(TNS) — This week, Rochester state Sens. Liz Boldon and Carla Nelson discussed how a program would prepare Rochester Public Schools students to become certified nurses and information technicians. Controversy erupted over whether to maintain and fund it.
The program, called P-TECH, allows students to earn a high school diploma and a two-year associate's degree in two high-demand fields. The program is popular and has added more students each year since its inception three years ago, with student numbers expected to reach his 165 next year.
P-TECH is a national model started 20 years ago by IBM in New York. There are more than 200 such programs across the country.
“The basic idea is that kids start studying career fields while they're still in high school,” said Rochester Superintendent Kent Pekel. “It's a model that combines high school and higher education. But importantly, it provides a path to a practical nursing license or an associate's degree in information technology.”
Nelson, a Republican, and Boldon, a DFLer, both support the program, but their disagreements over funding methods and state budget levels came to light earlier this week. It was then that Mr. Nelson publicly criticized Mr. Boldon for proposing to cut funding to the landmark program.
“We shouldn't jeopardize an incredibly successful program before its first class graduates,” Nelson said in a press statement.
Boldon's proposal would reduce state spending on the Rochester plan from $791,000 to $500,000 in 2025, $250,000 in 2026, and then $50,000 after 2027. It turns out.
Earlier this week, Nelson introduced an amendment on the Senate floor that would restore the program's previous funding levels. However, that effort was blocked as nearly all of his DFLers voted against the motion. Nelson said Boldon initially voted “no” but then voted “yes” to Nelson's amendment before the voting committee closed.
Mr. Boldon's aides said he changed his vote to keep both sides talking.
“Funding discussions for P-TECH are still ongoing,” Boldon said.
The University of Rochester is the only state-funded P-TECH program, a benefit Nelson received when he took the gavel as chairman of the K-12 Finance Committee. Nelson's original idea was to fund nine P-TECHs across the state, but there was no funding at the time, district officials said. Nelson is no longer a member of the K-12 board.
“She was only able to secure funding for one, but of course Rochester was ready, so Rochester was on the bill,” Pekel said.
But some lawmaker, department, or someone thought it was unfair or wrong for such public investments to only go to “one school district in one corner of the state.” So last session, small but important changes were made to a bill that would remove financial complications from Rochester's P-TECH program.
This language authorized a competitive grant process for P-TECH funds for school districts in exchange for being the sole beneficiary of state funds. This includes, but is not limited to, Rochester. That meant that, without warning, funding for the Rochester project fell like a cliff. There was no funding for P-TECH this year. One aide suggested the directive came from the Minnesota Department of Education. However, it is not clear who or what department inserted this language.
“Due to the lack of advance notice of this change, we have not identified other potential funding sources to support P-TECH during the 2023-24 academic year,” Pekel said in a statement to Rochester in August 2023. the Board of Education and Rochester Congressional Delegation wrote in an email to the P-TECH Steering Committee.
To continue the program this year, Pekel said, the city of Rochester received permission from the Department of Education to continue the program using “carryover funds” from previous years.
“We put carryover money into the entire program this year,” Pekel said. “We didn't have the funds. We're dead in the water, like we're at zero.”
In that context, the Boldon bill aims to create a multi-year transition period, or bridge, so RPS officials can find alternative funding sources, rather than going down a cold path.
“It's not just a cliff fall, it's more like a step back,” said Jack Dudley, Boldon's legislative aide.
So where will the money come from to keep P-TECH afloat? Pekel said he will propose a referendum to the school board next Tuesday. He said funding from the passed referendum is among the various strategies he and his board are considering to fund P-TECH.
Nelson insists it was always understood that no matter how widespread the program was across the state, Rochester's funding would continue. But state funding in St. Paul has always been in two-year cycles, and it's unclear why Nelson believed future lawmakers would be bound by such an intention.
“Due to Rochester's incredible success, it's great that Minnesota is in a position to expand this program to new communities, but it shouldn't put Rochester's funding at risk,” Nelson said.
©2024 Post Breaking News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
