ORO VALLEY, Ariz (KGUN) — Governor Ducey says he’s pushing to boost programs to tailor the education of Southern Arizona college graduates to growing industries in Arizona’s economy. The Governor spoke in Oro Valley Friday at a version of his State of the State Address tailored to Southern Arizona.
The Governor reviewed some topics he raised in the statewide speech, like more effort for border security, more business development, and more freedom and flexibility for families when it comes to schools.
He also repeated his pledge to accelerate improvements to I-10 to make it a better, faster pipeline for people and products from Southern Arizona.
A new promise for the Southern Arizona audience was a pledge to build programs at University of Arizona and Pima Community College designed to help match what students learn to growing parts of Arizona’s economy.
The Governor said, “This year's budget proposes almost $15 million to expand the University of Arizona's New Economy Initiative. This new funding will support the capabilities of their health, mining, space and defense programs.”
The Governor says the programs should help students graduate with a career waiting for them.
“So it's really more of us listening to the leaders of our university, listening to business leaders and saying yes, we want kids to study what they want to study in university, but we also want them to come out with a skill that they can apply immediately to begin to pay back their loan or to be able to move out of their home and pay rent.”
The Governor says his new budget calls for two million dollars for Pima Community College for science, technology, engineering and math instruction and to boost workforce training.
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