Lessons from a father's ironworking business -- Kaine launches technical education caucus

Invoking his youth, bending metal for his father, Sen Tim Kaine joined up with Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, to form a bi-partisan caucus focusing on career and technical education

“From growing up working in my Dad's small ironworking shop to creating Governor’s Career and Technical academies, career and technical education has always been a passion of mine,” said Kaine.

Kaine, who as a missionary in Honduras learned about the important of individualized instruction as he restructured a school’s technical classes, said such programs help kids get a good education, and a good job.

“President Obama’s inclusion of workforce training as a priority in his State of the Union Address is a heartening sign for what we can accomplish this year,” Kaine said.

Portman too took heart from that part of the State of the Union speech.

“In today’s competitive and dynamic job market, far too many Americans are finding that they lack the skills they need to get a good paying job,” he said. “We must close this skills gap to get Americans working again.  One way we can do that is by focusing on Career and Technical Education that equips workers with credentials, certificates, and other training that will match them with open jobs.”

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