilitating their enrollment /
completion.

Employers Providing Work-Based Learning Pilot Program:

I have been a 44-year advocate for career technical training. I have hired and continue to hire career-
tech students; I have encouraged parents to consider sending their sons and daughters to career
technical programs; and just as importantly, I have encouraged my friends and associates in the
business community to get involved in supporting and hiring students for Co-op Positions, Internships,
and Job Shadowing.

Regrettably, some employers hesitate to get involved with high school career tech students simply
because they don’t understand that currently, a student participating in a career-technical program
approved by the Ohio Department of Education is exempt from Ohio’s Minor Labor Law(s). On this
point, I believe all stakeholders (including the education community, regulators, and businesses alike)
must work to enhance awareness of the exemption.

In addition, it has been my experience that potential business partners to career technical training
programs live in fear that a Bureau of Workers’ Compensation claim involving a participating career-
tech student could have a devastating impact on their BWC Experience Modification Rate (EMR). In
my opinion, anything that could be done to incentivize or hold employers harmless as it relates to their
EMR (in conjunction with the employment of minors) would definitely have an impact on creating
more job opportunities for career technical students. SB 166 includes provisions limiting increases to
insurance premiums purely as a result of high school work based learning programs, and allowing the
BWC to grant a discount on premium rates for participating employers. I support these provisions,
which would serve to mitigate some of the insurance-related impediments I just described.

Finally, the proposed withholding tax credit is a perfect way to reward employers for their willingness
to hire and train students in career training programs. The tax credit would offset some of the expenses
that businesses incur when they hire inexperienced employees.

Thank you.

Gregory T. Hyland
Gregory T. Hyland
President Cooper Electric


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