By L’OBSERVATEUR

As our nation continues to grow into a service economy in the midst of an economic tailspin, more and more people are looking for options when it comes to jobs.

Right here at home, at Louisiana Technical College’s River Parishes Campus, we offer many of those options.

Through 26 course offerings, people of all ages can throw themselves a lifeline if needed or construct their own ladder to begin their climb into the future.

The so-called “trade school” has grown in importance over the years, but may never be more vital to our future than now, as the economy claims jobs and creates chaos for those persons impacted.

We can’t help but think that LTC-River Parish’s future will be one of record growth as the need for the education and training it provides increases.

That’s why it is important that funding for the state’s community and technical colleges remains untouched as Gov. Bobby Jindal looks for ways to trim expenses.

As the Governor pointed out, it is foolhardy for Louisiana to try to spend its way out of a budgetary shortfall. Likewise, we would be remiss if we didn’t point out how foolhardy it would also be to cut funding to those programs that offer training to immediately allow persons to either expand their career — or to jump start it in the event they have become an unemployment statistic.

LTC-River Parishes offers educational programs for learning, for earning and for life.