Kempthorne’s work force board restructuring panned

BOISE – Local officials and business leaders from around Idaho are criticizing Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s plan to eliminate six regional boards that have historically decided how to spend federal money to train workers who have lost their jobs.

Under Kempthorne’s plan, those decisions would rest with the statewide, 19-member Workforce Development Council, based in Boise.

The federal Workforce Investment Act pays for job training, higher education and even resume-writing skills for workers who have lost their jobs.

Local city council members and county commissioners from six regions around the state protested the plan at a Wednesday meeting in Boise.

The boards are made up of county and city officials, local business owners and educators from the area.

In recent years, the federal money has helped train displaced workers from a closed J.R. Simplot Co. plant in Heyburn, phosphorous workers from a Pocatello plant, and high tech workers laid off from Boise companies.

Former millworkers in North Idaho have also used the programs.

Next year, the Bush administration is cutting Idaho’s share of the Workforce Investment Act money by $1.8 million. Next year’s $9.6 million budget is the lowest in 30 years, according to Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor officials.

The governor says his proposal retains the most important part of the equation – retraining people into new jobs. It also maintains the proportion going to each region.

However, members of the local boards say they are much closer to the local economy and therefore have a better idea how the money should be spent than a statewide, governor-appointed board would.

“Local boards have the intimate knowledge of their communities,” said Andrea Kramer, chairwoman of the North Idaho Workforce Investment Board, based in Hayden. “These all-volunteer boards come with nominal cost, but the return on investment is unsurpassed.”

Kempthorne spokesman Mike Journee acknowledged Thursday that the six boards were composed of volunteers, but he said they still have staff and administrative costs.

Kempthorne’s plan would trim those expenses.

At Wednesday’s meeting, several local board members wanted the governor’s office to consider allowing the regional boards to fund themselves with local and private money, and to keep their authority over how the federal training dollars are spent. But members couldn’t agree on exactly what path to recommend.

Kempthorne has until the end of this month to decide and submit the state’s proposal to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Although the federal government is giving Idaho just this month to write a plan, Commerce and Labor Director Roger Madsen said comments from around the state will be considered in the final decision.