Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Scholarships May Increase

The State Board of Workforce Education and Career Opportunities (SBWECO) voted at its July 10 meeting to pursue the concept of increasing the number of scholarships for students to enroll in Arkansas' post secondary technical education programs.

This action is in response to the growing demand for more technical workers in Arkansas. according to former Gov. Frank White, chairman of SBWECO, more must be done to increase the base of workers available to meet this demand.

"The recent announcement by a major industry in Arkansas (Alltel Communications) to expand in Atlanta due to a continued shortage in Arkansas of technical resources is an example," White said. "The SBWECO is challenged to dramatically expand the resources and programs necessary to retrain the Arkansas workforce."

SBWECO and the Department of Workforce Education will be working with public and private partners to develop recommendations to present to Gov. Mike Huckabee in advance of the 1999 legislative session. It is anticipated that these recommendations will include state funding for the scholarships that can be accessed by students seeking post secondary education in different fields of technology.

The mission of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Education is to provide the leadership to develop an educated, trained and retrainable workforce.