High school program at Job Corps to close
Costs prompt Job Corps and school district to end diploma program
MOSES LAKE — After more than two years, the cooperative program between Columbia Basin Job Corps and the Moses Lake School District which allowed CBJC students to earn their high school diplomas on site will come to an end in April.
The decision comes after the CBJC and the MLSD decided that out of all the options presented, shutting down the program would be the best at this time.
The program was costing the school district $20,000 a year to run, not including the costs incurred to continue classes during the summer. Job Corps is a year-round program and had not been serving enough students to justify continuation of the program.
Monte Redal, the assistant superintendent of business and operations with the MLSD, said the program began as a way for the school district to build relationships with community organizations like CBJC.
When the program began in 2003, the district knew it would be subsidizing the high school diploma program at CBJC, but due to enrollment numbers and the annual cost, the district was not breaking even on its investment in the program.
Prior to the start of the 2005-2006 school year, the MLSD did incur a $2 million increase in fringe benefits, requiring it to look at conserving money in other areas such as the CBJC high school program.
The district is not facing a $2 million shortfall in its budget, but rather $2 million in additional unexpected costs the district needs to account for, Redal said.
As of August, the high school program at CBJC enrolled 13 students, Redal added. "We needed to make it a cost-neutral program."
CBJC center director Peggy Hendren said to her knowledge CBJC has never had a problem filling enrollment slots for the high school diploma program, often exceeding the minimum number required.
Options considered aside from cutting the program included having CBJC subsidize a portion of the program or cutting back the teaching schedule to three-quarters of the day.
When the program comes to a close in April, students will still have the option of taking high school classes at Columbia Basin Secondary School, located down the street from CBJC.
Funding for a full time position was needed to continue the high school diploma program at CBJC, but Job Corps only receives enough funding from the department of labor for a part-time position, Hendren said.
"That's pretty hefty of our limited budget of what they give us," Hendren said of the cost of the high school diploma program and the amount of money allotted to CBJC from the DOL.
CBJC student Kelly Conner has gone through the Job Corps high school diploma program and does not have concerns about the April closure, but is not sure the option of Job Corps students attending classes to complete their diplomas at CBSS would give those students the best learning environment.
Having gone through an alternative high school program before, Conner said Job Corps is more strict, more focused.
That same concern is true for CBJC student Jayden Kallberg, who went through an alternative high school program that he said didn't give him the focus he needed either.
The Job Corps program gives students the option of working at their own pace, Kallberg said.
MLSD Superintendent Steve Chestnut applauded CBSS teacher Ella Mae West for her work in teaching the high school diploma program at CBJC, a program Chestnut estimates has graduated around 125 students since its inception.
As to when or if the program might continue next year, that issue has not been decided.
"We'd like to maintain a positive relationship with Job Corps, but do that on a cost-neutral basis for our kids," Redal said.
"I would still like to see us be partners," Hendren said. "We're all community members, so I always want it to be that we're standing by to assist."