9-18-2023 9:13pm

Warren County Career Center Running At Full Capacity

Beth Callahan Editor

Several WCCC media students traveled to the Ohio State House to meet with State Rep Scott Lipps and due an interview in the State House TV Studio.

LEBANON, OH -- As the cost of college continues to rise, many students are looking for alternative methods when it comes to preparing for a career after high school graduation. One of the options offered to junior and senior students in Warren County is the ability to choose to stay at their local public school or attend the Warren County Career Center.

While public schools tend to gear their students more in the college prep direction, the Warren County Career Center .... "allows our students to learn technical skills that they can take into the workforce to make competitive wages, use to pay their way through college or anything in between," reads the WCCC website.

While the positive news is that many students are taking advantage of the programs taught at WCCC, this good news has created a new hurdle for WCCC.

According to the WCCC's website mywccc.org, this year 33 percent of the applicants were denied placement due to WCCC’s capacity being maxed out. This meant that out of the 800 applicants who applied for the 2023-24 schoo year, 250 were denied getting into the career program they wanted.

To better provide for the students living in WCCC's Tech Planning District, the WCCC Board of Education is asking it’s voters to help fund a new 1,100 career tech student campus. According to the WCCC website the new facility...

Will be built on its main campus with the existing building being used for the adult education students during the day and evening
Expand programming to meet the workforce needs of the local community.
Give more students access to our career technical programs.

To be able to do this, WCCC is asking voters it they will say yes to an additional 0.841 mills that will levy a property tax outside the ten-mill limitation on the November 7, 2023 ballot. The 0.841 is made up in two parts:

Permanent Improvements Levy for 0.2 mills for each $1 of taxable value that will generate $1,296,352 annually.
A 30-year bond issue in the principal amount of $67,300,000 estimated by the county auditor to average over the bond repayment period 0.641 mills for each $1 of taxable value.

The cost per homeowner for the bond issue is based on the Warren County Auditor's "Assessed Value"... not "True Value."

According to mywccc.org/bondissue, homeowners with a home valued at $100,000 would pay:

a maximum of $29.44 per year for 30 years for the bond issue
a maximum of $7 per year on the 0.2mills levy

While at the State House, State Representative for House District 55 Scott Lipps (R- Franklin) took time to share his thoughts on the importance of the passage for the bond issue and levy for WCCC .

The six school districts that make up WCCC's Tech Planning Taxing District are: Franklin City Schools, Kings Local School District, Lebanon City Schools, Little Miami Local School District, Springboro City Schools, Wayne Local School District.

Residents who live in the Carlisle Local School District and Mason City School District do not vote on this issue for Carlisle is a part of the Miami Valley Career Technical Center Taxing District and Mason City Schools belongs to the Great Oaks Career Campuses Taxing District.