Posted Thursday, May 19, 2016 12:53 pm

FRANKFORT, Ky. — For Hal Heiner, leading Kentucky’s Education and Workforce Development Cabinet is a labor of love.

Though his predecessors were paid more than $100,000 a year, Heiner accepts no salary for the long hours he puts in leading a government agency responsible for developing and implementing strategies to prepare the state’s workforce for 21st Century jobs.

“The decision was a deeply personal one,” Heiner said. “I believe that this position – and the opportunity it affords to affect progress - is much more than a job. Sometimes in life, another person's critical need overrides all other considerations, and only a volunteer response can yield the highest personal satisfaction.”

Sitting in his office overlooking the Kentucky River, Heiner surveys the economic landscape, and sees much room for improvement.

The Louisville businessman tells Kentucky Today he’s pleased the state is getting good marks for the low cost of doing business, for having a business-friendly regulatory environment, and for an improving economic climate. But he says he’s troubled by the state’s dismal marks for having a job-ready labor force.

“It’s a core frustration,” Heiner said in a broad-ranging interview. “A week doesn't go by that I don't hear from employers saying: ‘We cannot find the skill levels and individuals to accomplish the orders that we have today. And what happens, quietly, is that if you can't fulfill current orders, we get crossed off the list for possible expansions in the future.”

Appointed education secretary in December by Gov. Matt Bevin, his one-time political foe, Heiner has set his sights on strengthening Kentucky’s workforce and reforming education.

“Modernizing our education system is essential,” Bevin said the day he appointed Heiner to the positon. “Hal has the proven experience and commitment to ensure that we make meaningful progress for students at all levels.”

Heiner has long been a vocal advocate for charter schools in Kentucky and was founding chairman of Kentuckians Advocating for Reform in Education and of Kentucky Charter Schools Association.

He noted that 43 states, including neighboring Tennessee and Indiana, have enacted charter school laws, and he said he’s convinced it would be in Kentucky’s best interest to join them.

“It's getting so close to us,” Heiner said. “It's hard to deny the benefits for children who have certain gaps often at home.”

Heiner, an analytical thinker with a master’s degree in engineering, said the obstacle to getting charter schools in the state is simply partisan politics.

For several years, the Republican-controlled Kentucky Senate has passed legislation related to charter schools, but the bills have died each time in the Democrat-led House.

There are two potential solutions to getting charter schools in Kentucky: “a change of heart of the current leadership, or a change of leadership.”

It was Heiner’s concerns about the state’s education system that led him to politics and finally to last year’s four-way Republican gubernatorial primary race, which he lost to Bevin.

Heiner, founder of Capstone Realty which has developed over 5 million square feet of new office and industrial buildings and created 5,000 jobs, has been involved with organizations pushing for educational improvement for years. In the interview, he emphasized the need for more opportunities for dual enrollment for high school students.

A two-year budget approved by lawmakers last month includes $15 million for dual-credit scholarships for high school students who take college classes.

Heiner’s personal goal is to see every student in the state graduate with at least 9 academic credit hours or the equivalent level in career and technical education.

“It will take a while,” Heiner admitted. “My hope is that in 3 years we would either have a change in high school requirements or be seriously considering a change.”

Heiner has other aspirations, including updating the state’s unemployment insurance system, and increasing job opportunities for visually impaired in the state.

Heiner says serving as secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet is a “tremendous privilege.”

“Education has been my greatest civic passion,” he said. “We have a governor who was willing to move boldly to push initiatives that would improve the lives of others. I just couldn’t pass it up.”