Does a glimmer of hope remain for Mt. Pleasant's MHI?

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

While education and workforce development were the headline topics at Saturday?s second Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance-sponsored legislative briefing, many in attendance wanted a progress report on the proposed closing of the Mt. Pleasant Mental Health Institute.

Those wanting an update were kept waiting for nearly 90 minutes before State Sen. Rich Taylor, D-Mt. Pleasant, hinted in closing remarks that lawmakers are lobbying Gov. Terry Branstad to delay the closing of the Mt. Pleasant and Clarinda MHIs until a replacement plan is in place.

?They (state) don?t have a plan on what to do with all the people who currently are in mental health,? Taylor said. ?Dave (State Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mt. Pleasant) and I are working hard on this. We shouldn?t do anything until we have a plan in place. His (Branstad?s) reasoning for closing MHIs doesn?t hold water.?

There has been speculation in state government that the state may delay the closing of the two facilities for two years while a replacement plan is being developed.

During the discussion on education and workforce development, a couple of familiar themes surfaced ? closing Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) offices in smaller communities was a mistake and Iowa needs more specially trained workers.

Joining Taylor and Heaton as panelists were State Rep. Tom Courtney, D-Burlington, Central Lee Superintendent of Schools (and former Mt. Pleasant High School principal) John Henriksen, Mt. Pleasant Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mike Wells and local businessman J.D. Schimmelpfennig, founder of Lomont Molding, Inc.

?We have always struggled in how to help rural communities (in workforce development),? Courtney reflected. ?Cutting back on the workforce development offices was a big mistake. We have to get people into those offices, get them comfortable and comfortable in applying for jobs. That is difficult. A lot of them don?t have Internet. It is not a struggle in cities, but becomes a real struggle in rural areas.?

Taylor echoed Courtney?s sentiments. ?Workforce development has enabled people to get an education to get out of dead-end jobs. I think it was very important that we had IWD offices in small towns and think it was a mistake to get rid of them.?

State Rep. Heaton took a different angle, noting that the legislature last year appropriated $5 million for apprenticeships.

?By doing that, we took a major step in (training) skilled workers and job creation. We also appropriated $66M for community colleges for this program,? he noted.

Part of the workforce problem small communities face, Heaton said, is lack of housing ? a hurdle Mt. Pleasant hasn?t cleared. ?We struggle for housing in rural communities. We can?t attract businesses and workers without housing?The real secret to Mt. Pleasant?s growth was available and affordable housing.

Schimmelpfennnig said Mt. Pleasant does have plenty of workers, but not always the type of workers sought by high-tech industries. ?We have the labor here, but need more trained workers. We just don?t have those skilled workers. Workers need math skills and you can?t find people with math skills. I know there are a lot of people who don?t like math, but math is what is needed.?

Central Lee?s Henriksen said part of the problem is that high-school students aren?t aware of the opportunities in the area. ?We have tried to make a direct connection through Southeast Community College between our kids and industries. We spent six months last year talking to industries and getting our kids into those industries.

?Kids in high school don?t know what?s available and we as educators have to help the kids make the connections,? he added.

Wells said Mt. Pleasant, too, is placing its students with local industries. ?The workforce in Mt. Pleasant is strong. We have over a dozen kids with jobs and learning job skills. The Burlington workforce office has to remain open. We have to tap into IWD for jobs and job skills.?

The Mt. Pleasant administrator also said that the school district was ?looking to start a career academy next year.? He said two other area school districts would have to join forces with MPCSD for the academy. Through the academy students not only would acquire job skills but receive two years of college credit.

Iowa?s Core Curriculum, which has been discussed for nearly a decade but still is not fully implemented, gained some attention at the briefing.

Henriksen said he feels in its infancy the core ?got off to a bad start. They told us if we want funding, this is what you have to do. The core is as much about how you teach as what you teach. The core emphasizes coming at it (subject material) from different approaches.?

?I fully support the Iowa Core,? Wells added. ?It is minimum standards for Iowa. It allows you to teach classes differently and it has made education stronger.?

School administrators again seized the opportunity to lobby legislators to remove school transportation costs from school districts? general fund.

?It costs us more money than Waukee to get our kids to school,? Wells said. ?You need to pull the formula out and give us state funding (for transportation). It takes dollars from education for transportation costs.?

In closing remarks, Heaton said this will be his most difficult session during his 21 years in the Iowa House.

?The problem we?re having this year is that the revenue coming in doesn?t support everything we want,? Heaton remarked. ?The governor is recommending spending $146 million more than the projected revenue and the actual revenue coming in is running behind the projected revenue.

?I?m worried sick about what I am going to do and how I am going to do it (Heaton chairs the powerful health and human services appropriations committee),? he continued. ?This is the most difficult time I?ve had (in the legislature). I am in a bind.?

The third briefing of the session will be Saturday, March 28, at 8:30 a.m. in the International Room of the Chadwick Library on the campus of Iowa Wesleyan College.