Topeka — In the upcoming school year, high school juniors and seniors will be eligible for free tuition for state technical education courses under a new program touted by officials Thursday.
Gov. Sam Brownback, employers and educators said the Career and Technology Act, which was approved by the Legislature in the last session, represents a new era in technical training in Kansas.
At a news conference at the Washburn Institute of Technology, Brownback said the goal of the new law is to create a more highly skilled workforce and help Kansans earn more money, perhaps even as they continue their education.
The courses are offered at Kansas technical and community colleges.
“I hope parents will look at this and say ‘Here is another option for my child to be able to work their way through college,’” Brownback said.
The $20 million program, which begins this school year, will also provide school districts $1,000 for each high school student from that district who gets a technical certificate in a high-need occupation.
A list of high-need occupations set by the state includes bus and truck mechanics, diesel engine specialists, carpenters, electricians, computer specialists, cement masons, concrete finishers and others.
Olivia Schwyhart, of Lawrence, went to Washburn Tech last year for graphic technology while she was finishing school at Perry-Lecompton High School. In December, she won the top award in a state pin design contest.
“It’s a really great opportunity for anyone to get a head start on their career or get a head start on college,” she said.
— Statehouse reporter Scott Rothschild can be reached at 785-423-0668.
Comments
kansasplains1 10 months ago
There is really no community college in Lawrence, and there never has been.
There have got to be alternatives to KU in Lawrence. KU is uninterested in this training, and has - as far as I can tell - no plans to introduce widespread digital learning either.
KU is very far behind compared to other schools, including Fort Hayes State, and including what many other schools are doing, not only in the US, but in Europe and beyond.
There may need to be a change in administration at the top levels. KU is charging way to much for many people to afford, and its curriculum is overextended and parts of it unnecesssary, to say the very least.
Colleges around the world are making changes. But not KU. And KU has worked to keep up costs, and keep out community colleges for many years.
Jayhawk1958 9 months, 4 weeks ago
You are paranoid.
chootspa 9 months, 4 weeks ago
http://www.jccc.edu/close-to-home/close-to-home-lawrence.html
Paul R. Getto 10 months ago
One of the gov's few good ideas.
merrill 10 months ago
Lawrence should have jumped ahead of this Vo-Tech bandwagon 15 years ago when it was being drawn to their attention. Instead movers and shakers chose retail strip malls and houses that don't pay for themselves in Lawrence,Kansas.
Students have been the bread and butter for Lawrence forever. Expanding on this source would have been smart and still would be smart. Education is the Lawrence industry of substance. Student economics have done good things for Lawrence. Build on it.
Students love to come to Lawrence so why not provide more educational opportunities to bring students to Lawrence,Kansas. Education is Lawrence,Kansas.
There are simply not the jobs for college grads so why not go after that skilled job opportunity? Not every smart person on the planet wants a college degree.
Or enhance that college degree with skilled training from a Vo-Tech.
LogicMan 10 months ago
How does a Vo-Tech school get established? Is it something the County needs to do? If the school emphasized high-paying skills that are needed locally like machinists, technicians, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, etc., I could vote for a small sales tax. But not for soft-skills like data entry, accounting, sales, artists, etc.
kernal 10 months ago
There are already two community colleges half an hour away from Lawrence: JCCC to the East and and WTI (Washburn Technical Institute) to the West. Also Kaw Tech in Holton. Between the two of them they offer associate degrees in construction, techology, health services, mechanics (auto, heating and air, railroad cars, etc.), civil engineering, food management, farming, etc. Take a look at the programs they offer. Then there's Neosho CC and Highland CC which offer a large number of courses online.
Our population is not large enough to warrant adding another community college to the mix. If we were going to do this, we should have done it twenty years ago.
LogicMan 10 months ago
"we should have done it twenty years ago."
Just like planting a tree! Should of done it 20 years ago.
Is their data on what and how many highly skilled/paid jobs are going unfilled in Douglas County? We wouldn't need to offer everything, just a targeted few skillsets and those could change with time as employers come and go.
chootspa 9 months, 4 weeks ago
JCCC already has a campus in Lawrence, and you can get to the main campus by bus.
jayhawklawrence 10 months ago
Johnson Community College offers many excellent programs but Metropolitan Community College on the Missouri side has some excellent programs that are not offered in Kansas. The Kansas schools have been sucking wind for years trying to get funding so I am very skeptical about this announcement.
It sounds like a $20 million dollar political advertisement rather than a serious effort at improving our votech training.
I appreciate any little bit of help and I am sure the poor schools do as well but they are probably thinking this is a bunch of BS and they should already be getting a lot more funding and help than they do.
Liberty275 9 months, 4 weeks ago
I spent 4 years working 8 hour days, rushing home, showering, then driving 2 miles to HCC in Tampa. That's after doing the same thing in a smaller town in Florida for about a year. I'd never have been able to drive 30 miles to school. Thanks to that opportunity I was the first person in our family to get a college degree. Now I have a Masters.
I think there should be a community college in Lawrence because I'd like to see other people afforded the same opportunity I had.
anticommunist 9 months, 4 weeks ago
This is fine piece of legislation that both sides of the isle can and should commend. I see a great potential in Kansas for a strong, technologically-skilled labor force. Various technologies will only become more integrated into the farming experience, thus amplifying our yields and ability to combat drought etc. Even the craven liberals on this forum can appreciate what Governor Brownback is doing for future generations of Kansans by working this into law.
Jayhawk1958 9 months, 4 weeks ago
Doesn't the JoCo bus go from Lawrence to Johnson County on a regular basis?
oneeye_wilbur 9 months, 4 weeks ago
Lawrence has been too. Uppity about education and the same with getting employers. The Lawrenc leaders. God forbid they are called that, do not want blue collar jobs, blue collar residents.
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