CVTC president says $48.8 million referendum would help businesses with worker shortages
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — Bruce Barker, president of Chippewa Valley Technical College, says the projects included in the $48.8 million referendum question on the April 7 ballot would help businesses in the Chippewa Valley fill their worker shortages.
Barker spoke at a public informational meeting at Colfax High School March 10.
The referendum question in the April 7 election is only the second referendum held by CVTC, Barker said.
The first referendum was in 1997 for $10.7 million, and the projects included facilities for the education of emergency personnel (police officers, firefighters, EMTs), manufacturing facilities and the River Falls campus.
The referendum amount this year is $48.8 million, although “money does not go as far as it did in 1997,” Barker said.
Technical colleges in the state serve multi-county districts.
CVTC covers an 11-county technical college district that stretches from River Falls to Neillsville, Barker said.
Statistics
Out of those who graduate from CVTC, 95 percent find a job within six months, Barker said.
Out of those who find jobs, 89 percent find jobs in a field related to their field of study, which compares to 74 percent across the state among technical college graduates, he said.
CVTC will taylor programs to local industries and has never been less than third in the state in the last 10 years in terms of percentage of graduates finding jobs in their fields, Barker said.
The University of Wisconsin system experiences a “brain drain” of graduates leaving the state, but 91 percent of CVTC graduates stay in the state, and 72 percent stay in the Chippewa Valley, he said.
Out of the nearly 19,000 students at CVTC, about 10,000 are program students, and 9,000 are current employees of existing businesses who need additional training for their jobs, Barker said.
The average starting wage of CVTC graduates is nearly $47,000, and considering that some programs, such as Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) are lower on the wage scale, many other graduates are starting out at $60,000 or $70,000 annually, he said.
Workforce shortage
In the local economy, among the population, 10 percent are professional positions, such as engineers, attorneys or doctors. Another 20 percent fill positions such as accountants and managers, while 70 percent are high-tech skilled workers, Barker said.
The workforce shortage is in high-tech skilled workers because of new technology, he said.
In the transportation sector, there are now hybrid cars, electric cars and smart cars. In trucking, Kwik Trip and Menards only use trucks that burn compressed natural gas for fuel, he said.
In the new 80,000 square foot Menards warehouse, there are 80 driver-less forklifts. Instead of 80 forklift drivers, there are two information technology (IT) employees, Barker said.
In retail, students used to be taught how to do window displays. Now people go online to shop. And in the safety and security area, there are more violent crimes and more cyber crimes online, he said.
CVTC graduates between 35 and 40 diesel technicians every year, but there are 80 to 90 openings in the Chippewa Valley. Regarding automotive maintenance, CVTC has 25 to 30 graduates every year, and there are 110 openings for mechanics, Barker said.
CVTC graduates about 100 truck drivers per year, and there are 1,000 openings in the Chippewa Valley, he said.
And while there are 110 openings for mechanics, how many mechanics are already working who need additional training in servicing electric cars and hybrid cars? Barker asked.
If the April 7 referendum were to pass and CVTC could complete the projects, the number of students who graduate from the technical college’s programs would probably double, he said.
Projects
Two-thirds of the referendum dollars, or $28 to $30 million, would be spent on the transportation program. Transportation requires a big space to accommodate vehicles of all sizes and would add 104,000 square feet, Barker said.
For the emergency services programs, such as training for police officers, EMTs, paramedics and firefighters, CVTC now shares the City of Eau Claire’s Fire Station 9, he said.
The firing range for police officer training is 25 yards now and can used be used for handguns but not for rifles and semi-automatic weapons, Barker said.
Police officer training also includes a simulation center where scenarios can be projected onto surrounding screens. The situation could be a hostage at a local bank or a bar fight on Water Street, he said.
The role playing in the simulation center sharpens and hones the technical skills of police officers, Barker said.
CVTC must provide the best training possible for police officers, he said.
When Barker first came to Eau Claire, he was an assistant city attorney for the City of Eau Claire, and Eau Claire had hired its first “woman police officer.” The men in the police department complained about having to work with a woman.
One day, one of the male officers was responding to a call, and as he was walking up to the house, he took a shotgun blast to the chest. Eau Claire’s first woman police officer was the first to respond to the scene. She was able to maneuver her car between the downed officer and the house, dragged him into the car, and drove him to Luther Hospital, where doctors were able to save his life, Barker said.
After that, there were no complaints from the men on the police force about having to work with a woman, he noted.
Two years later, an Eau Claire police officer was shot and killed in a domestic dispute. The situations police officers can find themselves in require having the best training possible, he said.
The referendum projects also would include more staging and training areas for paramedics and EMTs, Barker said.
More regs
Over the past few years, more requirements have been put into place for firefighters, EMTs and paramedics, and Eau Claire would like the bays back that CVTC has been using at Fire Station 9. One component of the required testing for firefighters is only offered in four places in Wisconsin, and CVTC is one of those places, Barker said.
Police officers, firefighters, EMTs, paramedics and first responders also must complete annual refresher training, he said.
The emergency services center would account for $9.5 million for the referendum projects, Barker said.
New wealth is created by manufacturing and agriculture, and the manufacturing center would add 10,000 square feet for $3 million. Much of manufacturing is now automation, and machines are sequenced. Workers in a manufacturing setting are now often computer programmers. Manufacturing employs 42,000 people in the 11-county CVTC district, Barker said.
Part of the referendum also would include purchasing additional acreage for the River Falls campus.
River Falls, which is 70 miles from Eau Claire and has a different population base, started out in 1999 with 20,000 square feet, and about 6,000 square feet was added a few years ago, Barker said.
When Barker came to CVTC in 1999, he said it took him 15 years to be able to talk the car dealership next door into selling three acres of land for the CVTC campus.
But the family-owned business lost the GM dealership during the Great Recession and now only sells used cars. The children in the family are not interested in being in the used-car business, and so, the family is willing to sell land to CVTC for expansion over the next 20 years, Barker said.
Funding
According to state law, technical colleges can spend $1.5 million on projects every two years. If the project is more than $1.5 million, the technical college must go to referendum, Barker said.
During recessions, people come back to school. In 2011, CVTC had the highest enrollment ever, and then while there was a gradual decline in enrollment after that, the numbers have been increasing over the past four years, he said.
CVTC also is working with high schools on “high school academies.” Because of budget constraints, many school districts have eliminated wood, metal and automotive shops. CVTC has agreements with 40 high schools for 80 high school academies to teach introductory courses in IT, home construction, CNA training and other programs, and 80 percent of those students are enrolling in CVTC, Barker said.
Last year, 2,000 high school students and their parents saved $1.4 million in tuition, he said.
One person in the audience wanted to know if the expanded facilities would increase maintenance and faculty salary costs.
The operating costs will stay about the same because CVTC is renting some facilities now, and the new facilities will be more energy efficient, Barker said.
And while CVTC may need to add more faculty, state aid is tied to the number of faculty members, he said.
CVTC’s funding is broken down into 25 percent coming from tuition, 25 percent from the tax levy and 50 percent from state aid, Barker said.
CVTC does not receive any money from the state for buildings or maintenance, he noted.
Over a 20-year period, if the voters approve the April 7 referendum question, taxpayers will pay $13 annually per $100,000 of property value, Barker said.
Since the state has changed the funding formula for technical colleges, the amount of money going to CVTC on property tax bills has changed as well, he said.
Eight years ago, the CVTC portion was 8-9 percent of individual property taxes, now, because the state provides 50 percent of technical college funding, 4 percent of the individual tax bill will be for CTVC funding, Barker said.