It has been a tough road for the proposed regional skills center project the Bethel School District has been trying to launch for nearly two years.
But the district and its partners – nine other Pierce County school districts – have solved the last major local political obstacle. A good location is ready. Now it’s time for county legislators to help make the case for state funding in Olympia.
Bethel, as the lead agency, envisions a $42 million technical high school that would provide a contemporary version of what used to be called vocational education. But this is a far cry from traditional wood shop and auto mechanics.
Skills centers offer courses in criminal justice, robotic technology, medical skills, computer technology and the like that prepare students for two- or four-year post-secondary college education.
Other courses, which might include veterinary science and cosmetology, for example, could prepare students for work internships or further training in technical colleges.
Skills centers are part of a state policy to increase the number of students prepared for the post-secondary training or schooling required for most jobs in today’s workplace. It is more cost-effective for school districts to share a regional facility than to build costly career training facilities on their own.
The other participating districts are Tacoma, Sumner, Eatonville, Orting, University Place, Puyallup, Franklin Pierce, Fife and Steilacoom.
Bethel voters approved about $6 million in a 2006 bond issue for site acquisition. But the project hit a roadblock last year when county officials opposed a proposed location in the Frederickson industrial area.
Bethel now has acquired an 8-acre Safeway grocery store property at 160th and Canyon Road East. It is well-located in terms of serving surrounding school districts, and the supermarket building can be recycled, so to speak.
Another local hurdle was cleared when Bethel and local community and technical college leaders recently agreed on a way to coordinate plans for training programs to avoid wasteful duplication.
To advance, the Legislature must approve the $42 million tab for construction; at a minimum, $4 million this year for design and pre-construction work, with full construction funding next year, would get the project on its way.
The Bethel project is precisely what lawmakers had in mind when they authorized regional skills centers. It will help keep kids in school, prepare them for further career training and education, and strengthen the state’s workforce.
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