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Once called vo-tech schools, today’s tech centers stress that they’re not for underachievers – Northern Idaho voters approve $9.5MM technical school levy

David Abbott knew from the time he learned to fix his dirt bike that he wanted to be a mechanic.

So when he had the opportunity to study auto mechanics at Western Area Career and Technology Center in Chartiers while he was a student at Chartiers-Houston High School, he jumped at the chance.

It turned out to be the right move. Since graduating in 2009, Mr. Abbott, 19, has worked as an auto repair trainee at South Hills Chrysler Jeep Kia in Peters and attended night classes at Community College of Allegheny County, where he plans to earn an associate degree. Chrysler is paying for his education.

"I have friends who are taking out loans to go to college, but I’m getting paid for working and getting my tuition paid," Mr. Abbott said. He aspires to someday be a dealership service manager.

Mr. Abbott was among the 74,217 students across the state in 2008-09 who chose to attend career and technical programs — formerly referred to as vocational-technical education — rather than follow a strict academic path in high school.

By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Full Story: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10238/1082562-55.stm

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Northern Idaho voters approve technical school levy

by Anne Wallace Allen

Residents of the Lakeland, Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls school districts voted Aug. 24 to approve a $9.5 million levy for a technical school.

Kootenai Technical Education Center, or KTEC, will train welders, mechanics, builders and health workers. The project was started in 2007 after a group of northern Idaho manufacturers asked the local school districts for help in developing a better skilled work force.

Full Story: http://idahobusinessreview.com/blog/2010/08/25/northern-idaho-voters-approve-technical-school-levy/

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