Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Nick Moore, State Education Policy Advisor and Coordinator for Governor Kay Ivey, spoke to the Selma Rotary Club on Monday.

Among the subjects Moore discussed was talent development in Alabama, which aims to improve the state’s public education and workforce system.

Moore, a former teacher at Central-Hayneville in Lowndes County, said improving the Black Belt Region in those areas is important. “The Ivey Administration has a strong affinity for the Black Belt, I taught in Lowndes County and Gov. Ivey is from Camden,” Moore said.

Moore said the public education and workforce system has three important laws:

-Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which provides public education from kindergarten to 12th grade.

-Carl D. Perkins and Technical Education Act, which provides funding for secondary and postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) programs.
-Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which supports workforce development and increased coordination and alignment among federal workforce programs

“Aligning those three bills so you can have an education to workforce pipeline is key,” Moore said. “Forging a unified system for students to engage in the various educational and career opportunities is the goal.”

Moore discussed the state’s Success Plus Initiative, which aims to add 500,000 credentialed employees to Alabama’s workforce by 2025.