Session: State Capitol, Room 410 Juneau, AK 99801-1182 Phone: (907) 465-3789 Fax: (907) 465-3242 Interim: PO Box 1630 Nome, AK 99762-1630 Phone: (907) 443-5036 Phone: (907) 269-0272 Fax: (907) 269-0273

Sponsor Statement for HB 239
Vocational Education Pilot Program

An Act establishing a pilot program for a regional learning center.

The Twenty-first Alaska Legislature through the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A) hearings found indications of broad support for regional learning centers. Several communities have expressed interest in creating regional boarding programs focused on the special interests of their region.

The LB&A meeting in Nome helped create a renewed interest in the possibility of a regional boarding school that would teach vocational skills and other job related and living skills that are not available in the high schools of small isolated communities.

The Bering Strait School District and the Nome City School District have been exploring the feasibility of a cooperative program that would utilize the existing Nome Beltz School complex to develop and operate a pilot regional learning program.

The Bering Strait School Board and the Nome Common Council have both taken actions to support the creation of a pilot program and to seek federal funding to help cover program planning and initial operation costs.

A conceptional overview of the program is contained in the March 20, 2001 letter from, Dr. John Davis, Superintendent of the Bering Strait School District.

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