And about 7,500 students are sitting on a waitlist to get in.
“That’s the largest demand that we’ve ever seen for our education,” CareerTech Director Brent Haken said.
To tackle the waitlist, the Oklahoma Legislature allocated $26.7 million in new one-time funds for the agency this year. The money was recently disbursed to schools and is now being used across the state for facility upgrades, expanded programming and more.
Haken is grateful for the boost, but he cautions against considering it a windfall that would fully eliminate the waitlist. That’s because one of the biggest expenses in expanding enrollment is hiring more instructional staff — something he said can’t be bought with a one-time purchase.
“The greatest need is for delivery of instruction,” Haken said. “That’s why it’s important that these dollars are more [recurring] than they are one-time. One-time is a great benefit to us. You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right? You take the money when you can get it to make a difference. But a bigger impact can be made by [recurring] dollars.”
Haken said unlike a history class, where more students can be added with more seats, CareerTech programs like welding and nursing have capacity limits set for safety or by third-party agencies. He said one of the most effective ways to increase enrollment is by getting more instructors and offering more classes.
About 80% of CareerTech funding comes from local tax dollars, but Haken said for the last three years, that funding has been outpaced by inflation. At a Senate budget meeting in February, Haken told lawmakers enrollment needs to increase by 25% to meet the demand. His budget request included $37 million of recurring funds to expand and enhance CareerTech programs.
“We just can’t grow at 25% over the next four years without help,” Haken said at the meeting.
In the meantime, Haken said schools have been tasked with finding ways to increase enrollment.
“How can we innovate so the practices can be increased safely so we can increase capacity?” Haken said. “Last year, we had the same demand, we did not receive any dollars from the legislature. And [CareerTech schools] increased enrollment by 9%. So they made a really good step forward by figuring out how we can be more efficient in some areas.”
Targeting inefficiencies and utilizing one-time dollars will help chip away at the waitlist. But Haken plans to return to the legislature next year with the same pitch — that increasing base funding is the only way to fully reach the thousands of Oklahomans hoping for a spot in a CareerTech program.
He said he hopes he can show lawmakers what schools can achieve with this year’s one-time funds to persuade them to invest in the long term.
“Francis Tuttle, when he started this system, he had a saying for the legislature: ‘I ask for what I think I need, and I expect to get it.’” Haken said. “I’m going to ask you what I think I really need — not embellish it … but really ask for what I think will make the difference. And I believe that this request that they fulfilled for one-time dollars, I can prove that we can make that difference, that we can move that needle.”
Central Tech puts new dollars to use
Nursing students at Central Tech in Drumright practice life-saving techniques on a medical dummy. One student calls out medications to administer while another injects into the dummy’s arm. One uses a device to push air into its mouth, and the others rotate giving rapid compressions on its chest.
When it’s time for a shock, a student loudly says, “Clear!” The others stop what they’re doing, lift their hands, and take a step away from the bed. After they’re given the signal, they restart.
The students are practicing what to do when a patient “codes,” or goes into cardiac arrest. Graduates from the program will be prepared to take their licensing exam. If they pass, they will be licensed professional nurses, and some may go on to become registered nurses — both of which are experiencing nationwide workforce shortages.
Kim Johnson manages the Medical Surgical Inpatient Unit at Hillcrest Hospital in Cushing and oversees clinical education. Johnson regularly visits Central Tech to speak with classes about job opportunities and consults with instructional staff on new regulations and practices.
“I’m looking at these nurses like potential employees,” Johnson said of nursing students working clinical rotations at the hospital. “And by the end of a few clinicals, you know which ones are going to be really, really great. And so we pursue those. … We have about eight [Central Tech] graduates on a staff of about 45 nurses, so that’s quite a bit.”
Johnson said she loves hiring CareerTech nurses because they’re “hungry.” She said medical-surgical units, where she works primarily, are busy areas of hospitals, often looking for more staff.
