By John Guidroz
jguidroz@americanpress .com
The budget legislation signed last week by Gov. John Bel Edwards includes an initiative pushed by one local lawmaker that seeks to fill jobs in high-demand areas like science, engineering, technology and math.
House Bill 1 by Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, was amended during the special session to appropriate money toward the workforce development initiative. Rep. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles, said he pushed lawmakers to add it to the budget bill because of the need to fill 10,000 jobs in the state.
“We need Louisiana people to be trained to fill that gap,” he said.
The money comes from a bill passed during the regular legislative session. Senate Bill 25 by Sen. J.P. Morrell, DNew Orleans, sunsets a tax credit that provides an annual payment to parents for each dependent child in grades K-12.
The tax credit generates $9.2 million annually. Under Morrell’s bill, half of that amount will go toward early childhood development.
Under the amendment in H.B. 1, the remaining half of the money will be split between the two-year community and technical colleges and four-year universities. Each school that applies for the money will have to get a 25 percent match from a private entity.
“Whether it is used to pay for scholarships, hiring teachers or curriculum, I think it’s a great economic tool,” Abraham said. “This impacts jobs that are needed. It is putting higher education and economic stimulus in the same package.”
Abraham said adding the initiative to the budget bill was a major victory after encountering some hurdles during the session. Legislation he authored would have set up the Louisiana Jobs Now Fund, but House lawmakers rejected it in May.
Abraham said the state Board of Regents will report how many jobs are created through the curriculum. He said the board will track the social security numbers of those hired in the state.
If the initiative proves to “be a great return on investment,” Abraham said he will push to have the amount increased next year.
“Hopefully we will get money back in income taxes from people being employed,” he said. “It costs $3,000 to do an 18-month curriculum. The average salary of those jobs is $44,000 a year. You can get $3,500 returned back into the economy.”