A majority of Texas County school boards have approved allowing their patrons to vote on a plan to bring an Ozarks Technical College campus to the area.
Boards at Houston, Success, Raymondville and Summersville okayed the plans. Board members at Plato, Cabool and Licking decided to decline. If approved in August, patrons of the Houston, Success, Raymondville and Summersville will be eligible for reduced tuition fees. Those living in the Plato, Cabool and Licking can attend the Texas County campus, but they will pay the out-of-district rate that is about 29 percent higher.
The steering committee working on the project has spent the last several weeks working with school districts to explain the effort, which would provide not only general education classes but specialized training in various fields. Industries also will be able to formulate specialized classes for their workforce, and anyone who wants to take an enrichment class can do so.
The issue calls for a 15-cent per $100 assessed valuation levy. For the typical homeowner, that amounts to about $20 annually. Similar small levies support the county health department, library and sheltered workshop.
The savings for students living within the OTC district is significant: The tuition for fall will be $86 per credit hour. If they don’t reside within the district, the cost is $126.50. MSU just approved a rate increase. Its undergraduate charge will be $194 per credit hour at Springfield and $107 at West Plains. Earlier in the spring, there were 232 Texas County students who already attended OTC at Springfield, Ozark, Branson, Lebanon, Waynesville or online.
Under state statute, each of the seven school boards are required to place the measure for their district on the ballot. At Cabool, the decision was narrow, a 4-3 vote.
Information packets were distributed to board members that cited several advantages of having a junior college within the county’s borders: Targeting non-traditional students, inclusion in the state’s A+ program that pays two years of tuition for those following a high school course program coupled with allowing students to stay at home to gain an education and later earn wages allowing them to stay in their hometown. With gas prices hovering near $4 per gallon, students also save greatly on transportation costs. Materials also included documentation showing the link between education and a lower unemployment rate. Some, like TCMH CEO Wes Murray, say they could hire more county residents if specialized courses offered by OTC were available.