Stark County Leads in Funding for “Seniors
to Sophomores” Program – Ohio Board of Regents
Chancellor Eric Fingerhut announced 42 first round grant
recipients for the new “Seniors to Sophomores” early
college credit program. “Seniors to Sophomores” is
a dual enrollment program that enables academically qualified
high school seniors to get an early jump on college. Students
can earn a year’s worth of both high school and college
credit at the same time, “for free.” High school
seniors who elect to take a full load of courses on college
campuses during their senior year will be able to enter
a University System of Ohio College on a second-year level,
or as college sophomores. The maximum grant available to
a school district for this program was $100,000. Chancellor
Fingerhut, speaking at Stark State College on Friday, noted
that Stark County had 11 school districts that received
the grant, all maximum funding, far more school districts
than any other county. Fingerhut praised the Stark Education
Partnership for forging the link between primary and secondary
education and higher education, and setting high standards
for the rest of the state to meet. He also said that no
other institutions of higher learning in Ohio have forged
a stronger relationship of collaboration and cooperation
than that created by Stark State College of Technology
and its neighbor, the Stark Campus of Kent State University.
To read more about Chancellor Fingerhut’s visit to
Stark County, click
here.
Ohio Passes New Energy Bill – With energy costs rising rapidly, Ohio’s
new energy law is on track to preserve affordable, reliable, and predictable
electricity rates for all Ohio electricity consumers. Robert J. Lapp, Vice President-Government
Affairs for The Timken Company and co-chair of the Ohio Coalition for Affordable
Power, said the following: “Ohio has set the standard for other states to
follow as they work to protect their citizens and their business climate from
devastating rate increases.” The new law protects consumers by giving state
regulators the power to cut rates if utilities are earning excessive profits,
and it promotes accountability and transparency by requiring all side deals to
be open to the public. Utilities benefit by getting guaranteed cost recovery
if they build expensive new power plants, upgrade existing plants, or must comply
with new environmental regulations. To read an analysis of the new law, click
here.
New Starting Wage and Benefit Survey Completed – The 2008 Northeast
Ohio authoritative wage and benefit survey is now available. The Stark Development
Board, along with other regional chamber partners in Northeast Ohio, Team NEO
and the Office of Corporate and Community Services at Kent State Stark, conducted
the starting wage and benefit survey of over 400 companies located within Northeast
Ohio’s 16 counties. Included in the survey are industry clusters in manufacturing,
healthcare, finance, and other service occupations. If you would like to find
out more about the survey, click here to email Dan Talarcek at the Stark Development
Board.
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