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Minutes
WORKFORCE
NETWORK OF KANSAS BOARD Council Members in attendance: Ken Bell, Ed Berger, Rick Beyer, Karin Brownlee, Gerald Cook, Val DeFever, Eddie Estes, Dave Foster, Jerry Hiatt, Jim Keele, Jim Kessler, Pat Kirkman, Lloyd Lavin, Larissa Long, Tim McNally, David Moore, Dwayne Peaslee, Lynn Peterson, Candy Shively, Curt Stephens, Jack Strukel, and staff Barb Reavis Guests: David Bassett, KDHR; David Brennan, Local Area II; Mary Ellen Conlee, Local Area IV; Armand Corpolongo, KDHR; Jim DeCoursey, Local Area II; Randy Fisher, KDHR; Glenn Fondoble, Local Area I; Sarah Gilbert, Local Area IV; Nancy Guthrie, Local Area I; Kathy Ketchum, KDHR; Kris Kitchen, Local Area II; Keith Lawing, Local Area IV; Shannon Massey, Cowley County Workforce Center; David Norris, Local Area IV; Linda Ramirez-Gonzalez, KDHR; Vicki Romig, KDHR Chair Ken Bell called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. Bell welcomed new board member, Pat Kirkman, who replaces Bill Moore. Self-introductions were offered from the balance of the attendees. Bell led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Minutes from the January 24 meeting were approved following a Stephens/DeFever motion. Bell made the Chair's Report. He reviewed the Workforce Network of Kansas vision, mission and guiding principles and encouraged members to read "The Competitive Challenge: Building a World-Class Workforce," a white paper crafted by the National Association of State Workforce Board Chairs. Having attended conferences of the National Association of Workforce Board and the National Association of Manufacturers, Bell had some thoughts to share about the work of this state board. He stated the perception of business is that workforce development is all about no skill, low skill workers and being an advocate for disadvantaged workers. Other members stated that we need to turn the face of state agencies toward business needs and that much is happening toward the higher skill, education end, it is being done outside the WIA system. Bell also described having met a Kansas CEO at one of the conferences. She was familiar with her local workforce development center and had done some e-recruiting but was not familiar with Kansas Job Link, the Local Workforce Investment Board or the state board. Bell drew attention to Recommendation Six in "The Competitive Challenge," which reads: "Overhaul labor market information systems at the federal and state levels to be more current, effective, and user-friendly in providing quality data and analysis to make good business and career decisions." He reminded members the shelf life of employer needs is very short and that not all businesses are good at forecasting so we need to get and keep current data. Bell stated that the state board has a role but the local areas need to be active; the most significant role of either board may be as conveners. Bell described the process used by the Leadership Team to develop four recommended Strategic Objectives. All Leadership Team members participated in at least one of the two-day session facilitated by Steve Wyckoff. Instead of a traditional strategic planning model, members built scenarios of the conditions that would exist in Kansas if the WNK Mission were to be met. Members voted to accept these four Core Strategies following a Strukel/Keele motion:
Estes raised the question about how this body would work with the next administration's transition team. He stated we need to develop a system that serves the customers despite changes in administration. Bell will work with Reavis to develop a strategy, including another written correspondence with the current candidates who emerge from the primary. Bell put the balance
of the Leadership Team report of hold to hear from the Local Areas.
Bell asked members to consider changing two future meeting dates. Approved following a Shively/Moore motion the full WNK Board meeting will be September 20 instead of September 27; the WNK Leadership Team meeting will be October 18 instead of October 25. Shively reported that TANF reauthorization is still underway. Congress has floated about 50 different bills. The most current attempt is HR4737 and is described as a Tripartisan Consensus. She also stated that Kansas was working on getting families off welfare ahead of the federal law of 1996. As a result very few families have lost services due to the five-year limit. Discussion returned to the Leadership Team topics. Members expressed some concerns about hiring someone during such a budgetary downturn. It was stressed to use some basic job requirements to measure and document success. The Leadership Team's recommendation to employ a Special Projects Assistant was approved following a Kessler/McNally motion. Bell presented the WNK Board budget, which includes $1 million under a category called Strategic Initiatives. It is as yet unknown what the research and planning Core Strategies will cost. The Leadership Team wished to have sufficient resources available to meet the priorities of the WNK Board; the funds are not yet targeted to a specific purpose nor pointed toward state or local area projects. The budget was approved following an Estes/McNally motion. Members met with their peers under the categories of Business, Education, Government and Labor to choose representatives to serve on the Leadership Team for the year ending June 30, 2003. The following members were selected:
Reavis reported the Conference Task Force recommended the WNK Board not sponsor a conference this year. The task force had concerns about budgetary restraints of the target audiences and a general lack of response from the system about topic needs and best practice suggestions. Ketchum reported for the Marketing Task Force, explaining the plan for marketing to employers. Specific items that would use WNK Board funds include these rough estimates:
There was no report for the Quality Task Force. DeFever reported on the Federal Education Act and its implications for Kansas. Kansas is ahead of some states since we had moved to an outcomes-based system in the early 90's. During federal re-authorizing of the Education Act, only 17 states had standards so Congress was pretty heavy-handed. In January 2002 the "no child left behind" bill was signed. State plans are due May 30 although the regs aren't expected to be out until August. Alexa Pochowski, from the Kansas State Department of Education, will serve on the regs committee. They focused on academic success with the goal of having all children "proficient" by 2012. In Kansas, we will be shifting from testing in grades 3, 8 and 11 to testing in every grade 3-8 in reading and math. That change is expected to cost between $2-6 million. Testing in other states will cost 3-4 times what we spend since KU assists with our testing processes. No federal dollars are available to assist with implementation unless through grants to areas with high population of at-risk children. "Proficient" will be measured through something called "adequate yearly progress." If a school misses a five-percent gain each year, the school can be deemed a "school in need of improvement." One of the biggest concerns is how prescriptive the federal government is with little flexibility. The good news is the U.S. Department of Education is friendly and most interested in the results. Under Announcements, Peterson shared that his experience at the Mid-America Labor Conference was interesting in terms of topics. Most of the issues one would expect to be covered were offered there. By the end of the conference, however, only about 100 of the original 500 registrants were remaining. He felt the efforts to recruit union members from among the resort staff contributed to a less-relaxed environment and the early departure of registrants. Ketchum also announced TABS (the online Unemployment Insurance claim-filing component of KansasJobLink) has received an award from MIT and Accenture as a 2002 Digital Government Award Winner. The Center for Digital Government has also recognized the State of Kansas for having the best electronic government services in the nation in the human services category, specially mentioning KansasJobLink Having no other business, the meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m. following a McNally/Brownlee motion.
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