State Sen. President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, listens during a committee meeting for the state Board of Education. He has opposed efforts to create a community college based in Erie.
Ed Mahon / PA Post
Erie brings its campaign for a community college to the capitol
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Ed Mahon
Ed Mahon / PA Post
State Sen. President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, listens during a committee meeting for the state Board of Education. He has opposed efforts to create a community college based in Erie.
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For every dollar you give (up to $1,000), the NewsMatch campaign will match it. And thanks to a generous local couple and the Philadelphia-based Wyncote Foundation, your contributions to PA Post will be matched three times! You can read more about NewsMatch here. On Friday, you’ll get an email from us announcing the campaign’s start. Here’s a great chance to make a big difference in quality reporting about Pennsylvania. — Thanking you in advance, Russ Walker, Editor
But even Gov. Wolf’s support may not be enough
Ed Mahon / PA Post
State Sen. President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, listens during a committee meeting for the state Board of Education. (Ed Mahon / PA Post)
Erie County has about 272,000 people, but there’s no local community college. A lot of business and community leaders in the area are trying to change that — and they need approval from the State Board of Education to do so.
I attended a committee meeting on Tuesday of the State Board of Education where Erie’s proposal was debated. The Pennsylvania Department of Education and Gov. Tom Wolf both expressed support for the move to make Erie home to the 15th community college in the state.
So did several business and community leaders. That includes David Tullio, president of Custom Engineering Company, which is a 180-employee manufacturing company in Erie. Those employees earn about $20 an hour on average, Tullio said.
“They work hard, and they earn every penny,” Tullio told the committee. “Our workforce is also aging, and for the last decade and a half, this has been my greatest concern and challenge.”
He said the feeder system has dried up for the kind of workers he needs, particularly those with welding skills. As a result, he said the company has taken on more training work in recent years. Those efforts have led to success — but Tullio said that success is limited and doesn’t give employees the kind of skills that would let them advance in their careers.
“The reality is we spend a significant amount of time and money to tread water,” Tullio said.
That skills gap is Tullio’s argument for why a community college is needed in Erie.
To read more about Erie’s push for a community college, as well as why state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, is against the idea, check out my full story. — Ed Mahon
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