Pennsylvania lawmakers: career-technical centers have wait lists, need more funding and coordination

Representatives on the Keystone Education Report said Pennsylvania’s career and technical centers (CTCs) cannot keep pace with employer demand and urged more stable funding and better regional coordination.

Representative Chad Reichardt (90th Legislative District) said manufacturers in his region are routinely seeking welders, electricians and other skilled trades and that many current workers are retiring. "We don't have the workforce graduating with the skills needed to replace them," Reichardt said, and added employers are regularly advertising "help wanted" for family-sustaining jobs.

Representative Justin Fleming (105th Legislative District) described his district’s mix of government and healthcare employers and called Dauphin County Technical School "a game changer" for students. Fleming said the commonwealth has equipment grant lines that help, but the principal funding formula for career and tech centers is constrained and often requires legislative changes to expand capacity. "We do have capacity issues," Fleming said, noting CTCs frequently have wait lists and not enough instructors or seats.

The lawmakers framed the problem as a mix of funding, capacity and coordination. Fleming urged funneling more recurring funding to CTCs so they can accept more students, and suggested the state consider formula changes that do not require repeated legislative fixes. Reichardt emphasized regional differences in demand — from oil-and-gas related trades in the northwest to healthcare and manufacturing elsewhere — and said workforce investment boards should continue identifying high-priority occupations by region.

Both lawmakers also raised retention concerns. Fleming pointed to the "Pennsylvania Promise," a proposal to provide stipends to students to help keep graduates in-state, and said market factors such as higher minimum wages in neighboring states contribute to brain drain. "Anything we can do to keep our talented people in the state…we owe it to ourselves as a commonwealth to make those policy decisions," Fleming said.

The representatives stopped short of proposing a single legislative package on air but said bipartisan interest exists in pursuing measures that combine equipment grants, increased capacity funding and stronger employer-school coordination. The segment closed with both lawmakers expressing intent to work on legislation addressing the pipeline and to prioritize retention of working-age residents as part of broader economic strategy.

The episode did not record any formal votes or actions by the legislature; lawmakers described policy options and priorities on the air and indicated further work will follow in the legislature.