MCCSC referendum seeks career and technical education fees already covered by grant

Laura Lane, The Herald-Times
·4 min read
Hoosier Hills Career Center students designed and fabricated this child-size chair and students in the auto body program airbrushed it.
Hoosier Hills Career Center students designed and fabricated this child-size chair and students in the auto body program airbrushed it.

Matching steel chairs in Monroe County Community School Corp.'s Hoosier Hills Career Center lobby attest to the value of technical and career-based education for high school students.

Teens designed, fabricated and welded the unique furniture in the career center's industrial welding classroom. Students in the auto body program airbrushed bright colors of paint onto the hard surfaces.

These are the skills Christi McBride works to foster in the 793 technical and career center students who attend half-day classes at the Bloomington High School North-based center.

About 515, 65%, are MCCSC students. The rest come by school bus from Richland-Bean Blossom, Martinville, Spencer-Owen, Eastern Greene and Bloomfield school districts.

A Hoosier Hills Career Center student shows welds he completed during a class.
A Hoosier Hills Career Center student shows welds he completed during a class.

Students can take dual-credit vocational courses and leave high school with established skills and certifications that qualify them for stable-income jobs as welders, auto mechanics and medical professionals.

Support for Hoosier Hills included in referendum before voters

MCCSC has included Hoosier Hills in the funding plan for a proposed tax increase on the Nov. 7 ballot that will be decided by all county voters except those in Richland and Bean-Blossom townships, which have their own school district.

The Hoosier Hills Career Center at Bloomington North High School.
The Hoosier Hills Career Center at Bloomington North High School.

Multiple mailings seeking referendum support, paid for by a political action committee called YES for MCCSC that's not directly affiliated with the school administration, say this:

"MCCSC has placed on the November 7 ballot an operations referendum to finance unfunded needs. Creating this access supports the school corporation's equity goal of removing barriers so that all students and families may fully participate in the highest quality educational experience."

Career and technical education at Hoosier Hills Career Center is one of five areas where the referendum would funnel extra money.

Promotional materials and the MCCSC administration say the career center portion of referendum money, $1.5 million, would pay student fees for dual-credit tuition classes that offer high school and college credit. It also would cover the cost of career certification exams.

Perkins Act delivers federal funds for dual-credit tuition and testing fees

McBride, Hoosier Hills Career Center director, said the money would be the first referendum dollars directly benefiting the center. It would enhance student opportunities and allow program expansion.

But there's already federal funding for these fees. The Perkins Act, reauthorized in 2018, is meant to increase the integration of academic and career-based high school education, with attention on underserved students and gender equity.

The program pays dual-credit tuition fees, which are capped at $75 for a three-credit class through Ivy Tech or Vincennes University. The same federal grant covers the cost of most student certification exams as well.

Hoosier Hills Career Center received $340,000 of the more than $31 million in Perkins funds allotted to Indiana this school year. Grants are determined by a per-student amount for each career and technical education student, with priority given to those from historically underserved groups.

McBride said the funds are enough to cover students' tuition and test fees. "The majority of dual-credit fees are paid through Perkins funds, although a few are not on the OK'd list," McBride said.

For instance, a medical terminology class offered through Vincennes University is $243 per credit hour, which is $729 since it's three college credit hours. Tuition is limited to $25 for high school students, so it's $75 for kids at Hoosier Hills.

If a student's family can't afford the $75, it comes from supplemental Perkins grant funds McBride applies for and receives each year.

Hauswald: Referendum would pay for classes not currently covered by Perkins funds

Referendum promotion materials say it's dual-credit tuition and career certification exams the extra tax funds will pay.

Superintendent Jeff Hauswald said there are MCCSC students denied access to career paths because of funding restrictions. He mentioned a $600 IU course and some certification tests not covered by Perkins funds.

"We have students not taking these courses because they cannot pay the costs," he said.

McBride said it's more money for the career center that matters.

If she could spend fewer dollars paying for tuition and exams, there would be more money for supplies such as torches, long metal pipes and steel slabs for welding students.

Students at the Hoosier Hills Career Center learn welding by practicing with donated pieces of metal.
Students at the Hoosier Hills Career Center learn welding by practicing with donated pieces of metal.

She could replace decades-old machines instead of waiting for them to break down or become obsolete.

Hoosier Hills Career Center welding technology teacher Mark Scranton points to metal donated to the school for students to use as class materials.
Hoosier Hills Career Center welding technology teacher Mark Scranton points to metal donated to the school for students to use as class materials.

She could buy more metal so her staff could spend less time seeking donations to keep the welding program afloat and more time teaching the skills of the trade.

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Perkins funds already pay vocational fees MCCSC referendum seeks