Training and Education
NJBIA Testimony Supporting Higher Expections for Our High Schools - NJBIA believes New Jersey's high schools need to raise their standards to better prepare students for the workforce. Read NJBIA testimony to the State Board of Education from April 16, 2009 supporting the proposal to increase what we expect from high schools and their students.
Community Colleges: The Road to Economic Recovery - According to recent news articles, several prominent New Jersey economists are saying our state's economy may not turn around until 2010 or 2011, and New Jersey could lose as many as 265,000 jobs before we emerge from the recession. One statewide resource that can contribute to getting our economy back on track is our community colleges. Read More
Read Recent NJBIA Testimonies on the Issues
NJBIA Survey Results on Workforce Satisfaction
NJPRO Business Curriculum
Teaching Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs Today, NJPRO's Small Business Curriculum, is designed to promote business and entrepreneurial literacy among middle school students by providing them with real-world examples from the workplace and our free-market system. Topics include business planning, finance, marketing, technology, innovation, the hiring process, and communication.
Economic Policies and Solutions: Making New Jersey a Better Place for Business
In one of the most comprehensive studies of NJ's business climate conducted to date, NJPRO surveyed business leaders, compared the ways other states retain and attract firms, and recommended short- and long-term policies New Jersey can adopt to make its business environment friendlier.
Attend the NJ Business Hall of Fame
NJBIA has partnered with Junior Achievement and The Star-Ledger to establish the New Jersey Business Hall of Fame. It recognizes New Jersey business leaders who are role models to today’s youth. At a Hall of Fame ceremony on April 30, 2009, the laureates will be recognized for outstanding achievements in their industries and for their commitment to improve the quality of life in New Jersey.
The ceremony honoring the laureates will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 30, 2009, at The Mezzanine, which is located at 744 Broad Street in Newark. Proceeds from the event will benefit Junior Achievement of New Jersey (JA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the real world into the classroom by teaching young people about business and economics.
For more information, or to register for the event, please contact JA's Dawn Schwartz at 973-533-1133 or dschwartz@ja-nj.org.
NJBIA Testimony Supporting Elimination of SRA
NJBIA believes that the State needs to better develop its future workforce by making the high school diploma more meaningful. Read NJBIA’s testimony on September 22, 2008 regarding the overused SRA exam that weakens the value of New Jersey’s high school diploma.
NJBIA Testimony Supporting Incentives for Technology Education Teachers
NJBIA believes technology education plays an important part in developing our futre workforce, yet a shortage exists. Read NJBIA’s testimony on September 15, 2008 supporting incentives for technology education teachers.
NJPRO Research and Recommendations on Education & Workforce Development
In the summer of 2008, NJPRO, NJBIA’s nonprofit research affiliate, released "Economic Policies and Solutions." This report provided a comprehensive report or what was wrong with New Jersey’s economic climate and how the State could fix it. It should be noted that the report gave some attention to education and workforce development, and had some interesting conclusions. The highlights were:
- The availability of skilled employees was the most important issue to employers.
- Employers were somewhat satisfied with the white –collar professionals coming out of New Jersey schools, but they had great difficulty in finding technically skilled blue-collar workers.
- A key initiative that worked in other states to improve the economic climate was partnership between business and higher education that led to innovation.
The report can be found at http://www.njprofoundation.org/pages/respa.htm with Part 1 laying out the findings and Part 2 laying out the recommendations for how to fix things. The education and workforce development recommendations can be found on pages 16 and 17 of Part 2.
NJBIA Testimony to Consolidation Commission - At the July 2008 monthly meeting of the Local Unit Alignment, Reorganization and Consolidation Commission (LUARCC), NJBIA was invited to testify about its support of consolidation, regionalization and shared services. The links below will take you to NJBIA's testimony and the chart on property taxes that was created to hopefully trigger further research by LUARCC.
NJBIA supported the legislation that emerged from the New Jersey Legislature's historic Special Session on Property Taxes that created the LUARCC and views LUARCC as a significant tool towards potential property tax relief and/or stabilization. NJBIA looks forward to continuing to work with the Commission as it moves to bring regionalization recommendations to the voters.
See draft of NJBIA review of municipal property tax rates and per capita municipal taxes by municipal characteristics
Learn About New Jersey's Higher Education Resources for Employers - Many New Jersey colleges and universities are NJBIA members and work closely with us, and through those relationships, we have the opportunity to witness many of their fantastic programs that could benefit our members. Through our new Higher Education Resources section of the Member Resource Center, businesses can learn about, and take advantage of, the positive services that a college or university can provide.
NJBIA's Issue Brief on the Results of the Legislature's 2006-2007 Property Tax Reform Efforts - Read NJBIA's Issue Brief that reviews what happened, came up short and still needs to be done from the 2006-2007 property tax reform efforts. Feel free to contact Christopher Emigholz at 609-393-7707, ext. 201, if you have any comments or questions.
Basic-Skills Training for Your Employees — at No Charge to Your Company - Do your employees need basic-skills training in English as a second language, computers, mathematics or communications? You can have your employees trained, at no charge to your company, thanks to a $1.88 million training-grant program developed by the New Jersey Community College Consortium for Workforce and Economic Development in partnership with NJBIA and the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
This program will run for one year starting July 1, 2007. To participate, you need only to contact the staff at the Consortium, which will organize the training sessions for your employees. The classes will be held at the county colleges’ 63 conveniently-located training locations. Details here
Sign up for the Education Issues E-mail Network
Learn about legislation, policy initiatives, and research affecting the quality and cost of education in New Jersey. Tap into workforce training grants and initiatives. Submit your ideas to help shape NJBIA’s policy positions. Sign up today
Get Help with Your Customized Workforce Training Needs - NJBIA members with customized training needs can get help through NJBIA’s partnership with the New Jersey Community College Consortium. State training grants are available to help defray the cost. The Consortium, which acts as a one-stop contact for New Jersey businesses seeking workforce development solutions, will develop a training program customized to meet your needs. It will even write your grant application to the NJ Department of Labor and Workforce Development at no cost to you as an NJBIA member. Details here
NJBIA's Education
Committee
The Education Committee seeks to develop progressive
roles that businesses can play to improve the effectiveness
and efficiency of the State's educational system. It
develops and presents NJBIA's positions on legislative
and regulatory proposals. Members represent the Association
on public education commissions and panels. For more
information, e-mail NJBIA Director of Education Policy Christopher
Emigholz.
Business-Education Partnerships:
NJBIA is pleased to partner with the NJ Department of
Education to help expand the career internship component
of Governor McGreevey's 12th Grade Option Program. This
initiative offers high school students the opportunity
to intern with local companies during their senior year.
The Association has long been a champion of business-education
partnerships like this one that encourage students to
explore the professional world. Internships give students
a great opportunity to see how their classroom learning
is connected to the world of work and, ultimately, their
future careers.
NJBIA worked in collaboration with the NJ Departments
of Education and Labor to create a Career
Internship Resource Packet, which will help will
help school districts and businesses comply with federal
and state labor laws, wage and hour laws, child labor
laws, and education administrative codes when creating
career internships. For more information or to find
out how to partner with your local school and obtain
interns for your company, please contact Christopher
Emigholz at 609-393-7707, ext. 201.
Visit the Education & Workforce Development Section of the NJBIA Agenda for Economic Growth.
Education
& Workforce Development Links
Direct links to Web sites related to education and workforce
development issues. |
