Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley forms College and Career Ready Task Force

Minutes after touring career technical education classes at Shelby County's School of Technology this morning, Gov. Robert Bentley signed an executive order creating a task force designed to better prepare students for life outside of high school. The Governor's College and Career Ready Task Force will bring together members of K-12 education, two-year and four-year colleges, with the business and industry community in an effort to strengthen the preparation of students for the workforce. "When I got to recruit businesses to Alabama, they always ask 'do you have skilled workers in Alabama?'" Bentley told a crowd of educators, business leaders, lawmakers and students at the School of Technology. What's happening at the School of Technology -- where students can take classes ranging from welding to firefighting to business and finance -- needs to be replicated across the state, he said. Bentley said the task force is not a bureaucracy.