Maine’s seven technical colleges are on the Nov. 2 ballot, requesting $26.4 million for infrastructure improvements. As voters consider the issue, they might think of it as an upgrade of the state’s best job-generating machine.

Most of today’s expanding business sectors are technically oriented, requiring sophisticated and well-educated employees. An increasingly tight labor market in technology requires growing businesses to expand where they can find employees, whether those markets are in Sri Lanka, San Jose or Skowhegan. Maine’s K-12 schools, judging by recent national test scores, are among the best in the country, but particularly the northern two-thirds of the state suffers from a lack of well-paid employment opportunities. Much of the failure to attract businesses that offer these jobs can be traced to a lack of well-trained and qualified potential employees. Sure, better roads, lower utility costs and less severe winters would help, but the most crippling problem is the lack of skilled people.

The Maine Technical College System stretches from a campus in Wells to one in Presque Isle, and all seven would receive significant portions of this bond issue, which requires the system to raise an addition $7 million in private donations. In Calais, classrooms for a new program in physical and occupational therapy would be constructed. In Fairfield and Bangor, programs in information and bioscience technology and applied electronics would be strengthened with a library and resource center.

This is the first capital campaign for the technical-college system in 10 years. In the past decade enrollment has increased by 50 percent. More than 5,000 Maine people are enrolled in degree programs, and another 15,000 are taking continuing education courses. The $2,040 yearly tuition is by far the lowest of any post-secondary education in the state. Seventy-seven percent of the students have family incomes under $15,000. Ninety-four percent of the graduates of the system continue into a baccalaureate program or find employment, and of those immediately going to work, 96 percent find jobs in Maine. The colleges offer education and training in seven of the top 10 fastest growing occupations, including computer specialists and surgical technologists.

These are schools that educate Maine people for satisfying careers that will improve and broaden their lives. Bright, motivated young adults can receive training here, rather than reluctantly leaving for North Carolina or Colorado because that’s where the opportunities are located. Quality advanced education that leads to an improved standard of living is as much a resource as the forest or the ocean, and needs the protection and investment of Maine people.

Rather than waiting for the next shoe shop to fail or the next paper mill to close, Maine must build an educated workforce with the education and expertise to participate in the networked economy. The technical colleges are fundamentally important to improving our business climate.