A petition to Governor Andy Beshear
Help bring hands-on manufacturing and skilled-trades education back to Kentucky public schools.
Add your name
The Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board's 2026-2029 strategic plan makes work-based learning, including registered apprenticeships, a workforce priority. The plan describes business and education collaboration and includes manufacturing among the sectors it seeks to serve. This is a statewide workforce-planning document, not a new law or a school mandate. It provides a recent reference point for connecting classroom learning with manufacturing career pathways.
We urge Governor Andy Beshear and the administration to bring manufacturing and skilled-trades education back to Kentucky public schools, working with school districts, educators, manufacturers, and the Legislature to:
Increase career awareness so students and families understand manufacturing and skilled trades as valuable career options.
Restore and expand modern shop classes and hands-on technical education where access is missing or limited.
Expand opportunities for students to earn school credit through supervised, age-appropriate employment and on-the-job training, including paid opportunities.
Give schools the resources to deliver these programs, including equipment, qualified instructors, transportation, and shared technical facilities serving multiple schools where appropriate.
Create or expand incentives for manufacturers to partner with schools, host student learning experiences, and provide training.
Encourage and incentivize donations of funding, usable equipment, materials, and expertise to support school manufacturing and trades programs.
Build Kentucky Futures is a petition from the American Manufacturing Association. We urge Governor Andy Beshear and the administration to bring manufacturing and skilled-trades education back to Kentucky public schools.
Manufacturing and skilled trades offer rewarding careers that build things people use every day.
Hands-on learning helps students discover what they are good at, and it gives them a path to a steady job after high school.
When schools, manufacturers, and communities work together, more students can see these careers as real options for their future.
The American Manufacturing Association (AMFGA), based in Frisco, Texas, connects manufacturers, educators, and community members to strengthen manufacturing and skilled-trades careers. We organize this petition as an educational public-benefit initiative, and it is not a political campaign.
American Manufacturing Association, Frisco, Texas