One Acadiana’s plan for workforce development

South Louisiana Community College needs to be able to train commercial pilots.
UL Lafayette needs a new facility for its growing engineering school.
And all of Louisiana’s state universities and colleges need greater autonomy to compete in the national effort to turn out a skilled workforce.
Those are the three elements of workforce development enumerated by Jason El Koubi, president and CEO of the Lafayette-based regional economic development agency One Acadiana, at a press conference in the welding shop on SLCC’s New Iberia campus Aug. 20.
This was the third of four formal announcements of One Acadiana’s “Priorities for a Better Acadiana.” Earlier, El Koubi, backed by panels of regional experts, presided over a call for robust state economic development incentives (Aug. 4 in Grand Coteau), and invigorated reforms in state pre-K through 12 education (Aug. 12 in Lafayette).
The fourth and final installment in the program’s rollout will deal with transportation needs, specifically the construction of I-49 South, to be held, fittingly enough, in Broussard on Aug. 27.
“Closing Acadiana’s skills gap will require targeted investments in workforce development, including strengthening our state’s higher education institutions,” El Koubi told the crowd assembled at SLCC. “That’s why One Acadiana is advancing a workforce development approach that supports high-growth sectors and cultivates a diversified economy, including a new engineering facility at UL Lafayette and an aviation training complex at SLCC.”
The case for the SLCC aviation program was laid out by Erroll Babineaux, vice president, Air Services, Acadian Companies.
“Establishing the state-of-the-art SLCC International School for Aviation Excellence at Acadiana Regional Airport will provide a cadre of ‘Louisiana Local’ aviation professionals that will lead us into the future growth of this key industry,” Babineaux said.
Currently, Louisiana businesses have to hire over 75 percent of the pilots, mechanics and avionics technicians from out of state, “who come here for two weeks to work and return to their homes out of state to enjoy their earnings,” Babineaux said.
Services such as testing, prop and engine overhauls are sent to out-of-state companies, he said.
Meanwhile, aviation’s footprint is growing in Acadiana, Babineaux said.
“The region is home to eight out of 12 FAA-approved repair stations in Louisiana, major businesses that provide aviation services for the offshore energy industry and emergency healthcare, one of the largest aircraft painting services in the world and three of the world’s largest helicopter operators — Bristow, PHI, and ERA — located within a 65 nautical mile radius of ARA,” he said.
Last year, Texas-based Bell Helicopter broke ground on a helicopter assembly plant in Lafayette, Louisiana’s first-ever modern-era aircraft assembly facility.
SLCC’s International School of Aviation Excellence will afford our state residents higher than average professional wages and the ability to earn a living in the state of Louisiana without have to leave family and friends behind to seek employment out of state,” Babineaux said.
The school would teach avionics, “non-destructive testing,” and painting and coating technology as well as flying, said Dr. Natalie Harder, SLCC chancellor.
“With phased investments coordinated with existing and future industry needs, an SLCC aviation training complex at (Acadiana Regional Airport) could provide a specialized workforce to address some of the workforce gaps in our region’s aviation industry,” she said.
Dr. Mark Zappi, dean of the College of Engineering at UL Lafayette, addressed another widening gap in workforce training.
“UL’s current engineering facilities were only designed for a capacity of about 2,000 students, yet this semester we expect to exceed 3,000 students,” Zappi said.
One Acadiana is calling for state matching funds of $25 million to create a new state-of-the-art facility for UL Lafayette’s six engineering departments.
The organization, which spans the nine-parish area and has over 1,200 members, investors and partners, is also calling for greater autonomy for UL and other state institutions of higher learning.
“Cuts in state funding, coupled with a lack of tuition and fee autonomy, mean both Louisiana’s two- and four-year institutions lag behind regional and national peers in terms of funding per student,” said UL Lafayette president Dr. Joe Savoie.
Louisiana is the only state that requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to raise tuition, he said. Meanwhile, state funding has dried to a trickle.
“They used to call them ‘state-supported’ universities, then ‘state-assisted,’ and now they’re just ‘state-located,’” he quipped.