TWO AREA VO-TEC SCHOOLS FUNDED

Gov. Mel Carnahan Thursday approved funding for construction of two vocational-technical buildings in the region, but vetoed funding for a new technology center at Southeast Missouri State University.

Carnahan signed spending bills in Jefferson City that included $1.5 million toward construction of a vocational-technical school in the Cape Girardeau School District and an identical amount for construction of a Sikeston Area Higher Education Center that would be owned and managed by the university.

He vetoed $2 million that would have gone toward construction of a $5 million technology center on the university campus in Cape Girardeau.

In vetoing the appropriation, Carnahan said the project wasn't part of his recommended budget and would have committed the state to another $3.5 million in future funding to complete it.

The governor vetoed funding for a number of building projects at colleges and universities across the state, including $1 million to start construction of a new business school at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Carnahan said the Legislature included so many capital projects that would have required future funding that he wasn't sure the state would have had enough money to complete them.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, attended the bill-signing session in Jefferson City Thursday.

Afterward, Nitzschke emphasized the positive points of the budget: "Southeast came away with $1.5 million to build the Sikeston center and we came away with an additional $3 million in our operating budget. We came away with $4.5 million in new dollars."

State Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said, "We've got to be pleased that the state has committed funding for the area vo-tech school and the new institute in Sikeston."

Carnahan's decision to fund the Sikeston project was good news to state Rep. Joe Heckemeyer. The Sikeston Democrat, who was the chief architect in getting the Sikeston center added to the budget, said, "I feel great."

He said the ultimate goal is to have technical training at the Sikeston center, the Bootheel Education Center at Malden and at the technology center on the Southeast campus.

University officials lobbied hard for the technology center. Lawmakers added the project to the budget late in this year's session, said Kinder.

Funding for the Sikeston center depends on a 50-50 match, which is expected to come from the value of the land on which the center will be built and private donations.

The Sikeston center and the technology center would both provide technical education.

Nitzschke said he would recommend that the Board of Regents move ahead with planning for both buildings. The university could spend $150,000 of its operating budget to pay for planning work for the technology center, he said.

Nitzschke said it is more efficient and less costly to plan both technology buildings together. He said that would allow the university to avoid costly duplication.

Planning work for the technology center would include selecting a building site on the campus. The technology center would house industrial technology classes and emphasize high-tech manufacturing training.

Nitzschke said he is optimistic the university will raise private funds to help pay for the technology center. The school also hopes to secure federal money.20Nitzschke said such funding could help sell the project to the governor and the Legislature next year.

The university continues to view the technology center as its top capital project. Still, he said, the Sikeston center funding is good news.

"We can't always just think of the local campus," he said. "We are clearly a university that exists in places outside of the immediate campus."

The university offers classes at Malden, Perryville and other off-campus sites.

Cape Girardeau School District officials were pleased with the $1.5 million for the vocational-technical school. Assistant Supt. Bill Biggerstaff said, "We feel very fortunate that we were able to receive those funds."

School officials plan to ask the state for another $1.5 million next year. The district wants a total of $3 million in state money, which would pay half the cost of a new vocational-technical school.

But the school district doesn't have to wait on the state because voters approved a construction bond issue in April.

School officials expect to break ground for the new school this fall.

Biggerstaff said a new vocational school would provide training for adult workers and for high-school students.