TRSD board hears Homebuilders’ vocational ed proposal
From our weekly issue dated April 29, 2009
A vocational education proposal was made by the Home Builders Association (HBA) of Josephine County to Three Rivers School District (TRSD) directors during their Monday night, April 20 meeting at Hidden Valley High School in Murphy.
HBA members John Chmelir, Gordon Longhurst, Jen Wheatley and Ralph Henderson proposed that some of the funds collected from an excise tax on new construction be allocated toward purchasing tools for students interested in vocational education programs.
In 2007, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 1036, which allowed school districts to impose a construction excise tax as a way to raise revenues for capital improvements. The TRSD board voted to implement the tax last year, as did Grants Pass School District 7. However, the TRSD board agreed to delay implementation until July 1 this year after HBA requested time to allow its industry to recover from the current housing slump.
“When the construction excise tax was proposed at the state level and local level, we were not very thrilled,” Longhurst said. “We were opposed to it, but also recognized that the Legislature passed it and the school boards were pretty much bound to adopt it because it’s a funding source and they’re always desperate for funding sources.”
Longhurst said that under SB 1036, school districts can only spend funds collected from the excise tax for capital improvements, which is why HBA is suggesting the purchase of tools.
“If it’s generated by construction spending, we want to see the benefit of construction training,” he said.
TRSD Director Phil Stephens said that he supports the concept.
“They didn’t want the tax in the beginning,” he said, “but since the board wanted to try to collect at least some of what was coming in, at least this is a good opportunity to return that money back into training high school kids that want a career or at least to know how to do the home building part of it.”
Longhurst said that by using the construction excise taxes in such a way, the district could reverse the trend of funding cuts to vocational education.
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“Traditionally, it’s been a problem locally and nationally,” he said. “Vocational education, for years, has been a poor stepchild. Usually, when budgets are getting cut, one of the first things to get cut is the shop programs.”
The TRSD board did not act on the proposal during the April 20 meeting. However, Stephens said that he considers it worth pursuing.
“I think everyone on the board liked the idea,” he said. “Vocational training is very important to a number of students. It’s an idea we’re going to be proceeding with.”
Longhurst said that he has been working with Rogue Community College to try to encourage apprenticeships and provide opportunities for young people in the area.
“When the construction industry is healthy, kids can come out of school, do a couple of years of vocational training and make a pretty good living wage,” he said. Likewise, the program being discussed right now by TRSD board and HBA would be conducted in conjunction with RCC.
Longhurst said that he supports the program because “it’s multifaceted.
“It’s not purely hands-on stuff,” he added. “It’s integrated more traditional academic stuff with vocational education.”
Stevens said he would like to see students benefit from such a program.
“I thought it is a pretty neat idea,” Stephens said. “Not only will they learn some skills, but they’ll get college credit off of it too, which is nice.”
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