Job training will get boost

OLYMPIA – In the wake of the news that the Boeing Co. has purchased a large factory in South Carolina, officials from Spokane to Boeing’s backyard in Everett are stepping up their job-training programs.

“We recognize that aerospace is a statewide industry,” Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said. “We want to make sure that workers throughout Washington state have the skill set they need to land the jobs not just of today, but of the future.”

On Thursday, Reardon and community college officials pledged to coordinate training and research under the umbrella of a “new statewide aerospace institute,” offering classes tailored to local aerospace firms.

“We have to start now, because we’re already competing with five other states that have such training facilities,” said Linda Lanham, executive director of Aerospace Futures Alliance. “We’re losing our edge for skilled aerospace workers.”

Snohomish County plans to lease a 30,000-square-foot building at Everett’s Paine Field to be a “centralized training center” for aircraft mechanics and technicians, Reardon said. Spokane Community College, which now runs an aircraft technician program at Felts Field, plans to open a similar facility at Spokane International Airport.

Having sites on both sides of the state will make the training accessible to more good candidates, said Mike Mires, SCC’s dean of instruction for technical education.

“It’s more of a coordinated approach, rather than a ‘pocket’ approach,” he said. That’s likely to help the region’s effort to become a hub for aerospace work, he added.