Education bill will go to House

Salt Lake Community College is one step closer to being the sole proprietor of career and technical education in Salt Lake County after the House Education Committee passed a bill merging it with the efforts of Utah's College of Applied Technology favorably onto the House floor.

One year ago, a similar bill faced "pitchforks and torches in this committee," said chairman Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper. It also nearly survived three hours of questions to its sponsor, leading into the close of the session, before it was thrown out.

A task force was then assigned to study the effects of such an action and reach an agreement between any and all affected parties. The result was HB15, sponsored again by Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley.

"At this time, the bill you have before you was presented to that committee, adopted by that committee and supported by Salt Lake Community College, Utah's College of Applied Technology and the commissioner's office," he said. "Everyone who is a part of it has found things they like and things they don't like but in most cases have found that they've received enough that they are willing to sacrifice other things."

The compromise bill not only merges the administration of career and technical education in Salt Lake County, but it establishes a board of directors to provide guidance for such education to make sure the needs of business and industry are met by local institutions.

Since the creation of UCAT in 2001, like many agencies, it has endured modifications nearly every year. The most current legislation allows the institution its own governing board, with seven members appointed by the governor and the other eight appointed from each region UCAT serves.

Legislation has adapted to incur similar mergers in Richfield, with Snow College; and in southeastern Utah, with the College of Eastern Utah; and in Provo, with Utah Valley University and the Mountainland Applied Technology College."This bill does nothing but further establish our mission as a comprehensive community college," said SLCC President Cynthia Bioteau, adding that SLCC is the largest provider of CTE in the state. She said the bill provides a distinction as to how to achieve varying success in technical programs.

HB15 addresses important articulation issues, further clarifying the mission of credit and non-credit granting institutions, according to William A. Sederburg, Utah's commissioner of higher education.

"It was a grueling task to find the right balance," said Tom Bingham, Chairman of UCAT's Board of Trustees. He noted a concern for jobs at the Salt Lake-Tooele Applied Technology College, but said the board supports the bill and looks forward to having autonomy from the Board of Regents.

Bigelow said it is his aim to keep existing students and go forward without harming any programs.

E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com