A significant increase in funding is heading to Flint Hills Technical College, and all other state technical education institutions, thanks to state lawmakers.
During the most recent installment of KVOE’s Tech Talk Tuesday morning, FHTC President Dr. Caron Daugherty announced the legislature has set aside $1.5 million in — possibly one-time — operational base grants.
Daugherty says FHTC will also see a five percent inflationary increase for tech college classes, $250,000 in fiber security and IT funding and an increase in opportunities to provide apprenticeships for industry partners. Now, not every area of the college will see increases in the coming year as Daugherty says they will see a slight dip in capital outlay funding from $374,000 to roughly $247,000.
Daugherty says the decrease in capital outlay comes as the tech college has several challenges ahead, namely a pair of recent flooding incidents including one from Tuesday morning.
Daugherty’s comments Tuesday, come as the college is continuing work to secure grant funding to facilitate a semiconductor training program, along with other shorter programs, in connection to the multi-billion dollar project involving Burlington’s EMP Shield announced back in March. Daugherty says grant applications have been submitted to that end and the college is working with Government Assistance Services to secure the funding.
Word on when the status of those applications will be announced is currently pending.
