WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) — Members of the Central Wisconsin Metal Manufacturers Alliance came out in favor of the Wausau School District Referendums at a press conference on Monday.
Those referendums would expand the elementary school capacity in the district and bring new technology into the schools including computers, a new set of automotive and tech ed labs and more.
Schuette Metals president John Peterson says his group has a dire need for trained students. “We’ve determined that we have 600 jobs a year for the next three years just out of the 30 companies that we surveyed.” The group has already been working to expand tech ed in local school districts and technical colleges, including a the annual Heavy Metal Tour for middle school students as well as providing for new grants for welders and other metal working degrees.
Peterson says those efforts are already paying off for many of their members thanks to increased capacity in the welding programs at NTC and MSTC. “The technical college has expanded their program, which we helped expand from 32 people graduating a year to over 100, and they have a waiting list on that, so we’re pretty excited about that.” He says that education is vital because students who go through the technical college system are more likely to stay in the state. “This is a bigger problem than just one company tactically trying to fix it. This is a situation where, strategically, if we work together we get where we need to go. And I think that it’s evident with the fact that we’re able to help get the technical college capacity changed and it’s helping all of us.”
That referendum will be up for a vote at the polls this morning.
