Pardon Our Dust
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On February 2, 2023, McGuireWoods Consulting senior advisor James Dyke was quoted by Cardinal News on a state Senate proposal to create a centralized Department of Workforce Development and Advancement.
The bipartisan proposal would consolidate work that includes 35 different programs and subprograms handled by 12 separate state agencies under the auspices of six different cabinet secretaries.
The proposed law would place a single administrator in charge of all workforce development programs in Virginia as well as consolidate statewide program evaluation and data sharing.
Dyke, the former Secretary of Education from 1990 to 1994, testified before the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology and noted that a similar plan was proposed during his time in office. At that time, only two secretaries and 19 programs were tasked with these roles.
Cardinal News notes that Dyke testified: “We thought this was a great idea in order to consolidate, eliminate silos and to have the fragmentation in our job training programs eliminated, it was a great way of building a pipeline for future workers.”
Dyke continued: “This bill is needed now, now is the time for us to act on it. It is built on the efforts of past administrations, Republicans and Democrats, who realized that we needed an effective and efficient system to prepare our workers for the future.”