Rep. Sells seeks $2 million for aerospace training

Published 12:19 pm Friday, March 5, 2010

Rep. Mike Sells, D-Everett, is seeking $2 million from the state’s general fund for aerospace training.

The $2 million would go to the Washington Aerospace Training and Research Center at Paine Field here in Everett.

The center was forged by Snohomish County and the Aerospace Futures Alliance last summer after the Legislature failed to fund one. Aerospace Futures Alliance has asked Edmonds Community College to oversee the training center, which could see its first students this spring.

Aerospace training became a major concern for local and state lawmakers as the Boeing Co. looked at other sites last year for a second 787 production line. The company settled on South Carolina, rather than Everett, for that assembly line.

While the training center at Paine Field is relying on local, state and federal funds to get started, eventually, its operators say it will be self-funded. Local aerospace companies in need of specific training can pay the center to provide it to their workers. And people looking to get into the aeropace field can enroll in courses there as well.