Ohio's spot as the top U.S. state for business was a decades-long project propelled by state officials and supported by business and education leaders. Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel want to keep it that way, regardless of who is in the Statehouse next year.
That was the sentiment they shared during the latest stop on their Heart of Opportunity tour, held at Anduril Industries on Aug. 26.
DeWine and Tressel were joined by Ohio State University President Ravi Bellamkonda, Columbus State President David Harrison, and Anduril Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth Zach Mears to celebrate Ohio's recent economic accolades and discuss how to support education and workforce development opportunities statewide.
Tressel, who moderated the
conversation, said Ohio's climb to the top of CNBC's annual business rankings was a years-long endeavor. Ohio placed 30th in the inaugural CNBC study in 2007. The Kasich administration launched JobsOhio, a private economic development organization, in 2011 in an effort to rise in the rankings. By the time DeWine was elected governor in 2018, Ohio had risen to the No. 15 spot.
Though the state is in the top spot now, Tressel said it isn't time for Ohio to rest on its laurels.
"This is a great time for Ohio," he said. "Opportunities will be aplenty, but we have to roll up our sleeves and get to work."
That work, Tressel said, is to develop the workforce "so that every Ohioan can reach their God-given potential, and we can attract others to be part of the great things that are happening here."
"We need everyone," he said. "We need pre-K through Ph.D."
Ohio aligning higher ed to industry better than most
When Anduril was weighing where to build a 5-million-square-foot complex to eventually employ thousands of workers making drones and other weapons, Mears said one of the factors the company considered was "density of talent."
"The fact that from the executive branch, to the General Assembly, to the four-year and two-year [colleges and universities], down to the technical colleges and centers, and the high schools, it's hard to find another state that is aligning on the skills needed for this next generation of Ohioans to find their opportunity here," Mears said.
Bellamkonda said Ohio State is taking a "comprehensive approach" to be the top university in the state for businesses to partner with.
About 43% of Ohio State graduates majored in a STEM field, Bellamkonda said. That figure is expected to rise to 51% next year.
"We're making a big push in the STEM disciplines which will power our state," he said.
Ohio State's Fisher College of Business revamped its curriculum, and the university is launching new degree programs to meet industry needs. Its Career Center of Excellence and Internships exists to connect companies of all sizes with students for internships and other work experiences, Bellamkonda said.
"All our existing programs, in all the degrees we offer, they're introducing experiential learning where our students get to work on real world problems and understand the 'why' of what they're learning from day one," he said.
Harrison said that employer partnerships are the cornerstone of Columbus State's programming, particularly its Earn and Learn program. The experiential learning program provides students with an opportunity to take on paid work experience while simultaneously completing their academic program.
What started as an idea 15 years ago with Honda and Worthington Industries eventually grew into partnerships with 30 companies, some of which include apprenticeships.
Employers aren't the only partners that Columbus State works closely with, Harrison said. The college's partnerships with K-12 districts through College Credit Plus and the Columbus Promise, as well as Ohio State on the inaugural class of Buckeye Bridge, create an "ecosystem" of opportunities for students, he said.
"Student experience will determine their success," Harrison said.
Connecting early childhood to workforce development
DeWine and Tressel also touted other statewide investments that might not initially seem like they are aimed at workforce development.
Not only is Ohio the top state for business, it is also the state with the highest enrollment in Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program started by the late country music superstar and actress that sends free books each month to children from birth to age 5, around the time they enter kindergarten.
When First Lady Fran DeWine launched the Imagination Library in Ohio, 13% of eligible kids had access to the program. Now, the option is available to children in all 88 counties, and 64% of eligible children are currently enrolled. State lawmakers have invested millions into matching the cost of the books. More than 1 million Ohio children have received free books in the mail, totaling nearly 28 million books.
Earlier this year, DeWine awarded $3.2 million to expand career tech manufacturing programs statewide. He also established OhioSEE – a 15-county, $10 million pilot program to pay for exams and glasses inside schools or in mobile vision vans. He also pointed to the state's investments in revamping K-12 reading curriculum over the last several years.
DeWine made a not-so-subtle request of whoever takes over as Ohio's next governor and whoever fills the next state legislature to continue this work.
"These are all fundamentals. When you want kids to fill jobs, if you want kids to be able to live up to their full potential, you gotta do the basics," DeWine said. "And these things, we just have to continue to do."
Higher education reporter Sheridan Hendrix can be reached at shendrix@dispatch.com and on Signal at @sheridan.120. You can follow her on Instagram at @sheridanwrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio tops business rankings but state leaders say work continues
