Funds budgeted for vocational school
SPRING HILL — Lawmakers have set aside $5 million in the state budget that could be used to transform the Saturn Corps. former training center into one of the state’s first vocational schools by early 2010.
“I’m excited about it,” said State Rep. Ty Cobb, D-Columbia, who pushed for funding for the project. “This is going to be a big asset for Middle Tennessee.”
The $5 million is part of the $29.6 billion budget forged by the Tennessee General Assembly late Wednesday night, which calls for a $1.4 billion decrease in spending.
Cobb has said the money allocated for the project, which was named as one of his top priorities while campaigning against former State Rep. Tom DuBois, will be used to fund the first three years of a pilot program.
If the program is a success, the center will be funded by reoccurring grants and local governments.
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“Right now we’re laying the groundwork, and hopefully we’ll be implementing something within the next five or six months,” Cobb said.
The freshman representative said the next step will be to begin talks with GM about utilizing the Northfield building — a former training center for Saturn which was mostly vacated shortly before General Motors retooled the Spring Hill auto plant to produce the Chevrolet Traverse.
“It’s basically a school sitting empty,” Cobb said.
Though planning for the education center is in preliminary stages, Cobb said he would want multiple agencies, including Columbia State Community College and Middle Tennessee State University, to teach classes using the technology at the Northfield building. Cobb has said the school would help pay for annual operating costs of the building, including utilities and upkeep.
The Spring Hill facility is currently on a seven-week summer break and is scheduled to lose the Traverse to the Delta Township, Mich., plant by November. GM officials have said the former Saturn plant, which opened in 1990, is in the running for making a small car that the company had planned to produce in China. The other plants vying for small car production are the Orion Township, Mich., plant and the facility in Janesville, Wis.
This week Gov. Bredesen submitted a bid to try and lure GM to choose the Spring Hill plant over the other finalists.
Cobb said the plans for the education center were not part of the incentives package, but that it could help sweeten the deal.
“This is part of a commitment that the state of Tennessee cares about GM,” he said. “But it’s so much bigger than that. This thing can help region-wide.”
If the Spring Hill plant doesn’t land the small car, GM officials have said the plant will likely close.
Cobb said the plant closing wouldn’t affect his plans for the vocational school.
“I will always have a back-up plan if something stalled,” he said.
Jan McKeel, executive director of South Central Tennessee Workforce Board who has worked with the state representative on the project, said officials hope the school will help draw more industries to the area.
“This is a big plus on the economic side,” she said.
Frank Tamberrino, president of the Maury Alliance, said still a lot of details to be worked out, but that Northfield building would be a prime facility for the center.
“This is something that would really put Maury County on the map,” he said.
Cobb said it was a relief when the funding for the education center was passed.
“It was bipartisan effort to get it accomplished, and I’m real proud of the work the Governor did to seal the deal,” he said.
