Re: Local Vo-Tech School Closing Auto Tech Program

Posted by Ryan - WI on March 21, 2009 at 16:01:29 from (66.114.188.57):

In Reply to: Local Vo-Tech School Closing Auto Tech Program posted by Buzzman72 on March 21, 2009 at 09:59:44:

Do they have the staff required to teach it?

I perhaps have a unique view of this situation as I teach in the tech ed field (including auto) in a high school setting. Many of the same principles exist in both secondary and post secondary programs.

1. Finding qualified staff is becoming more and more difficult. Working conditions in education are becoming worse and worse. Teachers are now being faced with students who are not as willing to try to learn, higher testing requirements, lower budgets, a diminished public perception and salaries lower than equally trained counterparts. Many of us who have the skills needed to teach in the technical areas are foregoing the growing amount of BS in education and moving to the private sector where jobs are less stressful and better compensated. Getting a job in industry with an Elementary Education degree is hard. Finding one with a Tech Ed degree and the knowledge and skill set with which that comes is easy. If I had the desire I could get a job even in this ecomony in pretty much any of the local industries. Finding staff who are willing to take a personal loss to educate kids that want everything handed to them on a silver platter is getting harder and harder.

2. Finding money for education is getting harder and harder these days. Educational institutions are needing to be run more and more like a corporation. Unfortunately within a corporation sometimes you trim not only the fat but also the least productive muscle. Students in these types of programs do not pay any additional money in most cases. Their tuition is paid via the same credit cost as a kid getting a degree in accounting. However the costs associated with running the program are incredibly higher. All that you need to do to prove that is to take a peek at the shop. All that equipment in there isn't free. Some of the unseen costs associated with a technology program include the extra heating for large inefficient shop areas, higher insurance premiums and increased repair costs. Not to mention the increase in pay (in a collegiate setting, secondary we get nothing extra) associated with finding staff as discussed above. It simply costs a whole lot more to train someone in a high skill specialty area than it does in many of the other areas within a school. For example, my high school budget is around $4000 each year (and that is incredibly small compared to many districts). The English, Mathematics and Science departments have an annual combined budget of $1500.

My guess is this program is just not as cost effective as the other programs and due to budget constraints (read: taxpayer funding) something had to go. In this case it was the auto program.

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