The number one concern of Mississippi business leaders is building and maintaining a skilled workforce, and doing so will require reimagining how the state approaches public education, Mississippi Economic Council President and CEO Scott Waller said Wednesday.

Waller spoke with members of the Meridian Rotary Club and East Mississippi Business Development Corporation at a luncheon held at the MSU Riley Center about the MEC’s efforts as the state chamber of commerce. A series of 51 focus sessions held throughout the state in 2021 identified workforce development as the first of five goals, he said, followed by talent retention, infrastructure improvements, a strong business climate and articulating the importance of a healthy workforce.

“We just kind of went around the room and said, ‘what’s important to you’ and ’what do you see?’ Just kind of an open conversation,” he said. “And from that information, we were able to develop ‘Securing Mississippi’s Future: Vision for Economic Growth’ plan.”

Part of that plan involved the creation of Accelerate Mississippi, which serves as a statewide office of workforce development assisting industries and educational institutions with bridging gaps between local academic course offerings and in-demand skills. The state’s community colleges have been working with industries for years, Waller said, but Accelerate Mississippi is able to expand local efforts statewide.

“Our community colleges across the state do a great job of working with local businesses to figure out what they need,” he said. “But the problem was they were sort of working independently of each other.”

There is still plenty of work to be done, Waller said, but the community colleges, industry leaders and Accelerate Mississippi have made a lot of progress.

Securing the state’s future workforce, however, will require rethinking the approach to public K-12 education to find a balance between academics and career and technical training, Waller said. Currently, the accountability model is heavily weighted toward academics, specifically testing, he said.

“Right now, it’s so focused on academics that over 70% of it is based on four academic tests, period,” he said. “Doesn’t matter anything else the school is doing, 70% of their grade is on those four tests.”

Academics are important, Waller said, but so is career and technical education. Finding a balance between the two and developing an accountability model that allows schools to help students find their career path is crucial in training tomorrow’s workforce, he said.

Jean Massey, executive director of MEC’s Accent to 55% program, said K-12 education is doing what is asked of it, preparing students to go on to post-secondary education. In fact, she said, Mississippi is number one in the number of students going on to some sort of post-secondary program upon graduating high school.

The problem, Massey said, is what happens in year two. More than 320,000 Mississippians have some sort of college credit but do not have a degree, she said, and understanding why is a key part of her program.

“After year two at our four years, we drop from one to 38,” she said. “Our community colleges are more like seventh. How do we stay at that number one all the way across?”

The Accent to 55% program is centered around a goal to have 55% of state residents with some sort of post-secondary education by the year 2030. Post-secondary education includes certifications for skills or trades, associate degrees and bachelors degrees. The rate of Mississippians with post-secondary education currently is 48.5%.

While it isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when discussing workforce training, Waller said MEC has found accessible and affordable childcare is a critical issue in workforce training. Difficulties finding childcare became more prominent during the pandemic, he said, but it continues to be a big issue throughout the country.

For those 320,000 adult learners who might be able to go back and finish their degree, childcare is a deciding factor, Massey said. Someone working a low-income job during the day and taking night classes will struggle to both find adequate childcare and afford it when or if it is found.

“It’s not just the availability of childcare. It’s the cost of childcare and when childcare is offered,” she said. “We heard all of those issues and those were big barriers.”

Waller said MEC is also working to develop assistance for military service members who may struggle to translate their military experience into work in the private sector. Many times, he said, service members join straight out of high school, and while they are provided high-quality training, there isn’t a diploma, certificate or syllabus to show what they learned.

As the state’s chamber of commerce, MEC will continue working to address the concerns of business and industry leaders, build up the state’s workforce and grow the economy. However, Waller said, the work that will have the greatest impact on the community will be done on the local level. He challenged local business owners and community leaders to find an initiative or program that Meridian needs and work together to get it done.

“I’m encouraging you to get together as a community and figure out what’s that one thing that you think is going to make the biggest difference to help your community grow,” he said. “And then everybody get behind it and pull in the same direction.”