However, Sedona and Verde Valley taxpayers continue to pay for centralized CTE campus on west side of County will little or no access and for the lease on this new centralized facility (a kind of unfair double taxation for a CTE building)

The good news in Sedona and the Verde Valley is the grand opening of Valley Academy for Career and Technical Education Campus on January 23.  The grand opening will be held from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the new facility that is located at 3405 East State Route 89A in Cottonwood.

The facility is possible because earlier in the year V’ACTE entered a three-year lease for the 7700-square-foot facility that was the former home to Flip City Gymnastics.  V’ACTE, led by Bob Weir with the help of students and others, has been busily remodeling the facility.

This marks the second time there has been a centralized CTE facility in the Sedona/Verde Valley area.  In 2004 Yavapai Community College opened the Northern Arizona Regional Skills program on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale with great fanfare.  This CTE program, which was financed in part by a large grant from the federal government, was closed when Yavapai College decided to build a Career and Technology Education Center (CTEC) at the Prescott airport. 

Since the CTE program was shuttered on the Verde Campus, CTE training on this side of the Mountain has done the best it could with limited funds and without a centralized facility.  Meanwhile, the College invested about $19 to 20 million into the Prescott facility with a substantial amount of revenue coming from Sedona/Verde Valley taxpayers.  Unfortunately, CTEC in Prescott cannot be accessed by east County high school students; only west County students.  Furthermore, because of the distance that must be traveled and the absence of inter-campus or public bus transportation, it is challenging for others living on the east side of the County to arrange schedules so they can attend classes at CTEC.

The Chair of the Community College Governing Board has suggested that he is ready to urge approval of millions of dollars for a new Community College CTEC on the east side of the County.  However, he also suggests he is waiting for plans to be submitted by the east side for such a facility before any action can take place.

While those plans are hopefully being drawn, CTE on the east side of the County will begin program development at the new leased centralized facility in Cottonwood.

The Verde Independent has reported that VACTE will also continue to offer satellite courses at Mingus Union High School, Camp Verde High School, and Sedona-Red Rock High School.  At Mingus it is intending to offer engineering, agriculture science, automotive technology, welding, film and TV, architectural design/drafting, business office management, sports medicine and theater tech. At Camp Verde High School, it intends to offer graphic and web design, agri-business, auto tech, culinary arts, cabinet making, audio-music recording and sports medicine. At Sedona-Red Rock High School it is hoping to offer digital communication, digital photography, film and TV and theater tech. Sedona also will add a sports medicine program next year

VACTE Superintendent Bob Weir told the Verde Independent in June that there is a possibility that V’ACTE will offer theater tech and business office management next year.  For more information about VACTE and the June 29 story written by Dan Engler in the Verde Independent, please click here.