Southern Maryland’s say over how federal job-training money is spent in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties could shrink if the state reorganizes its workforce system, the region’s workforce director warned Calvert County commissioners.
Ruthie Davis, director of regional workforce and business development for the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland, told the Board of County Commissioners on Sept. 29 that the Maryland Department of Labor is preparing to hire a consultant to review how the state’s workforce system is organized. Maryland has 13 local workforce areas, each with its own board. Southern Maryland’s board is housed at the Tri-County Council and serves all three counties.
“We are not Baltimore City,” Davis said, a point she repeated several times.
She said she was there at the request of the Tri-County Council’s executive board, which wants all three boards of county commissioners to hear the concerns. She did not ask Calvert to take any action.
What the state is weighing
The Department of Labor released a draft request for proposals late this summer for a consultant to study the workforce structure and recommend changes, Davis said. The comment period closed Aug. 28. The state has not yet issued a final RFP, she said, and she has not heard what its next steps are.
Davis said the draft appeared to assume change was needed. The central question, she said, is how many local workforce areas Maryland should have, if any.
She laid out three possibilities:
- No change. Maryland keeps 13 local areas, each with a board that sets its own strategy for spending federal workforce money.
- Local offices, state strategy. Some number of local areas remain, but they no longer set strategy. The state tells them how to spend the money.
- One statewide board. No local areas at all. State employees decide how federal workforce funds are used across Maryland, including Southern Maryland.
Other states have already gone in those directions, she said. Arkansas kept local areas but eliminated local boards, so strategy is set by a single state board. Oklahoma has no local areas. Kansas cut the number of local areas.
Why it matters here
Local workforce boards decide how federal money under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is spent to help people find jobs and advance their careers, and to help employers find workers. Southern Maryland’s board includes county government, employers, educators, economic development officials and community partners, as required by law.
Davis said the region’s needs are distinct. Southern Maryland ranges from many small businesses to a large defense community, and its residents commute within the counties, between them, and to Washington, Prince George’s County and Northern Virginia. Employers need training programs built around those patterns, she said.
Her list of concerns included loss of local control, a one-size-fits-all approach, disruption during any restructuring, and savings that are “assumed, but not proven, not studied.” The biggest risk, she said, is that local responsiveness could decline.
Of Maryland’s 13 areas, Davis said, five are rural, one is Baltimore City and the rest are mostly suburban. “So we’ll all have different interests,” she said.
Commissioners react
Commissioner Catherine Grasso called it the most important slide in the presentation and urged the public to pay attention.
“We are not PG County. We are not Baltimore County,” Grasso said. “We are unique to the rest of Maryland. I think we are a very cautious tri-county. I think we make very well thought out decisions, and I sure would hate to see us lumped with others.”
Another commissioner said the state’s plans need to be watched closely. “If not, they’re gonna shove it down our throats,” he said.
What happens next
The federal law behind the system, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, has expired, and Congress is working on a replacement, Davis said. She does not expect that to happen until after the midterm elections at the earliest.
Davis said she will keep the Tri-County Council’s executive board and the county commissioners informed. If the final RFP moves ahead, she said, the region may want to “let our Southern Maryland voices be heard.”
