The two buildings that make up the Workforce Development Complex would become a $40 million educational hub for the region under Gov. Lee's budget plans.
The two buildings that make up the Workforce Development Complex would become a $40 million educational hub for the region under Gov. Lee's budget plans.
ELIZABETHTON — The decision last week by the Carter County Commission to defer action on a state of Tennessee option to purchase agreement on the Workforce Development Complex has drawn a quick response from Flora Tydings, chancellor of the Tennessee Board of Regents.
The state is proposing to build a $40 million regional educational hub on the site, but the county commissioners expressed concern that the option did not mention that the Carter County School System would be a participant in the hub. During the commission meeting, county attorney Josh Hardin told the commissioners that the option to purchase was not intended to be an operational agreement.
The morning after the Carter County Commission, Mayor Patty Woodby spoke to Tydings by phone to explain the reason the county commission decided to defer action. Tydings wrote a letter to Woodby following that conversation.
In the letter, Tydings wrote “as we have discussed, the partnership will include Northeast State Community College, TCAT Elizabethton, and the Carter County high school programs. As this project moves forward, TBR staff, and the colleges will be reaching out to you and officials from the local school board to start the planning process.”
The project is the largest new campus funding project in Gov. Lee’s proposed budget of the upcoming fiscal year and is subject to the approval of the state Legislature. In her letter, Tydings wrote “the project has been earmarked for funding in the governor’s proposed budget, However, this funding is contingent on the land being conveyed to the Board of Regents.”
Even prior to the letter, David Hicks, president of the Tennessee College of Applied Technology, said he was aware that the county schools had been a part of the plan from the conception.
Brandon Carpenter, director of Carter County Schools, said after reading the letter, he had some questions.
“I don’t know the specifics of the finances. None of this has been discussed.” During the County Commission discussions on the matter last week, Carpenter told the commission one concern he has with the plan is that the school system will be providing the teachers for the high school classes taught in the center.
He said if he had to pull a teacher from a high school to teach at the center, he wanted the 20 students taking the course to be from the Carter County School System and not from other school systems.
Tydings concluded her letter by writing to Woodby: “We appreciate your support and investment in this partnership and look forward to making a generational investment in Carter County.”
John Thompson covers Carter and Johnson counties for the Johnson City Press since 1998. He grew up in Washington County and graduated from University High and East Tennessee State University
