The campus of Lake Area Technical College in Watertown. (Courtesy of Lake Area Technical College)
Leaders of the state’s technical college system plan to ask legislators for $11 million in one-time funds for renovation and building projects at two eastern South Dakota campuses.
Presidents from Lake Area Tech in Watertown and Southeast Tech in Sioux Falls shared their visions with the Board of Technical Education on Thursday during an online meeting. Executive Director Nick Wendell said the “timing feels appropriate” to pursue one-time state funding for the projects.
“I think, in both cases, they check some important boxes as we think about our strategic priorities and growing graduate capacity in the system between now and the middle part of the next decade,” Wendell said.
Technical college board endorses $49 million state budget request
Wendell will meet with Gov. Larry Rhoden and the Bureau of Finance and Management next week to discuss the one-time requests and board-approved $49 million ask in ongoing funding.
The board did not formally endorse or approve the one-time request, but Wendell said at the end of the meeting he sensed a “spirit of support” from members.
While state revenue projections for ongoing funding are tight, Wendell told South Dakota Searchlight after the meeting that his organization typically enters legislative sessions “assuming there would be some one-time funding for targeted projects.”
“We’re following the same ongoing revenue projections everyone else is, including the funding that might be challenging to come by,” Wendell said. “But if there are opportunities for one-time funds, we wanted to identify some of those targeted projects we think would be great priorities to invest in.”
Lake Area Tech student center renovation
Lake Area Tech plans to renovate 14,000 square feet of its student center to centralize its services, including counseling, testing and adult education learning centers. The adult learning center is currently in a building that is “beyond its useful life,” President Tiffany Sanderson told board members, and is expected to be replaced by a new public safety training center in the coming years.
The student center renovation would cost $4 million. Lake Area Tech would cover $1 million and ask the state for $3 million.
Sanderson said state funding for the project will spur industry partners to invest in academic changes and other parts of the college’s master plan.
“The total plan over the next 10 years is about $100 million in investment, so this is just 4% of that total project,” Sanderson said. “But it’s a really critical 4% to build early momentum.”
Wendell told board members that to increase graduate numbers in the technical education system, colleges such as Lake Area will have to recruit more non-traditional students.
“In many cases, those are students that will need access to student services to find success on our campuses,” Wendell said. “And as a board, we’ve sort of been committed to this notion that we don’t just want to recruit and enroll a broader swath of students, but we want to ensure that they have access to the tools they need to be successful.”
Southeast Tech plans new building and expansion
Southeast Tech plans to build a new center for advanced manufacturing, which would rehouse its advanced manufacturing programs in maintenance technology and mechanical engineering and add 34,000 square feet of lab and classroom space. President Cory Clasemann said the school also plans to expand and renovate its welding space, adding 12,000 square feet for a welding lab and shared fabrication space with the advanced manufacturing programs.
The college’s construction, HVAC, mechanical engineering, plumbing and welding programs are all at capacity with a waiting list for enrollment. Advanced manufacturing, Clasemann said, is a priority because it accounts for one out of 10 jobs in South Dakota and is expected to grow its workforce by 6% through 2032 in the state.
“This is really the linchpin of several other pieces,” Clasemann said.
The project will cost $24 million overall. About $16 million will be spent on the advanced manufacturing building and $7 million on the welding lab expansion, with about $1 million in design fees.
The school has raised $1.5 million in private funding with plans to fundraise another $8 million. The Board of Technical Education plans to request $8 million from the state. The school secured $6.5 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the project, which are funds that must be spent by 2031.
“We’re mindful of federal spending at the moment, so we’d rather spend them sooner rather than later,” Clasemann said. “We are aware that, just with recissions going on, that they could go away.”
The project will double enrollment capacity for the school’s mechanical engineering program and increase its maintenance technology capacity by 50%. The increase in capacity will free up space for other program expansions.
Clasemann said the technical college needs “a couple more million dollars” to move forward with the advanced manufacturing building, which can begin without funding for the welding expansion and renovation.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.