Nearly two out of every three jobs in the workforce requires a skilled person. That’s triple the rate of 50 years ago. Moreover, the skills needed these days are highly technical, requiring specialized training. Preparing women and men to go out into this workforce is a challenge for school districts which can’t afford the specialized training and state-of-the-art equipment.

The solution? Having local school districts join together to pool resources and expertise.

Called a Joint Technological Education District n or JTED; school boards across Pima County this month are considering whether to take advantage of a special window offered this year only by the Legislature to join together to provide what were once called vocational education courses, but are now referred to as career and technical education programs.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

The school board in the Tanque Verde Unified School District was the first to opt-in back in January. School boards in Catalina Foothills and Sahuarita agreed to join last month.

The question is on the agenda for the Sunnyside school board Tuesday (March 14), Vail will consider it March 21 and the boards in Tucson Unified, Amphitheater, Flowing Wells and Marana are all planning to take their own actions before the end of the month.

Getting local school boards to agree is the first step of forming a JTED. Next month, once it’s determined which districts want to join in, a plan on the formation of the JTED will be sent to the state Department of Education for approval.

Final approval will come from voters Nov. 7 in an election in each of the of affected school districts. Voters of at least two districts must agree to the idea.

Voter approval in November will also carry with it a property tax of five cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That works out to $12.50 a year on a home valued at $250,000 for tax purposes. If most or all Tucson area school districts participate, it’s estimated the JTED would receive between $6 million and $8 million a year for career and technical education programs.

The JTED and the tax would go into effect in July 2007. The JTED will have its own superintendent and its own school board, tentatively planned as two representatives from each of the participating school districts.

Vaughn Croft, senior program coordinator at the Pima County School Superintendent’s office, has become a point person among local districts in trying to establish the local JTED.

“The rich value of these programs is that you take the concepts of problem solving, combine it with modern technology and it still applies today,” Croft says.

Students who successfully complete many of these programs will be certified, he said. For example an automotive graduate will be ASE (National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence) certified. Croft said other programs will be similarly certified.

Elsewhere in Arizona, there are 70 school districts participating in 10 JTEDs. They operate using one of two models: Four of them use a centralized facility housing all of the JTED’s classes at one location, the other six operate using satellite facilities, usually at participating school sites, at which the JTED courses are offered as enhancements to existing courses now being offered.

Most of the discussion for Pima County is headed toward the satellite model. There’s a debate over which works better.

In 2004, the state Auditor General issued a report saying the centralized model “has provided new courses at more advanced levels, in better facilities with more state-of-the-art equipment, that are taught by instructors with advanced certifications or more extensive industry experience.”

On the other hand, the auditor general’s report said the satellite courses “appear to be no more extensive than the typical high school vocational education courses taught by surrounding nonmember districts.”

But Croft counters that research by Jack Elliott, a professor in the University of Arizona’s Department of Agriculture, has found that students perform better and have higher achievement results when they take courses closer to their home. In most cases, the centralized facility also has higher capital costs associated with building a centralized facility.

But even under the satellite model, students may travel to other high schools.

Croft said, for instance, that Flowing Wells is already noted for an outstanding agriscience program, which could be enhanced under a JTED and would be open to any student for a participating school district.

Still Croft doubts there will be many students traveling from, say, Tanque Verde on Tucson’s far east side to Sahuarita near Green Valley.

“As a practical matter the maximum travel time, under normal circumstances, is going to be between 20 and 25 minutes,” Croft said.

At first blush some might surprised that Catalina Foothills and Tanque Verde were the first two local school districts to opt in to a program for what was once called vocational education. Both districts have high-achieving students and are the only two school districts in Arizona to have all of their schools labeled excelling by the Department of Education.

But Croft says he’s not so surprised by Tanque Verde’s or Catalina Foothills’ decision.

“Those two districts have a reputation for their upper crust skills, but they’re both actively involved in the skills for the 21st century movement of high school reform,” he said. “These programs fit right in with that.”

In recommending her school board endorse the JTED, Catalina Foothills Superintendent Mary Kamerzell told members it was impossible to do a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis regarding the district’s involvement because there are still so many unknowns regarding the curriculum. But, she told the members, one factor outweighing all others is the additional revenue that will come from the JTED. She noted Catalina Foothills has successfully tapped every possible budget override and bond available by law and that this is the only additional public source available.

Although it’s impossible to predict how many Catalina Foothills students might participate in the JTED, she noted the district would be receiving an additional $760 per student in funding if one existed today.

While there is widespread support among members of other district school boards, some are wrestling with other issues.

In the Flowing Wells district on Tucson near northwest side, Superintendent Nic Clement says the school board has had two study sessions on the JTED and there is general support for the idea.

“You’ve heard of the idea of trying to build an airplane while it’s in the air? Well this is an airplane that hasn’t even taken off yet,” Clement said. “It’s difficult to get your arms around just exactly what this is going to be.”

He said there’s no doubt Flowing Wells students could benefit from some of the programs. He said the money from a JTED could help keep the district’s agrisciences and auto tech programs at state-of-the-art levels. He also said there is demand for new programs not currently available to students in the buidling trades and in the allied health field, specifically certified nursing assistants.

One drawback others say is facing Flowing Wells’ school board concerns the political ramifications of asking voters to approve a tax in November, when the district is likely to be going to those same voters in March 2007 and asking for a renewal of budget override. Clement said he couldn’t predict how the school board will vote on the JTED.

The rapidly growing Vail Unified School District on Tucson’s southeast side has been working at breakneck speed to build, equip and staff schools and establish an identity. There, school board members will have to decide whether they want to divert some attention and resources to the JTED. Superintendent Calvin Baker said the decision on whether to join the JTED isn’t easy.

While not predicting how other school boards will vote, it appears there is strong support for the JTED in Tucson Unified, Sunnyside, Marana and Amphitheater.

The immediate challenge for all districts is that the Legislature’s one-year window of opportunity expires with the November election. Any district that’s in the JTED at that time is in and, unless things change, other school districts won’t be permitted to join later.

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact David Hatfield by e-mail at dhatfield@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4237.