A local vocational training cooperative’s efforts to get state grant funding have come up short.
Indian Trails Career and Technical Education Director Jim Stradling says the cooperative was not selected for a Skill UP matching grant. “He hasn’t announced who the winners are yet, so I asked for a copy of the review sheets,” he told the Pulaski County Council and Commissioners Monday. “I said, ‘I want to see what the reviewers had to say about my grant.’ Right now, I’m just disappointed. If I see that he’s re-funding all the grants that he’s been doing the last three years and he’s just continuing to re-feed the bigger corporations in the bigger counties, then I’m not going to be a happy camper.”
The Skill UP grant would have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars for equipment upgrades and teacher training, with a local match to come from the five counties that Indian Trails serves. Stradling said the cooperative will still be able to do those things, but without the state match, those efforts will have to be scaled back.
However, since some counties made their contributions contingent upon getting the grant, Stradling gave Pulaski County the chance to pull its $30,000, as well. Commissioner Kenny Becker spoke in favor of sticking with the donation. “Well, my opinion is we need jobs here,” Becker said. “Just look at our community now. Every place in town’s got a wanted ad.”
In the end, the council members and commissioners agreed to move ahead with the contribution. Stradling said as long as no other counties take their money back, Indian Trails should have around $212,000 to upgrade its programs.
