Lt. Gov. Cagle brings gubernatorial campaign to Albany for fundraiser

ALBANY — Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who is running to replace the term-limited Nathan Deal as Georgia’s governor, made another campaign swing through Albany Thursday for a fundraiser at the Merry Acres Event Center.

As expected, Cagle spent most of his time touting the state’s college and career academies, regional work force development and agriculture.

“We’ve been in Southwest Georgia quite a bit and are excited to be back again today,” Cagle said. “Southwest Georgia continues to see great promise, and I am excited to see that the (Commodore Conyers) College and Career Academy is open and underway. Obviously, that’s been one of my big initiatives when I became lieutenant governor, creating the college and career academy network throughout the state. Today, we have 40, and next year we’ll have 43. My goal as governor is that every student in Georgia will have access to a college and career academy.”

Cagle added the goal is to have (secondary) education aligned with the needs of industry.

“What is important, particularly in Southwest Georgia, is building a work force that is second to none. That is my priority going forward as governor,” he said. “We are going to be laser-focused on ensuring we are turning out the kind of workers industry needs. And bring current industry here, where they can grow and be prosperous for them to want to be here as well.”

The lieutenant governor added that all of the state’s college and career academies are tailored to meet the demands of their communities.

“They are all unique,” Cagle said. “The thing I like the most about it is when we set it, the first thing you have to do is an industry assessment. You have to determine what jobs are out there that need to be filled and how do you target your career pathways to meet those needs of industry. And what are the new types of industries you want to recruit to your community and how do you create those career pathways as well?

“What we are looking at is a new delivery of education by aligning it with industry needs. The beauty is the kids get to see alternatives to what they are possibly in and see an alternative for life that they can envision for the future. It’s an awakening for a student. This is not your father or grandfather’s vo-tech school, this is a highly sophisticated delivery stream which focuses on outcomes.”

The lieutenant governor has been on the campaign trail for the past six months. He said he has learned a lot along the way.

“I’m constantly learning, one, there are a lot of communities across the state that are hurting, particularly in rural Georgia,” Cagle said. “Right now in south Georgia, which is losing population, people are not staying. We have got to change that. As a state, right now only about 25 percent of our economic development deals are coming to rural Georgia. That needs to increase at a much faster pace. I’m going to be a governor who is focused on bringing more economic development deals to rural Georgia.

“I’m going to build the workforce that industry needs to give them the people which will allow them to be successful.”

But building that work force in an agriculture-based economy such as rural Georgia’s will not be an easy task.

“One of the things we have to focus on is economic diversity, and this does not mean at the detriment of ag,” Cagle said. “Ag is our No. 1 industry, and it will remain our No. 1 industry. But, by the same token, we also need to take a look at how we diversify? How do we add to ag? Are there new components we can bring to ag that are manufacturing-related? There is a lot of added value that goes along with that.”