Report of the MCAA Education Committee

We have however, been able to provide the association and our members a strong offering of educational programs. Last years convention in Chicago displayed probably one of the strongest educational offerings to our membership. In addition to offering a strong offering of seminars and workshops, we were successful in providing several quality educational programs for the specifiers and architects that attended Construct America. We continue to improve on this success by offering another strong program of educational sessions. In addition to our convention program, the association has conducted two wall bracing sessions and we plan to conduct a Foreman Development Coarse for our MCA Arizona chapter. We will continue to expand on these educational offerings.

One of the Education Committee focuses as outlined in our Long Range Strategic Plan is to establish a national certification program for our industry's mason contractors. Our committee will establish a Certification Task Force to study the concept and feasibility of a national certification. Many of our chapters have either established a local certification or are planning to offer one. The MCAA has been asked to look seriously at establishing a national program that local chapters to partner with which will offer continuity. Some of the items that we will debate is the commitment of our industry's customers to specify a certified contractor, if contractors will seek to become certified, who will be certified, the contractor or the employee or both and whether or not the benefits of a certification will outweigh the costs.

Another item spelled out in our Long Range Plan that our committee will explore is the feasibility of establishing a 501C3 Educational Trust. The benefits of a 501C3 Educational Trust is the ability to accept funds from contractors that are tax exempt and that many of our educational (both contractor and owner education) can be funded from this new source of funds.