Governor Parson announces $400,000 grant to go to NTS

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has awarded several Missouri Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs with grant dollars to further support all Missouri students who are prepared for success upon graduation and further contribute to developing Missouri’s workforce.

Northwest Technical School, (NTS) Maryville received $400,000 from this distribution.

NTS Director Jeremy Ingraham developed the grant proposal to coordinate with the Maryville school district’s efforts to develop a long-range facilities plan. A component of this plan will be to improve infrastructure, such as roads and electrical needs, that will support the long-term development of the school district.

According to Ingraham, “These funds will be of great benefit to support the advancement of our ag programming. We will have infrastructure needs that go along with the addition of our new greenhouse.”

The new greenhouse will be completed in March 2023 and was purchased with $260,000 of funds from a previously awarded CTE Enhancement grant.

“Career and technical education is critical to our workforce development goals here in the State of Missouri,” Governor Parson said. “Every day the necessity for a post secondary degree, trade, or industry recognized credential is growing for good-paying jobs across the state, and we want to support Missourians as they seek to learn new skills, especially in our career and technical education programs.”

The Maryville school district is evaluating current facilities and infrastructure as a part of long-range planning. In January, district leaders will be engaging the community for feedback regarding facilities and programming needs. In May of 2023, the district plans to adopt a long-range facilities plan.

According to Superintendent Dr. Logan Lightfoot, “We are fortunate to have such immense local support for our schools and our teachers. We owe it to our students as well as our community to develop a responsible plan that addresses the long-term support and development of our district facilities. Creating a long-range plan supported by a variety of funding sources such as the ARPA grant will allow us to provide top-tier educational experiences for Maryville students for many years to come.”

Missouri’s Area Career Center Opportunity (MACCO) Grant is funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (APRA) and was included in Governor Parson’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget proposal to the General Assembly.