News Headlines
Source: State Journal, Frankfort, March 10, 2010
Thorn Hill Learning Center has 3 interested in becoming its fiscal agent
By Katheran Wasson
Thorn Hill Learning Center leaders have narrowed the search for a new fiscal agent to three organizations.
Bluegrass Community and Technical College, the Bluegrass Area Development District and Eastern Kentucky University are interested in running the program when it splits from the county school system June 30, Executive Director Mike Rosenstein said Tuesday.
The new fiscal agent would compete against other agencies and nonprofits for Franklin County’s $300,000 grant from Kentucky Adult Education. Thorn Hill’s own nonprofit foundation could also bid for the grant.
BCTC and the Bluegrass Area Development District only want to run the adult education program – not community education classes, Rosenstein said. EKU would oversee both, he said.
“We will survive, and if that’s what it takes to survive, we will split the programs,” Rosenstein told members of the center’s Board of Directors and staff at a meeting Tuesday.“But it’s not our desire to do so – we enjoy a synergy of both of them working together.”
Rosenstein said he hopes to find a new fiscal agent within the next 60 days.
The Franklin County Board of Education voted in November to end its 30-year role as fiscal agent for the learning center when the financial year ends June 30. FCPS will no longer administer grants for Thorn Hill, or process its employees’ payroll checks.
School boards run most of Kentucky’s adult education programs. But Franklin County is one of five school systems to drop its program this year, said David Walters, senior associate for program support at Kentucky Adult Education.
The new fiscal agent isn’t obligated to hire existing staff members, Walters said, and it could locate anywhere within the county.
The school board will likely declare the Thorn Hill property surplus at a meeting Monday, Superintendent Harrie Buecker said. The $65,000 property houses a GED center, after school and summer programs and community education.
The board could sell the property for fair market value, at auction or by sealed bids.
Buecker said sealed bids would be “the best bet” for the learning center – not a developer or private owner – to purchase the property because it could keep the cost low. If the learning center is the only bidder, even an offer of $1,000 would win, she said.
“We think it’s beyond $65,000 in sentimental value and what it’s done for the community and the services that have been provided here,” she said.
“The board has every desire for that building to stay in your hands, and we’ll do whatever we can.”
The Franklin County Board of Education meets at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Elkhorn Middle School.