Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 has started discussions with Idaho State University about setting up a partnership that would help the district boost its career and technical education curriculum.

The potential collaboration could result in the School District constructing a career and technical education (CTE) facility near ISU’s campus in Pocatello.

The School District is exploring the possibility of purchasing or leasing land near the Eames Complex on Alvin Ricken Drive from ISU.

The School District is considering building the CTE facility on that land but the district has no cost estimates yet because talks with ISU are still in the early stages and the district’s main focus is currently on completing phase two of the Pocatello High School renovations, according to the district.

ISU hosts some of School District 25’s approximately 425 CTE courses. Pocatello, Highland, Century and New Horizon high schools are the other hosts of CTE.

“PCSD 25 already has a strong educational partnership with Idaho State University,” School District 25 spokeswoman Courtney Fisher wrote in a statement. “The need is growing for more robust career-technical education.”

For the past two years, the district’s board of trustees have been considering a facility to hold around half of the CTE courses offered to their high school students.

“That’s going to be the focus for the board and the district is to make that happen,” said Paul Vitale, a School District 25 trustee who was re-elected in November. “It’s going to take work from the district, but it’s also going to take a lot of support from the community and all kinds of businesses that would contribute to the whole expansion of that.”

Vitale would like businesses to provide equipment, job shadowing opportunities and internships in the process of the district emphasizing CTE more strongly.

Vitale said there would also have to be a levy or bond to fund the project.

It would be “ideal” if it were a multi-district CTE center, said Vitale, who added that is not a requirement.

“It would be nice if we could do it,” Vitale said. “It would make it really a comprehensive program and it would make it beneficial to all kinds of kids from all over.”

District 25 school board members and administrators have visited multiple single-use high school CTE facilities in Idaho, including Kootenai Technical Education Campus in North Idaho, which serves Coeur d’Alene School District, Post Falls School District and Lakeland School District.

But it’s far from a sure thing that School District 25 will be the next to have a CTE facility.

“It’s in its infancy at this point, so who knows what’s going to happen in the end,” Vitale said. “We have the programs that are in the schools, but to do something that’s contained in one place, it’s comprehensive.”

Rhonda Naftz, School District 25’s CTE administrator, endorses making a CTE-only facility where some of the CTE courses would be held, specifically ones that are not offered at all three schools.

“It helps the high schools because now they have more classrooms available to them and it’s a lot cheaper than building a comprehensive high school,” said Naftz, who noted about half of all School District 25 high school students are in a CTE course this trimester.

Naftz said there is great benefit in combining resources at one location.

In a less than optimal situation, the CTE medical programs are split between two schools. Certified nurse assistant and pharmacy technician assistant programs are at Pocatello High School, while the medical assistant program is at Century High School.

“If you had them both in the same building, then all of the sudden you can pull your resources and have one really nice lab area for them to work in, versus you have to split your money between two schools,” Naftz said. “So it just makes a lot of sense because financially you’re just able to use your money more wisely.”

Naftz said CTE is an affordable solution for high school students who do not want to face large college debt, as some CTE programs set up students with jobs that require little to no post-secondary education.

“Any time you’re going to put up a new building, that’s a pretty big decision, and we’re still a nation that really pushes and wants kids to get a four-year degree,” Naftz said. “But it’s become painfully apparent in the last 10 years that we’re putting kids through college at an exuberant cost and they’re coming out so far in debt, they can’t be productive. They can’t afford to buy their own home. They can’t go get a different car. They barely make ends meet and their student loan debt is for 15 years.”

Another division of the district is of the same mindset.

A School District 25 college and career adviser, Rachel Shryock, helped run a day-long apprenticeship event in November with Iron Workers Local 732 Apprenticeship Coordinator Travis Woolsey.

There were 70 district high school students who volunteered to participate at the Eastern Idaho Electrical JATC Local 449 facility in Pocatello, and they talked with people in jobs such as welding and iron working.

It is the first year of an event that is going to become an annual affair.

“There’s a lot of baby boomers that are now getting to that age where they’re retiring and there’s a lot of opportunities out there,” Shryock said. “Not saying college is not a great idea. It’s an amazing idea. It’s just that there’s a different direction people can go, and I believe everyone needs to know all the directions out there so they can fully choose what they want to do with their life.”