Testimony — Renee Smith, Fostoria Economic Development Corporation, on Senate Bill 1

Summary

Testimony of Renee Smith, President of the Fostoria Economic Development Corporation and Managing Director of the Fostoria Learning Center, addressed to Chairman Swearingen, Vice Chair Santucci and members of the Economic and Workforce Development Committee. It supports Senate Bill 1. The testimony says the Fostoria Learning Center sees ongoing needs for remediation in math and reading and that employers raise the need for remediation among new hires. It says the center targets short-term certificate programs in areas such as manufacturing, welding and medical training, and it calls for communication between k-12 districts and career-tech leadership.

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Full text

Chairman Swearingen, Vice Chair Santucci, and Members of the Economic and Workforce
Development Committee, I am Renee Smith President of the Fostoria Economic Development
Corporation and Managing Director of the Fostoria Learning Center. Thank you so much for your
time today and allowing me to provide this testimony in support of Senate Bill 1.
In my roles, I have the distinct advantage of seeing our ongoing workforce issues from 2 sides –
from the employers’ perspective as well as from educators’ perspective. There is a significant
disconnect between these two perspectives. This disconnect is one of the reasons I am such an
advocate for SB 1 as it will focus on improved academic and workforce skills through
accountability and outcomes in education and career readiness.
At the Fostoria Learning Center, we see the ongoing needs for remediation, specifically in math
and reading. We see kids as young as 16 and individuals as old as 84 utilizing these services on a
weekly basis. One of the biggest issues we hear from employers is the need for this remediation
amongst new hires within their companies. This is unacceptable and could be avoided in many
instances. We need accountability to ensure these basic educational skills are being achieved,
which Senate Bill 1 is an advocate for putting in place.
At the Fostoria Learning Center, we advocate for all types of trainings, specifically targeting short-
term certificate programs (typically less than 160 hours) in an effort to upskill existing members
of the workforce, uplifting those not currently in the workforce, and exposing future members of
the workforce. We focus on areas of training such as manufacturing, welding, medical, and others.
Our trainings are focused on skilled trades careers as this is the biggest need we see in both short-
term and long-term workforce trends. In Fostoria, and in many other areas of Ohio, we have
hundreds of kids each year who have no interest in going to college, but they are not being properly
exposed to other career pathways. We need to do better in preparing our youth for the workforce
– whether it be with specific vocational trainings or in soft skill career development. These youth
are our future, and we need to do a better job of exposing them to in demand careers and vocational
pathways.
Senate Bill 1 is needed if we, as a State, want to truly advocate for our youth while simultaneously
advocating for our businesses and their current and future workforce needs. We must ensure
accountability for our children and their education so our future workforce is well prepared and
can truly succeed! Ohio needs to develop a pipeline of consistent communication and
collaboration between our k-12 districts and our career-tech leadership. I believe Senate Bill 1 is
a needed and necessary step in ensuring this occurs.
Thank you all for your time today.


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