Support for EWCHEC Growing Fast
Limmer offers site for middle college

Support for a middle college in Eastern Williamson County is accelerating.

Taylor ISD Superintendent Bruce Scott said the number of schools willing to participate in the project continues to grow, but cities and other entities are also endorsing the project.

Initially Taylor and Hutto school districts committed to a central technology training campus, now referred to as the East Williamson County Higher Education Center, allocating $25,000 each to pay for staff and resources to explore the concept. The school districts were joined by the Taylor and Hutto economic development corporations, which ponied up another $25,000 each.

The high school, early college environment would allow juniors and seniors in high school to take courses for which they would receive college credit.

The EDCs endorsed the project because of its potential to provide workforce training critical to attracting industry.

Scott said since that initial investment was made, the school districts in Thrall and Thorndale have indicated they will participate in the project. He said the group will try to convince Granger to join next.

In addition to the school districts, a number of post-secondary institutions have expressed interest in participating, he said.

Temple College has been a full partner in the project since its inception, but now Concordia University has signed a resolution supporting the education center, Tarleton State has signed a letter of support and Texas State Technical College has expressed interest in the center, Scott said.

He said TSTC wants to move its welding program to Eastern Williamson County, training some of the hundreds of welders expected to be hired by Bechtel, the contractor building a new electricity generating plant at Alcoa's Rockdale facility.

Scott said TSTC isn't waiting for the center to become a reality; the district is working with the college to find a location quickly, exploring the possibility of using the abandoned shop building at the old middle school as a temporary training site.

The Central Texas Tech Prep Consortium has expressed interest in using the center as a training facility, Scott said, and the Rural Capital Area Workforce Board is helping identify the careers and skills that could most benefit Central Texas employers. SkillPoint Alliance, a private non-profit group that acts as a liaison between private industry and education, also has provided a resolution of support for the center, Scott said.

Support also extends beyond education.

On Sept. 26 the City of Taylor got on board, approving a resolution of support for the project. The Hutto City Council has adopted a similar resolution, Scott said.

However, the version approved by the Taylor City Council was slightly different. Council members modified the resolution before approving it, removing a line that indicated the center would be “located between Taylor and Hutto.” Specifying its location outside Taylor was not something the council could support, council members Rod Hortenstine and John McDonald said. All of the council members supported the amended resolution.

The change could be important. While the resolution doesn't specify a site outside Taylor, one between Taylor and Hutto has been offered.

Williamson County Pct. 4 Commissioner Frankie Limmer has approached school officials to offer a site for the center on property he owns in partnership with developer Todd Routh.

Scott said he was not surprised by the Taylor City Council's reluctance to endorse a site outside the city, and a decision to accept the 50-acres offered by Limmer has not been made. He said there is more than one site under consideration and others may be proposed. A site will be picked after a thorough cost-benefit analysis and after all other aspects of the location are weighed.

Once a site is selected, there's money to get the project started.

So far more than $2 million in grants has been committed to the EWCHEC, including a preliminary award of about $750,000 by the Texas Education Agency. The schools received notification of the TEA grant earlier this week. It's preliminary because the final scope and total have to be negotiated, Scott said.

The money is from an Early College High School Grant Program and would be given to Temple College, with primary partners being the Taylor and Hutto school districts.

The three year grant - $250,000 allocated each year - would be used for planning, curriculum development, hiring and site selection the first year and for maintenance and operations the subsequent years, Scott said.

“It's a very good start for us,” he said.

Chuck McCarter, who had experience developing a middle college in Temple, was hired earlier this year to help develop the EWCHEC. His success in winning grants and support has surpassed everybody's expectations, Scott said.

He said he didn't know how long it would take to reach this point in the center's development but a similar project in Round Rock took 10 years to achieve the EWCHEC's current level of support and funding.

That bodes well for its success, he said.