Time for Legislature to invest in education after high school - Robert Knight and Tim Stokes, the Columbian

As lawmakers gather in Olympia for the 2019 legislative session, they must write the next state budget, weighing many competing and important demands in the process. Fortunately, there is one thing on which everyone can agree: People need good, well-paying jobs and most of those jobs require training and education beyond high school. According to the Washington Roundtable, there will be 740,000 job openings by 2021, more than half of which will require education past high school. At the same time, people need a range of pathways to those jobs, whether it’s an employer certificate, training in a trade, a two-year degree, a four-year degree, or an apprenticeship. Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed budget makes vital investments in these career paths for students and provides a great starting point for the Legislature’s budget work. After years of stagnant funding, our community and technical college system needs new investment to make those pathways accessible to all students. https://www.columbian.com/news/2019/jan/13/local-view-time-for-legislature-to-invest-in-education-after-high-school/