Administration continues to indicate that dual enrollment students will be paying fees to College in the not too distant future
During the past year, especially during speeches in Sedona, Dr. Penelope Wills and her staff have boasted about the dual enrollment programs and their cost to County residents. For example, during a radio broadcast on KAZM in the spring of 2014, Dr. Wills bragged about the dual enrollment program just installed at Red Rock High School:
“So over a hundred thousand dollars is just spent on classes with Red Rocks that we pay for and parents don’t. The taxpayer doesn’t. The student doesn’t.”
While the College was not spending a hundred thousand dollars on Red Rocks High School, that part of the statement regarding no one is paying for dual education was mostly true. In fact, the College pays a high school teacher who simultaneously teaches a class for the College and the high school at the high school, a small stipend. The stipend, of course, most likely comes from taxpayer property tax revenue. The dual enrollment program is one of the most cost-effective programs in the College’s arsenal of learning.
However, those days of free dual education are nearing an end, as the Wills’ administration has apparently changed its mind about anything “free.” That was the message it communicated to the District Governing Board at the May 19 work session. This may be the last year that dual enrollment classes are offered at high schools by the College in Yavapai County where there are no fees charged.