Walker representative: MATC is a tremendous asset

In October of 2011, Reggie Newson, Wisconsin Governor Walker's Secretary of the Department of Workforce Development, sang the praises of the Milwaukee Area Technical College in an interview on Milwaukee Public Television calling it s tremendous asset.

Now that his boss is in a tight recall election and his own job is on the line, Newsom had a radically different take on MATC. To justify his politically motivated annoucement that the state was investing $100 million in a new central city training center, Newsom claimed that MATC is not placing students in jobs or meeting employers needs.

Not only is this news to MATC - that had an 83% graduate placement rate even during the depths of the Great Recession - but one has to wonder why Reggie has had such a change of heart?

Instead of using scarce state dollars to establish a new training center within a stones throw of MATC, why not use the $100 million to restore the $70 million Walker cut from Wisconsin Technical College's state funding in the last budget?