"We really appreciate what they're doing to build their workforce," Kippley said. "One of the programs they started is a maintenance technician program, and it's set up so after five semesters someone could have a two-year degree and be making $80,000 a year. And that's not just at Toyota. That's at a dozen other companies involved in the program."

Toyota, which occupies 7.5 million square feet on a 1,300-acre campus in Georgetown, hosts a manufacturing training center for itself and other area businesses. A nearby high school is a collaborative effort to provide what Kippley compared to advanced placement level classes in areas such as engineering manufacturing, biomedical engineering, health care and digital media.

"Each student teams up with a partner for a yearlong project," he said. "They had posters in the hallway, and it reminded me of walking down the halls of South Dakota State University when graduate students are presenting papers. That's how in-depth this was."

Kippley said the educators on the trip, who came from several schools districts in eastern South Dakota, mostly were sponsored by their local economic development organizations. They told him the state's policymakers should take a similar trip.

Kentucky's programs started because manufacturers lobbied the state government for help with workforce development but also stepped up privately to sponsor students.

"That's when the ball got rolling because the industry has really partnered with the education system and state government, so they're all stakeholders," Kippley said.

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