Consortium Pitches EWCHEC to Legislators
A consortium of East Williamson County economic development and education leaders met with Williamson County's state legislative delegation in Austin this week to discuss the East Williamson County Higher Education Center project.

The East Williamson County Higher Education Center will be a regional multi-institutional center that will serve the academic as well as career and technology educational needs for both traditional and non-traditional students.

Senator Steve Ogden, R-Dist. 5, who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and State Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Dist. 52, who is chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, were very attentive and receptive to the consortium's request for their leadership to establish the East Williamson County Higher Education Center, according to Chuck McCarter, executive director of the EWCHEC project.

Ogden and Krusee were generous with their time, he said, and recognized the issues addressed by the center as important.

Lawmakers will consider an average of more than 5,000 bills and the members of the East Williamson County delegation expressed their priorities - education and finding ways to create quick and flexible responses to employer needs.

Consortium leaders described the center as a model plan designed to close the “educational gap” in the East Williamson County region and enhance the area workforce.

Texas has the highest percentage of adults without high school diplomas of any state and is also experiencing major demographic shifts that will magnify this problem, if left unattended.

The East Williamson County Education Center would be a collaborative technology training model, leveraging the strengths and successes of member partners while providing it the autonomy that is required to build a truly unique regional educational center.