Emily Stover DeRocco Speech

National Association of Workforce Boards

Washington, DC
March 4, 2005

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We claim an employer-directed system, and I want to commend each and every employer in this room and across the country for your service and your dedication to making this public system work for America’s businesses and workers. Yet, employers report on Board meetings mired in bureaucratic minutiae of federal mandates and stove-piped programs.

And we add a new business rep to each One-Stop Center but how many offices or work sites or plant floors have they visited and what real impact have they had on how we deliver services? How many businesses in your community can actually say that you tailored a program to meet their needs?

Like our high schools, our current approach to workforce investment still reflects its roots of 50 years ago, but today’s economy demands more than simply filling job orders or slots in pre-determined training classes.

And like our high schools, the majority of fault lies with the design of the system itself. We know that a system with a dozen different funding streams each with separate rules, reports and definitions cannot be effective in meeting the demands of a real-time global economy.

That system will always be focused on the barriers to workforce solutions rather than the solutions themselves. And that system will always be at war with itself, more concerned about how much each funding stream is contributing and who is serving what group of the population, than about solving the nation’s workforce challenges.

So what is the solution? It is a flexible, integrated system with strong state leadership and effective local execution and customization. It is a system where Governors can move resources to address regional needs and mayors and county commissioners can serve employers to preserve jobs rather than sit helplessly by until those jobs have already disappeared.

It is also a system with the leadership and vision to act as a catalyst for economic development. For if we cannot provide the talent that our growing industries need, we know that China and India and our other growing Asian competitors will.

That is why President Bush has proposed a sweeping reform of our nation’s job training system. The centerpiece of this reform is the consolidation of our four major WIA and Wagner-Peyser funding streams into a single job training grant and providing Governors the option to include an additional five related programs into that single grant.

When combined, the consolidated grant represents over $7.5 billion that would be sent directly to the states. This grant would have a single set of definitions, a single performance system with only three simple measures, and a single Federal agency responsible for both the planning and the reporting. In exchange for this greater flexibility, all we ask in return is that states be accountable for results.

One of the practical indicators of the need for this reform is the overwhelming use of waiver authority. Forty-one states have been granted waivers to shape a workforce system that is responsive to the needs of their local economy. Yet still, at the end of last year, we had unspent funds well in excess of $1 billion.

President Bush made exactly this point Wednesday in response to a comment by Governor Ehrlich of Maryland. He said that for a state to implement a workforce training program that meets its citizens needs, they have to come ask the federal government for permission. That is not an effective strategy for remaining relevant in the new economy.

Many Board members in this audience recognize how important increased flexibility is. Just yesterday, my Deputy, Mason Bishop, met with leaders from the San Bernardino Workforce Board and they were eager to use enhanced flexibility for innovative new programs.

Dozens and dozens of Boards are engaged in the exciting, solutions-based partnerships addressing workforce challenges identified by the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative. They are proving the potential of our system when the focus is on meeting the needs of the 21st century economy, not on preserving the system of the 20th century.

Being in Washington this week, I am sure you all know that Wednesday night, the House of Representatives passed the Job Training Improvement Act. I would like to commend Chairman McKeon and Chairman Boehner for their leadership in beginning these reforms and I eagerly look forward to working with the Senate to continue the progress the House has begun.

President Bush’s voice has clearly been heard on this issue. Nearly every week, you hear him discuss the importance of an educated workforce, job training reform and, indeed, the Workforce Investment Act specifically. His personal involvement in an issue that often receives little or no recognition should make clear to you his belief in what we can accomplish.

I share his belief and look forward to working with you to accomplish great things. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today and I wish us all reform and relevance in our 21st century economy. Thank you.