Published in today’s Telegram.com.
Local vocational schools are getting twice as many applicants as they have room for
- Bay Path in Charlton has a waitlist running 5 years.
- 840 have applied for 330 spots at Bay Path.
- Enrollment in voke schools subtracts funding for school districts.
CHARLTON — As the demand for trade workers increases across the country, regional vocational schools are witnessing an explosion in local student interest and are thinking outside the box on how to educate as many students as possible.
"We have had a substantial waitlist for all five years that I have been here," Kyle Brenner, superintendent of Bay Path Regional Vocational Technical High School, said.
Bay Path, which serves 10 communities that make up the Southern Worcester County Regional Vocational School District, has just under 1,200 students, with hundreds of more on a waitlist to get into the school.
"We get more than double the amount of interest than we have seats available each freshmen year," Brenner said. "This year we have 330 spots, and we have gotten about 840 total applications."
The increase in students seeking a vocational education has been a theme across the state, and schools like Bay Path are grappling with how to educate as many students as possible, given the constraints vocational schools have on space and staffing. The demand has been caused in part due to lower college attendance as well as a shortage across numerous trade labor fields, creating lucrative career options for many career and technical education program graduates.
Brenner highlighted interest in the veterinary science program as well as various construction programs at Bay Path as major areas of growth at the school. Next year, Bay Path will launch a program in diesel technology, something that the district recognized had a growing demand across the state.
"We’ve spoken with industry leaders who are on our advisory board, and they are on board that this is a program with a high demand," Brenner said of the diesel technology program. "A diesel technician right now can easily make a six-figure salary."
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in Fitchburg has experienced a similar uptick in student applications.
"We typically have about 350 to 360 spots per class, but lately we have been getting around 800 to 850 applicants each year," Monty Tech Superintendent Thomas Browne said. "We are constantly thinking about how we can help all of these kids that are stuck on a waitlist."
Enrollment-linked funding a challenge
Bay Path serves Auburn, Charlton, Dudley, North Brookfield, Oxford, Paxton, Rutland, Southbridge, Spencer and Webster. Brenner said that at times the district has had challenges in being able to go directly to middle schools in its member communities and speak to students, which is tied to how local school districts are funded in Massachusetts.
A majority of most public-school budgets comes from Chapter 70 state aid, which is largely based on enrollment figures. The more students a district has, the greater its state funding will be. However, if a student enrolls at Bay Path or any other regional vocational school district, those towns lose that student and the funding that comes with them. For smaller communities with limited number of students, losing a few students to a regional vocational school can make a major difference in their budget, and Brenner said that has sometimes interfered with students having access to vocational programs.
"Historically we have a hard time getting into some of the middle schools. Some of our towns have been completely open to us coming in. Others, though, have not and I can see where they are coming from as they see us coming into their districts and their funding," Brenner said. "The way I explain it, your town signed on to be a member, the constituents voted for Bay Path to be the vocational training school for students, and if those students are not aware of it, if you don’t allow them to learn about this opportunity, you are not providing the opportunity to get it."
Brenner said that in some cases, towns have actively made it more difficult for students to learn about opportunities at Bay Path. As Massachusetts plans on introducing a lottery system for all vocational school applicants, Brenner pointed out that system will not be effective if all students are not aware of the possibility of applying to attend a vocational school.
"There have been times where we’ve offered to pick (eighth grade) students up and bring them to the school, and the towns have prevented us from picking those students up at their school. We can go pick them up at the Stop & Shop downtown, but not at the school," Brenner said. "The state wants to change admissions to a lottery system, but that isn’t going to help if students don’t know about the school and are not applying. You can’t win the lottery if you don’t have a ticket."
Monty Tech pilots new alternative program
Monty Tech serves an even larger footprint than Bay Path with 18 member communities: Ashburnham, Ashby, Athol, Barre, Fitchburg, Gardner, Harvard, Holden, Hubbardston, Lunenburg, Petersham, Phillipston, Princeton, Royalston, Sterling, Templeton, Westminster and Winchendon. Browne said that like Bay Path, the school has had to be cognizant of the impact taking more students at Monty Tech would have to local districts, but Monty Tech recently developed a new program that allows the school to educate more students while maintaining local enrollment figures.
A plan developed by Browne and Monty Tech Development Coordinator Katy Whitaker saw the district make use of a state grant that led to the district purchasing a 16,000-square-foot building, a former cold storage facility for Wachusett Brewing Co., and developing it into a satellite campus that houses a space for 120 students who are studying carpentry, electrical and, in the future, plumbing.
"We look at all these people who are sitting on these waitlists. We know it is our responsibility in being creative to find extra seats," Whitaker said.
The program, dubbed the MVP Academy, is in its first year and is home to juniors and seniors from Monty Tech member communities who had been waitlisted for the school. Students split their time between their home district schools and the MVP Academy, which allows those home districts to retain their students, keeping Chapter 70 funding. The home districts then pay Monty Tech for educating those students.
"We are trying to walk a very fine line of what is in the best interest of the students, what is in the best interest of our member communities, and how can Monty Tech be in service to both," Whitaker said.
Brenner said that Bay Path currently has no room for physical expansion at its location and would be interested in developing a similar program to Monty Tech’s that could take place off-site and has begun some preliminary discussions. The school has also taken advantage of a state program that grants adult students free courses in high-demand trades during after-school hours.
"We’ve ventured into the Career Tech Initiative, we’ve applied for first round of funding which added three high-demand programs, culinary, advanced manufacturing and HVAC, that is 200 hours of tuition-free training that is for 18 years or older who is making under $50,000 per year, and they can apply," Brenner said.
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira
