CLEARFIELD – On Monday night, the Clearfield County Career and Technology Center’s Joint Operating Committee approved the 2010-11 budget for the Practical Nursing program.
Lois Richards, executive director of the CCCTC, said the proposed budget was in the amount of $453,257 and $456,390 for the Clearfield and Ridgway sites, respectively.
“It’s a self-sustaining program. Their revenues pay for their expenses,” she said. “What they make stays in their program.”
She said the Clearfield site budget saw a “small increase” in its proposed budget total. She indicated they had just under an $800 increase, as the 2009-10 budget came to a total of $452,460.
In the Ridgway site budget, Richards pointed out that they experienced a 26 percent increase in salaries. She said they spent $174,113 last year but see these expenses climbing to $219,135 in 2010-11.
Elsie Maurer, director of the practical nursing program, decided to spit her time evenly between the two sites. She previously had a 75-to-25 time share, Richards said.
Richards said Maurer will see a 3 percent salary decrease at the Clearfield site as a result. She said Maurer’s salary increased by the same percentage at the Ridgway site, however.
She said the Ridgway site saw increased expenses due to maintenance fees for the purchased BlackBoard Academic Suite. She said they also had an instructorial consultant fee with the Elk Regional Health Center.
“They had a few changes and a bit of an increase,” Richards said. She said she believes both sites will have “pretty equal” proposed budget totals next year.
In addition, the board authorized Richards to explore the possibilities for the Practical Nursing program to participate in a regional consortium Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) to Registered Nurse (RN) program.
During the non-voting work session, she said the PN Perkins Consortium is looking to provide the LPN to RN program opportunity. She said six PN programs, which are a part of the consortium, have expressed interest in doing so.
“Discussion is only in the infancy stages at this point,” she said. Oftentimes, she said there aren’t enough openings in current RN programs to accommodate all of those who want in.
Richards said the PN Perkins Consortium would run its own, separate program. She said each school in the consortium would have an equal number of graduates to be accepted annually to the RN program.
“It probably won’t get started for at least another year. There’s a lot of work to do. But it’s a great opportunity,” she said.