Laramie County Community College is considering taking over WyoTech operations.

In a prospectus plan that will be presented to the Laramie City Council during their meeting Tuesday night, The Cheyenne college outlined a plan to keep WyoTech’s automotive programs running in Albany County.

LCCC outlines a number of requirements that are needed before the college agrees to assume WyoTech’s operations, including ensuring sustainable state and local funding.

The college is requesting the 2018 Legislature appropriate $8,465,026 in one-time, exception budget funding to the Wyoming County Community College to support LCCC assuming WyoTech over the next four years. It also will require a stable stream of local funding and recommends Albany County and the City of Laramie provide biennial funding in the amount of at least $1,494,636 by no later than July 2, 2021.

It recommends Laramie community leaders, the Laramie City Council and the Albany County commission need to work with LCCC to create a sustainable way to provide local funds to support the college.

Under Wyoming’s current model for funding distributions for community colleges, LCCC says, the state provides the majority of the funding with local funding making up a smaller share.

Laramie Mayor Andrea Summerville said the discussion will be important from both an economic and educational standpoint.

“From a community perspective, it’s a really important conversation to have not only for the economic piece for here in the city of Laramie and trying to maintain jobs and keep our economy moving in a forward direction,” Summerville said. “But it’s also a really good conversation to have about community college access and the programs that are available as well as what we could do potentially with this partnership on a statewide level and what kind of educational opportunities does that provide statewide. That’s what we do. We educate people here. ”

The prospectus says LCCC is looking to purchase the WyoTech buildings to manage costs and recommends recommends the Albany County Commission and the Laramie City Council look at local funding options such as grants and the use of reserves to determine a way to secure funding for the purchase.

Education Credit Management Company, WyoTech's parent company, announced on Nov. 8 that WyoTech courses would be ‘taught out’ and the technical college would be closing in June.

LCCC President Joe Schaffer and Brady Hammond, Associate Vice President of the LCCC Albany County Campus, will present the prospectus to the Laramie City Council tonight.

 

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