Hutto EDC Funds CART
Commitment closes initial fundraising for middle college

The Hutto Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors joined the Taylor EDC and Hutto and Taylor school boards June 20, as they approved allocating $25,000 seed money for a proposed “middle college” for local high school students.

Chuck McCarter, who has been hired to help launch the Center for Advance Research and Technology (CART), spoke with HEDC board members during their meeting to give them an overview of the school.

The technologically advanced vocational school is designed for students who would like to earn college credit while still in high school. They may be eligible to earn associate's degrees after completing programs at the CART, he said.

McCarter also is the executive director of the Texas Bioscience Institute, a middle college scheduled to open in Temple this fall. He said the CART will be similar except in the programs it offers.

“The template is the same, to create a comprehensive facility, to update skills and give students an opportunity to earn college credit while they're in high school,” he said.

He said for the Taylor and Hutto area, the school may be geared toward high-tech or health care studies.

“We've surveyed the students and parents to see what they're interested in, and that's what they're interested in,” McCarter said.

McCarter said in September he plans to be working out of his Taylor office most of the time instead of the one in Temple, so he can oversee the coordination of the proposed school. He said he would give HEDC members quarterly reports of the progress of the CART.

“Some students are not seeing college as an option,” he said. “We feel like this is an area of growth, this is an area of opportunity.”

Polo Enriquez, executive director of the HEDC, told board members before they approved the allotment, that the money would be a line item for job training funds.

Mahlon Arnett, HEDC president, said residents of Thrall and Granger have also been taking an interest in the school, and it is extremely important to the economic development of the Hutto area.