Staff photos / R. Michael Semple
Trumbull Career & Technical Center student Isaac Bell, 17, of Hubbard, grinds metal in the welding, cutting and fabrication class. Officials at three Mahoning Valley career tech centers — Choffin Career & Technical Center, Mahoning County Career & Technical Center and Trumbull Career & Technical Center — say they could benefit from Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposed budget.
A budget proposal from Gov. Mike DeWine would set aside $300 million for career tech center improvements.
If given legislative backing, grant money would be divided in two parts: $100 million for career tech equipment and $200 million toward career tech construction.
Three Mahoning Valley career tech centers — Choffin Career & Technical Center, Mahoning County Career & Technical Center and Trumbull Career & Technical Center — stand to benefit from the funding, which would enhance workforce advancement.
In March, the Ohio House finance committee held hearings on the budget but a decision has yet to be made.
Ohio lawmakers were on break until this week, when talks will resume.
The budget, as proposed, would need to pass in the House and Senate by the end of June to be signed by DeWine.
TRUMBULL CENTER
Enrollment has been through the roof for Trumbull Career & Technical Center, Superintendent Jason Gray said.
When Gray and TCTC Director Paula Baco heard about DeWine’s funding proposal, they started brainstorming ways to capitalize on the opportunity.
“We’re excited about it. We’ve always sent the message that career tech, skilled trades are important, and it’s at the forefront right now,” Gray said. “For us, we live by our three E’s campaigns: We get our students enrolled, enlisted or employed. And this definitely helps us to do that.”
With programs filled to capacity at TCTC, its board and administrative team have been putting plans in place to expand programs — which could mean a move toward a new career track for industrial technology programs.
Nathan Berry, TCTC’s career development and work-based learning coordinator, said: “This program, we’re trying to develop in such a way that a student can come in, learn the basics of industrial tech and then in their second year go toward a more specific avenue such as robotics or industrial maintenance.”
A more lofty goal is to make way for 100 new spaces for programming.
To do so, Gray said two things need to align: a continued increase in enrollment and meeting in-demand needs.
“All of our programs have advisory committees comprised of local business and industry members. Then we have staff whose job is career development and work-based learning opportunities. So he is out with local employers to hire our students on what we call ‘early experience’ in their senior year,” Gray said.
Berry said qualifying students, based on grades and attendance, get paired with the school’s industry partners to allow students to work alongside professionals. During the school year, students take academic classes in the morning and later they’re able to leave for work.
Next year, Berry said the hope is to modify the program to include a one week on, one week off model.
“We’ve had industry partners tell us it’s difficult to have students come in part way through the day with workers already out on the job,” Berry said.
To remedy this, the new model Berry described would allow industry partners to hire two students to fill one full-time position. “With this model, Student A would be working during the week while Student B would be working on their academics.”
The current model sees students meeting the demands of several area needs, depending on the industry.
That might mean culinary students fulfill their work requirements with catering companies or restaurants struggling to retain employees.
Berry said the potential for more funding is exciting — TCTC’s partners see needs that the funding could help fill with a potential expansion, such as possibly adding more buildings to the campus.
Whether backed by grant money or otherwise, Berry said TCTC plans for growth.
YOUNGSTOWN CHOFFIN
Board member Joe Meranto, at a recent Youngstown Board of Education meeting, urged “striking while the iron’s hot” on the financial opportunity that he believes would help modernize Choffin.
Meranto, former superintendent of Youngstown City Schools, served for 14 years as executive director at Choffin. He attended the Ohio Career Technical Administrators spring conference in Dublin, Ohio, last month to gather information for the school district on how to get the most out of the career center.
“In looking at the governor’s new budget, there is considerable funding available for career tech and it is obvious that this is becoming a priority at the state level,” Meranto said.
Looking at the Youngstown district’s financial forecast, Meranto said a drop in student population can make it difficult to maintain the district’s career center. He suggests getting creative to increase enrollment. This includes considering the center as a half-day option for students.
Meranto argued that it makes “no sense” to have students from six local school districts, all within five or 10 minutes of Choffin in Youngstown, shuttled to the Mahoning or Trumbull career centers that are about 30 minutes away.
The new model Meranto proposes would draw more attention to the center.
“Our career center location makes an ideal opportunity for high school and adult education,” he said.
Choffin, 200 E. Wood St., is nearly sandwiched between the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County and Mount Carmel Church, and is less than a block away from Eastern Gateway Community College and only a stone’s throw from Youngstown State University, just beyond the library.
For transportation, he looks toward the Western Reserve Transit Authority as a solution, given the career center is nested on the bus line and could provide access to some without transportation.
Sherry Cross, director of the adult education program at Choffin, said an influx of funding could help the center update equipment primarily used during students’ first and second terms. The students focus on lectures and labs with standard equipment from their field.
Choffin has affiliations with Mercy Health, Steward Health, Austinwoods and QUICKMed. Its dental assisting program allows students to work with private practices in the area.
Envisioning what an influx of grant money could do for programs, Cross eyes future expansion into State Tested Nursing Assistants, sterile processing and improving reach in rural communities.
MANY APPLICATIONS
Mahoning County Career & Technical Center Superintendent John Zehentbaur is flooded with applications for the school. The school has 600 applicants with a capacity of about 430 for the center’s 21 programs for secondary education and four adult education programs.
Extra funding, Zehentbaur said, will provide more opportunity for the center to expand and begin offering new programs based around area needs.
The center already has made plans for four new programs in anticipation of DeWine’s budget passing.
MCCTC is looking at expanding programs in software engineering, tech training, cyber security and growing the existing welding / manufacturing program, which, according to Zehentbaur, has more applicants than available space.
MCCTC will look to take advantage of the construction and equipment funding. Zehentbaur said the center plans on purchasing items such as manufacturing equipment, software servers and robots for its robotics program.
Earlier this year, MCCTC received $285,000 in federal funding from President Joe Biden’s $1.7 trillion federal spending bill, passed in December 2022, for an Innovative Energy and Technology Workforce Training Center. Ground for the $1.1 million facility was broken late last year.
It will focus on providing skilled trades and job ready training for adults but primarily will focus on secondary education for younger students looking to enter the STEM field.
Zehentbaur projects the center will open by fall 2024.
