River Valley Technical Center Cuts Programs
Posted on: Tuesday, 22 November 2005, 00:00 CST
By Dan Bustard, Eagle Times, Claremont, N.H.
Nov. 21--SPRINGFIELD -- Two information technology programs, a guidance counselor, a special educator and a proposed fire safety instructor position would be cut from next year's River Valley Technical Center budget under a proposal set for discussion on Monday.
The technical center's board will hold a special meeting to look into the 2006-07 budget after earlier this month it was decided more than $200,000 had to be removed to keep the increase within acceptable limits for board members.
"It's not a comfortable position to be in at all," RVTC Director Bob Bickford said. "It is not in the best interest of students to make these decisions." Bickford is part of the budget committee asked to find $234,000 in cuts. He said the proposal coming before the board Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. comes within $15,000 of this goal.
The technical center's budget is included in the Springfield School District budget voted on in March. The center's board makes a recommendation on the budget to the Springfield School Board, who has final say on its inclusion.
The budget is also presented to sending school boards Green Mountain, Bellows Falls, Black River and Fall Mountain, high schools who send students to the center.
The loss of U.S. Department of Labor grants for the technical center is adding pressure to the budget deliberations. The grants will end during this school year.
The program-related cuts would remove the computer programming and Web site design classes, half of the information technology programs offered at the center.
Bickford said not hiring a new fire safety instructor will stretch the existing staff thinner, and the reductions in force will leave one special educator and one guidance counselor for the center.
The proposal also includes cutting $20,000 by not replacing a computer lab and $15,000 less in deferred operating expenses.
One number not yet in the technical center's budget is its proposed share of the Howard Dean Education Center's administration. RVTC takes up the most space in the Dean Center, which includes post-secondary partners University of Vermont and Community College of Vermont.
The Dean Center has a part-time director and a full-time administrative assistant to coordinate space usage at the facility and better promote its offerings, particularly in workforce development for new and existing businesses.
Each Vermont sending school will be asked to pay its share of this expense, though school boards like Green Mountain have made it known they do not want to see any figure included in their budgets for the center's administration.
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Source: Eagle Times, Claremont, New Hampshire
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