“Sometimes we have cardiac patients, sometimes we have respiratory patients, sometimes we have stroke patients. So I feel like that gives them such a great broad spectrum that they could go into any specialty after that,” Johnson said. “And with the aging population, and because healthcare is so readily available, that’s not going away. … So we need nurses to come in and do that so we can continue to take care of the aging population.”
With nursing positions in high demand, courses of study are also in high demand. Last year, Central Tech turned away 161 students from its health programs, according to its superintendent, Kent Burris. He hopes to make a dent in that waitlist by using some of the new CareerTech funding.
The school plans to expand its nursing program to its Sapulpa campus, allowing it to serve an additional 14 students every year. He plans to use $300,000 of the school’s $1.3 million allocation for the expansion.
“It takes a lot to equip a nursing lab, by the time we buy curriculum, mannequins, the crash carts and all the equipment that it takes, the hospital beds and those things, that it takes to go in a program,” Burris said.
He said a new instructor at the Sapulpa campus would require about $100,000 for salary and benefits.
“If you put in a new program, you’ve got to hire staff. You have to have a director — or half of a director, is probably the way we’re going to run it — but you have to hire that instructor,” Burris said. “And to hire a nurse is not cheap, because they can make a lot of money in other places. So that would be the advantage of having long-term money, money that’s recurring, so that you’ll be able to cover those costs.”
Central Tech is using the other portion of its allotment — $1 million — on truck driver training. Burris said his big idea for the money is to guarantee student loans for truck driving students. The courses are 5 weeks long and cost $4,800, which includes on-site housing. If the school partners with a local lending institution, it could guarantee payments if students default on their loans.
“And that way, we could spread that million dollars. If we had a 70% repayment rate, that money may last — I mean, we could finance students five or six years down the road,” Burris said. “There’s lots and lots of students out there that need an opportunity. They need financing. … If you’re going to impact the waitlist, that is going to have the biggest impact on it.”
Currently, the plan is on hold as the school finds out if a student financing option agrees with the legislative intent of the money. If the money isn’t approved for that purpose, it will go toward improving truck driving ranges.
“The changes you’ve made in those people’s lives will more than, I think, pay for itself,” Burris said. “So that’s our number one goal.”
John Thorpe is the director of truck driver training at Central Tech. He agrees that using the money on student financing would be the most impactful way to reduce the waitlist.
“I was supposed to have 15 people start tomorrow in a class. Four of them have already dropped out due to funding,” Thorpe said. “We saw 146 applications from August 1 to today, August 26 — 101 people, we can’t put them in because they have zero funding. Seventy percent of those people have gotten turned down because of funding. That’s the issue right now that we’re having.”
Thorpe said some students are funded by Oklahoma Tribal Nations and other organizations or companies, but many are out-of-pocket. He said graduates who go on to truck driving careers make enough money on average to pay back the tuition costs if financed.
“They’re going to leave here making an average wage of $65-75,000 a year [after] five weeks, and only owe $4,800,” Thorpe said. “So a short-term student loan, the return on investment is pretty good.”
Jason Stoneburner is a 20-year-old from Checotah, finishing up his last weeks of truck driver training. He said ever since getting his driver’s license, he wanted truck driving to be his career.
“I grew up around trucking my whole life,” Stoneburner said. “I was raised my first few years in the sleeper berth of a semi, so I guess you could say it runs in my blood.”
Stoneburner’s school is being paid for by the Cherokee Nation. He has a job lined up upon graduation and hopes to haul crude oil when he’s older. He said he heard about Central Tech through an oil company, which told him the school was “one of the best, if not the best.”
Stoneburner said he feels prepared to take his test and move his career into high gear.
“It’s been a really great experience. And time definitely flies by, but you definitely learn a lot in that short five weeks. I’m not even all the way to that five weeks yet, but I’ve learned a lot,” Stoneburner said. “It’s an amazing experience.”
Central Tech hopes its financing plan will give other students access to the education Stoneburner is taking advantage of. And until the state ponies up more in regular funding, big needs and barriers to entry will remain statewide for CareerTech schools.
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