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District readies grant bids, seeks construction craft program and lab upgrades amid state CTE funding wave
Summary
Superintendent outlined three waves of state CTE funding tied to the millionaires tax and described plans to apply for program expansion grants, lab modernization funds and skills capital; the committee asked to be kept apprised and approved continued reporting from the district task force.
Greater New Bedford VocTech administrators told the school committee on Aug. 11 that the states recent revenue from the 2022 "millionaire's tax" has produced a first round of roughly $35 million to $60 million for vocational program expansion and facility work, and that the district intends to seek grants to expand capacity and modernize labs.
"That money is earmarked for education and transportation," the superintendent said, describing the roughly $100 million supplemental package and its first-wave grants for gateway cities and districts with long wait lists. The district plans to apply for program-expansion awards in the $2 million to $5 million range, lab modernization grants of about $1 million to $1.5 million, and smaller skills capital awards of $100,000 to $500,000.
Administrators identified program priorities that would increase student seats and align with regional labor demand, including a proposed construction craft laborers program built off the carpentry wing and partnerships with MassHire and local unions. The superintendent said MassHire had provided a letter of support and that a construction craft laborers union in Fairhaven had expressed interest in partnering to create a direct pipeline to the labor market for graduates.
Committee members pressed on practical constraints: physical space, academic-seat capacity and the need to reassign some programs into shop space to add student seats. The administration said some rooms behind the new media and visual space are being constructed now and that reassignments (for example moving business/office tech to shop-side space) are under consideration. The district also plans to review underperforming programs and to use multi-year exploratory tracking data to inform program decisions.
The committee passed a motion requesting that task-force results and top-performance reviews be shared with the full school committee; the administration will provide periodic updates as grant timelines and application windows appear. No grant awards were approved at the meeting; the discussion was preparatory and focused on planning grant applications and local capacity adjustments.
