For the second year in a row, Gilmer’s college and career academy narrowly missed out on an educational grant that has become increasingly scarce.
The Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) heard presentations from four school districts in November who were vying for one $3.1 million grant. Along with the grant came accreditation and official recognition from the TCSG. Gilmer finished second in the running once again.
Gilmer’s college and career academy’s CEO Carla Foley mentioned where she believes this year’s presentation fell short, which is a similar situation as a year ago.
“Part of the grant is to show you’re working toward building a regional partnership. Last year, we included the Mountain Education Center as our partner, and the (TCSG) committee really didn’t see that as a partner because they’re already here and in our building with our students,” Foley explained.
“So this year we reached out to Pickens. We signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding) with their board and that we would be partnering with them to allow their students to come here to take classes, and we could send kids down there to take classes. Their (TCSG) feedback this year, was that we didn’t have a person there from Pickens during our presentation. So they were questioning whether we really had that partnership with them.”
Three million dollars of the grant would have gone toward overdue renovations to the Larry Walker Education Center, while the remaining $100K would have been spent on outfitting classrooms with improved equipment and technology.
Foley noted the Georgia Department of Education’s budgetary surplus led to a refund for all districts last year. She hopes if that is the case this year, the state will set aside extra funds for the TCSG to award additional grants.
“A board member of our college and career academy threw out the idea of reaching out to state legislators to see if we can get at least one or two grants added to the supplemental budget. And if that were to happen, would it be guaranteed that money would then go to Gilmer first and then the other district second? My understanding from the TCSG’s person who is responsible for college and career academies, is there were three viable applicants. But we only had one grant this year.”
The number of grants has continued to dwindle in recent years, which has kept worthwhile districts from receiving funds and resources. Over the previous six years, the frequency of grants has gone from six to five to three, back up to four, and two were awarded in 2022 before one was doled out last month.
If additional grants are not available through the supplemental budget, Foley said they could sign a MOU with TCSG’s Georgia College and Career Academy Network. This would allow Gilmer to be part of the network, and its programs would be held to the same standards. Gilmer would not receive funding, but it would have access to the network and its resources.
Gilmer’s third option is to reapply for the grant next fall, but there is no guarantee further grants will be available.
“We’re disappointed with the outcome, and we continue to learn a lot every time we go through this process,” Foley said. “We learn about ourselves and what a college and career academy is. This isn’t the end-all be-all for us. This isn’t the end of our story. We’re going to continue to work with our business and industry partners and be responsible to the needs of Gilmer County.
“Just like last year when we didn’t get the grant, we’re going to continue to do what we need to for our students and community.”