Operating engineers seek $500,000 to expand high‑school career pathway; committee lays bill over

Representative Mike Schultz presented House File 1003 to continue and expand an operating engineers high‑school career pathway run in partnership with Local 49 and Minnesota Virtual Academy.

Jenny Winkler, director of workforce and community development for Operating Engineers Local 49, described a program that began in 2020 that combines online coursework with regional hands‑on events and sandbox training. The pathway offers four semester modules — construction exploration, construction math, equipment fundamentals and basic equipment maintenance — and can award high‑school, college and apprenticeship credit. “The curriculum was developed in partnership with Local 49 to prepare students for all aspects of life and work in the industry,” Winkler said.

Winkler said the pathway has reached students from more than 150 school districts, with 333 enrollments as of spring and an expanding set of hands‑on events that give students seat time on equipment. Marley Sherbin, a pathway graduate who is now a crane operator working on an Interstate 90 project, testified that she completed the course during her senior year and later secured apprenticeship placement.

Several members praised the program’s statewide reach and asked about capacity and school district reimbursement. Winkler said the district incurs no budgetary deficit when students pass the course because districts are reimbursed for the cost; Representative Dave Baker asked whether the program had turned away students because of capacity constraints. Winkler said the program had once had to turn students away but has since expanded its teaching staff and capacity.

Representative Schultz asked for support to expand outreach and reimbursement to more districts; the committee laid HF 1003 over for possible inclusion in a future omnibus budget bill.