Boards to consider community education proposal next week

School district and Northwest College leaders say a proposed overhaul of Powell Valley Community Education could make the program more efficient and bring more learning opportunities to local residents.

Under a proposal from the college, NWC employees would be put in charge of PVCE’s programming and all of its day-to-day operations. The change would reduce the amount of money spent on administering PVCE and free up more money to go toward programs, say elected leaders from NWC and the Powell school district; members from those two boards jointly oversee PVCE on a combined Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).

“We’re looking at changing the whole aspect of BOCES,” said Jason Wardell, who until recently was the BOCES chairman. “We’re not going to be doing what we’ve been doing with BOCES. We’re looking at expanding it and possibly going much bigger.”

In the past, the “vast majority” of the PVCE budget was spent on the two salaries of its staff, said Dusty Spomer, who serves on the NWC and BOCES boards.

Under the proposal, the college would hire only one full-time employee in the NWC Center for Training and Development to oversee PVCE programming, perhaps with the assistance of a part-time work/study student.

With less money going toward personnel and administration costs, “I think there’s some real potential to expand the programming,” said NWC President Stefani Hicswa

during a BOCES meeting last month.

NWC and school board leaders do not plan on asking taxpayers to contribute more money toward community education; PVCE is funded by a tax on property within the Powell school district. The district collects a 0.375 mill levy for BOCES, which is expected to generate $72,272 next year.

“They said they could run it to the extent that it’s been or beyond at the current mill levy,” said Trace Paul, who serves on the school and BOCES boards.

Leaders expect that bringing PVCE under the umbrella of NWC also will generally streamline the program.

“We can improve everything just by the savings we have by not doubling up on things,” said Don Hansen, who serves on the school and BOCES boards.

Wardell said another benefit would be having additional college employees help with PVCE programs as needed.

“One person would be running the day-to-day operations of BOCES, but if there’s a big event, they’ll be able to use their resources and facilities,” Wardell said.

PVCE has been at a crossroads since the February retirement of its longtime executive director, Ingrid Eickstedt, who served in the position for more than 16 years.

Under the proposal, NWC would be a contracted service provider for BOCES. The college would hire a community education specialist to run PVCE classes and programs. Other college employees also would assist with programming and overseeing instructors, payroll, facilities, advertising, printing and other administrative duties.

“Basically, we’re going to turn the money over to Northwest College to run that program for us,” Wardell said. “That includes everything ... vehicles, staff, buildings, everything.”

For its assistance in running PVCE, the college would receive 8 percent of the BOCES budget, which amounts to roughly $7,700 for the next fiscal year.

The proposal specifies that the BOCES board would continue to have the final say on Powell Valley Community Education classes, its budget and assets.

“One concern was that the college would just take over this money,” said Hicswa. “No — the (BOCES) board will still oversee it.”

The NWC Board of Trustees agreed last month to pursue a contract with BOCES for the 2016-17 fiscal year. The contract is up for a vote by the NWC board on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.

Powell school board leaders discussed the contract on May 31, but decided they wanted more time to review the proposal. They will reconsider it during the school board meeting Tuesday evening.

Hansen, Wardell and Paul all spoke in favor of the proposal during last month’s meeting.

“I see a lot of benefit in it,” Paul said. “I think there’s a lot of resources there that can be utilized, that they’re willing to utilize.”

Wardell called the agreement with NWC a “no-brainer.” He said PVCE hasn’t provided enough product for taxpayers’ money in the past.

“We need to do a better job ... we need to make better use of the taxpayers’ money,” Wardell said at a BOCES meeting last month.

Wardell said the contract with NWC would be reviewed each year, and the BOCES board can terminate it at any point with 90 days notice.

The two NWC trustees who serve on the BOCES board will not vote on the contract, so it will be up to the three BOCES school board members, he said.

“I think we all kind of knew it was time for a change, one way or another,” said Rob McCray, school board trustee. “I think it’s as good an opportunity as any.”

(Ilene Olson contributed reporting to this article.)