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Technical colleges pitch workforce buildings: diesel, trades and manufacturing remodels
Summary
Representatives from Southwest Tech, Bridgerland and Dixie presented capital requests to expand diesel, automation and trades training. Asks included $3.5M for Southwest Tech diesel program, $3.81M for Bridgerland remodel and about $41.7M for Dixie Tech’s Trades & Technology building.
Southwest Technical College, Bridgerland Technical College and Dixie Technical College presented separate capital requests focused on workforce training and manufacturing pipelines.
Southwest Tech requested $3.5 million for a diesel technology building, proposing an initial two‑bay facility scalable to four bays and citing rapid program growth, high completion and placement rates, and employer demand tied to Inland Port development. “The demand is there,” Scott Levitt, Southwest Tech’s vice president of academics, told the committee.
Bridgerland Technical College asked for approximately $3.81 million from the SB102 dedicated account to remodel and repurpose space for automation controls and electronics programs; presenter Brandy Get ins said remodeling costs are roughly half of new construction and that industry partners are engaged.
Dixie Technical College requested just under $41.7 million to build a roughly 91,700‑sqft Trades & Technology building to expand transportation, trades and advanced manufacturing programs. Dixie Tech President Jordan Rushton said the college had completed programming with the $8 million appropriated last year and implemented value engineering to lower previously proposed costs.
Committee members praised the technical colleges’ workforce alignment, asked about design replication to save money, and queried whether facilities can adapt to emerging technologies such as electric vehicles. No funding votes were taken at the hearing.
