A readers voice from the bcct:
Bargain rate: Morrisville getting plenty for its money
By CURT MCCAY Calkins Media, Inc. | 0 comments
I graduated from Bucks County Technical High School many years ago, and I have always credited "tech school" with being the solid foundation of everything I ever accomplished in my working life. My teacher at tech school was the best I ever had and that includes high school, college and the military. Recently, I volunteered as a judge for the Skills USA competition at the school and NOCTI testing. I also agreed to serve on a course curriculum advisory committee. It is with this view that I have been following the financial dispute between the Morrisville School District and the technical high school.
As I read a recent editorial in the Courier Times about the conflict, several things jumped out at me.
First, Morrisville's "total yearly bill" is $767,000; if you divide that by 51 students, the cost per student is approximately $15,000, the figure quoted. Therefore, if it costs $17,000 for Morrisville to educate a student, then the district actually saved $102,000 by sending these 51 students to the technical school.
Second, as far as the technical high school meeting its academic requirements, it should be apparent to anyone reading the editorial that if the technical high school has to have a "freshman academy" to provide intensive instruction in math and reading to incoming students who do not score at the state proficient level - the bigger problem is at the home district, not at the tech school. This reminds me of colleges that have to require remedial courses for incoming college freshman; who gets the blame for that? The technical high school has much less time to fix proficiency problems than the home school did to create them. Morrisville complaining about academic requirements is rather disingenuous.
The last thing that bothered me was the editorial using the term "morphed" when describing the change of the school from a part-time to a comprehensive school. Reading that you might think that one day all of these home districts woke up and presto-change-o they had a full-time school on their hands.
All of the sending districts have representation on the board that oversees the technical high school and they would have had to vote on the change. At the time, they must have seen a need; otherwise, why expend millions of dollars to implement a large undertaking like that? Could it have been they saw an opportunity to obtain more funding by moving some of their problems somewhere else, and now the calculus has changed because of federal and state cutbacks?
The actual question here is who really is the end customer? Is it the Morrisville School District, or the students and parents who are sending their children to the technical school? I've never read where they are complaining. Based on enrollment figures (2009) these 51 students represent approximately 17 percent of Morrisville's total high school population, ninth to 12th grade. It would seem the 51 customers voted and did what customers do when they are dissatisfied; they voted with their feet.
I am tired of officials who know the "price" of everything and the "value" of nothing. We must develop a manufacturing base in this country again if we are ever to move forward and grow the economy. We need more engineers, technicians, and trades people; we have enough CPAs and lawyers.
The technical high school is educating/training the types of people this country needs. I'm only sorry the school is not twice the size with twice as many students.
Curt McCay, Middletown, worked in the technical field for 40 years and was employed by U.S. Steel and Westinghouse. He retired as a manager of electronics and ride controls for Six Flags Great Adventure.
