Tells Clarkdale Council that East side  of County should bond for it in their JTED District; completely ignores how CTEC was built on west side of County using primary tax money that remains available for east side development

Will Yavapai Community College President Penelope Wills’ view of how revenue for constructing a small Career and Technical Education facility on the east side of Yavapai County influence the Governing Board? Many believe it will.  The Blog obtained a recording of her address to the Clarkdale Town Council on April 26, 2016 where this issue was raised.  It was discouraging.

According to Wills,  the Valley Academy for Career Technical Education should seek a General Obligation Bond to construct a small CTE in its district.  “They can bond and it is just within the Verde Valley,” she said.

When she made this statement, Wills ignored the fact that an estimated $15 million in primary tax revenue obtained from County property taxes was used to construct the Career and Technical Education Center on the West side of the County.  She also ignored the fact that the College has available to it annually from $6 to $8 million to spend on capital projects. This revenue is generated using County primary property tax revenue. Some of it could easily be used to construct a CTE on the east side of the County were Wills’ and the Governing Board to decide to do so.

Wills was not, of course, speaking for the Governing Board when she addressed the Clarkdale Town Council.  One fears, however, that her view will influence the Board and prevent it from using the available capital revenue to construct a small CTE facility on the East side of the County. Or, at least keep any effort at developing such a facility at a minimalist level.

One can hope, of course, that the Governing Board would actually make an independent decision on this important educational issue separate from the harsh and some might say “selfish” views of Wills.

You may listen below to a clip of Wills’ speech to the Clarkdale Town Council where this issue was addressed.

Valley starts constructing facility on its own with student help; College scoops  up estimated $15 million in primary property tax revenue including millions from the Verde Valley when starting and then developing  CTE Campus for the West side of the County

Commentary

There is no better illustration of the educational economic discrimination practiced by the Yavapai Community College and the Yavapai College District Governing Board than their approach to constructing centralized career and technical education Centers within the County. When that issue was broached on the west side of the County in 2007, the College took the lead and the financial responsibility to construct a state-of-the-art Career and Technical Education (CTEC) facility at the Prescott airport. The initial investment was $5.75 million. That money went to purchase the 108,000 square-foot facility at the airport plus 8 acres of land. Over the two year period following the purchase, the College is estimated to have invested more than $1 million in equipment to get CTEC up and running. Recently, the College renovated and added to CTEC at a cost estimated in excess of $7 million.

The West County Joint Technical Education District (Mountain Institute) is now headquartered at CTEC  and also sharing joint facilities with the Community College’s recent $4 million construction investment at the new Prescott Valley Allied Health Center. This makes for excellent coordination between the west side JTED and the College. But there is nothing remotely similar on the East side occurring.

It should be noted that when it decided to build the CTE campus at the Prescott airport, the College and District Governing Board abandoned the CTE initiative on the Verde Campus, which was called the “Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center.” This facility was intended to serve several counties in Northern Arizona through CTE training on the Verde Campus.  It had been approved by voters in the 2000 General Obligation Bond election and had received over a million dollars from the Federal Government for capital construction that was completed in 2004. It was shuttered once the new CTE campus was constructed at the Prescott airport.

The facilities at CTEC provide excellent learning opportunities for high school students on the west side of the County.  Unfortunately, those same opportunities are not available to high school students on the east side of the County.  Moreover, access to  CTEC is too far to drive for many in the Verde Valley, especially single parents, the unemployed, and those seeking additional CTE training while holding a full-time job.

Meanwhile, in a story written by Zachary Jernigan in the September 27, 2017, Cottonwood Journal students were described as being used to “construct and install metal studs, hang and finish dry wall and run electrical lines for outlets and light fixtures” for the East County’s first centralized Career and Technology Education Center.  

Jernigan quoted the Valley Academy for Career and Technical Education superintendent, Bob Weir, as explaining that “The construction students were able to learn from the insulation techs from Banker Insulation today as they sprayed the insulation on the walls in our new VACTE classrooms and district office. . . . It was an opportunity for our students to learn from leaders in the industry and have them work hand in hand with the students for a successful project.”

VACTE and Bob Wier must be congratulated for the decision to move forward with a centralized campus using the sparse funds available for the effort.  And the students applauded for their outstanding efforts!  But in the end, the treatment by the College and the District Governing Board when it comes to developing a Career and Technical Education facility on the East side of the County is nothing more that educational economic discrimination.

You may read all of Mr. Jernigan’s article in the Cottonwood Journal by clicking here.

Note:  A centralized campus on the East side of the County was authorized in 2000 and construction on the facility completed in 2004.  As noted above, it was abandoned three years later as a CTE facility of the type developed at CTEC at the Prescott airport.