AURORA | A new potential partnership among the City of Aurora, local school districts and a local non-profit group will allow students to fast-track their careers in the construction industry.
On Monday afternoon, Aurora City Councilmember Francoise Bergan, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Michael Giles and other community leaders announced plans for local construction companies to support local students at the ConstrucTECH workshop at Gateway High School.
The proposed program allows local builders to voluntarily pay an additional $25 per new residential permit or $200 per new commercial permit, with proceeds funding the school-to-job project. Builders who do not wish to participate must opt-out of it.
The money will go toward the non-profit program called Careers in Construction Colorado, which brings “construction-based vocational education into high schools.” The funding will specifically go toward the programs at APS, Cherry Creek School District and Pickens Technical College, according to the proposed resolution.
The six-year program will give students the training and skills necessary to work in the trades, which includes building construction technology, electrical, HVAC and plumbing, among others. Giles also explained that students will have the opportunity to earn an associate’s degree in construction management through the Colorado Community College Board.
“We’re even more excited that this new partnership with the City of Aurora and the business community will increase education and employment opportunities for our students,” Giles said.
Bergan said that similar programs already exist in Colorado Springs and Denver.
The CCIC program is underway in the following Metro Denver school districts: Adams 12 Five Star Schools, Adams County School District 14 in Commerce City, Cherry Creek School District, Denver Public Schools, JeffCo Public Schools, Littleton Public Schools and Westminster Public Schools.
Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that as of May 2023, the median salary for electricians was $61,590. The median salary was $45,300 for construction laborers, $57,300 for HVAC mechanics and $61,550 for plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters.
City lawmakers passed a resolution later Thursday endorsing the project.
This is a fantastic program for our kids. Not every kid is interested in or right for college, and with that costs of college today, it’s worth evaluating the value proposition of college costs versus getting a well paying job on the other side. We need more trade workers and since our schools removed shop classes long ago, it’s good to see this partnership between industry, education, and local government. Well done!!
What a wonderful program for High School students who are looking for a positive future. Its a great idea whose time has come! Every school district and large construction company in America should have this as an alternative.
Awesome job by the city, the schools, and the local businesses. Whoever put this together needs to receive a gold star.
So now the city Government is going to assist in course-plotting construction careers. And the $25 permit fee will serve as funding to pay for the program. But, the fee paid by the contractor as it states “ allows local builders to voluntarily pay an additional $25”
“Builders who do not wish to participate must opt-out of it”.
Interesting Concept….
These newbies that are considering this as a career need to pay-their- dues-as-it-were. The proficient production workers in the field have come up from the school of hard knocks. Some of the trades require more technical academics than others. Some require professional licenses to get to the $60K -$70K wages. Even then, these contractors have enough problems to worry about using fully experienced people. Now with this kooky scheme the contactor has to pay the city a fee to pay an NGO for their social mission. And then, in the end have the builder be a babysitter. Not surprised though!
This should make high school much more relevant to students. It can set up a student for a good paying career path as soon as they graduate high shoo!! I
This should make high school much more relevant to students. It can set up a student for a good paying career path as soon as they graduate high school.
The title of this newspaper article says “city and builders”. This article talks about needing local builders to make this work. Looking at this was any builder-contractor ever consulted concerning this program before writing the article? Is this another Aurora sound good resolution that’s nothing but noise? Has any local builder come forward with their thoughts? Do these city politicos know it’s a big leap from sitting in some high school wood shop class to the workings on a real construction project. You always see politicians with a shovel in their hand and wearing a hard hat on the front page news at project kick-offs. Do they know how to use any of it?
This program seems debatable in its blueprint. The presumption Aurora Public Schools will oversee all the important details. We’ve seen this APS work product before. The same APS also was managing Ronald Fay, and Jill Watkins with all their special program. Their project sounded good on paper, non profits, donations, everybody loved it. Public money, lots of it disappeared with APS overseeing and at the top of its administration. A trial for Fay and Watkins is around the corner in a month or so. I expect we will see familiar APS brass names as witnesses at the trial. These programs always sound so delightful at the beginning. What could go wrong with the city lawmaker’s tinkering around in this roll to create a young worker-bee supply line using the public building department fee structure manipulated and tangled with APS. The KDVR news link has interesting coverage of APS and their handy work.
https://kdvr.com/news/problem-solvers/aurora-superintendent-candidate-andre-wright-avoids-questions-on-embezzlement-report/