LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW) -- A bill signed into law by the Governor last week will result in more state money for worker training programs.
The newly-passed legislation, which Walker touted on a stop at River Steel in West Salem Monday, will provide $15-million in funding for workforce development.
A share of the money will go towards databases aimed at matching those looking for work with available jobs.
But part will be turned into grants awarded to businesses and technical colleges for partnering together to collaborate on working training.
"His particular funding is used to work directly with businesses," said Western's Patti Balacek, the Director of Business and Industry Services and Lifelong Learning. "So it allows us to customize what we do."
Balacek said Western has engaged in similar partnerships in the past -- saying they can be effective because a school can tailor its curriculum to meet an individual business's needs.
"If we don't meet employer needs in our area they're not going to hire our graduates," Balacek said. "If our graduates don't get jobs we haven't helped the skills gap and we haven't met our mission."
Among the companies the school has previously partnered with is DuraTech -- a printing business headquartered in La Crosse's industrial park.
Doug LaFleur, DuraTech's Vice President of Manufacturing, said the company churns out roughly 40-thousand of each label it produces on a daily basis.
DuraTech prints labels for treadmills, laundry machines and even medical equipment, among other objects.
LaFleur said the company currently trains its workers internally, adding it takes roughly one year to bring each one fully up to speed.
But he said if that training time can be shortened, perhaps through a partnership with Western bankrolled by a new state grant, productivity has the potential to increase even further.
"To be able to train kids, after they come out of high school, to train them in the printing operation through technical schools, it would be much easier for them to apply their skills to the job," he said.
The state's department of workforce development said it expects the new grant program to be operational before the end of the year. But a spokesperson said it has not yet decided how much money would be granted to each partnership.
In the mean time, LaFleur said DuraTech is hiring. To apply, click on the link here.
