Colulmbus will provide Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. with a $1 million grant to fund three of the corporation’s workforce development initiatives for this school year.
It’s the ninth-such annual contribution the Columbus Redevelopment Commission has invested into BCSC in what officials say is a truly unique partnership.
The commission unanimously approved the funding during a meeting on Sept. 16.
Columbus City Council members had to sign off on the expenditure on Wednesday night because it’s a sum greater than $500,000. The grant from redevelopment will come out of the Central tax-increment-financing (TIF) district.
The vote was 7-0, with council members Josh Burnett, R-at-large, and Jerone Wood, D-District 3, recusing themselves because they are both BCSC employees.
Superintendent Chad Phillips and Brett Boezeman, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, came to the council chambers to discuss the impact the partnership has had on thousands of the school corporation’s students since 2017.
The grant includes $330,500 for iGrad, $267,397 for transitional programs for students with disabilities and $402,103 for STEM initiatives. The amounts have remained the same since 2022.
iGrad, which is a partnership with Ivy Tech Community College – Columbus, provides students in grades 8-12 who are identified as at-risk with academic support and mentoring. The program has impacted 2,434 students since 2017, according to a presentation shown to the council.
For the first time ever last year, Phillips said, 100% of students who started 12th grade in iGrad graduated from high school in May.
“What’s unique about that is those students have already been identified as students who are credit deficient or not on track to graduation without some additional assistance,” Phillips explained. “So for well over 90% of those students to make it across the finish line, we consider that a huge win and a huge boost for the workforce as those students become more employable.”
The $330,500 will primarily go towards paying iGrad coaches, according to Phillips.
BCSC’s transition programs have the goal of helping students with disabilities transition into either the workforce or post-secondary opportunities. According to the school corporation, 780 students have been helped by the program since 2017.
“It helps acclimate them to the possibility of a life where they may become a college student or enter into the workforce,” according to Phillips.
The transition planning money will also go towards the Empower Program, a collaboration between BCSC, Ivy Tech and IU Columbus to provide students aged 18-22 working on a certificate of achievement the ability to take part in the 1 to 2 year transition program on the Air Park campus.
According to BCSC, 10,250 BCSC students have engaged in STEM activities since the redevelopment commission provided its first workforce grant.
“We primarily invest that in equipment for C4 across both of our high school buildings (and for) some of the older equipment that needed to be replaced, but that has really evolved to focus more on programming for kids,” Phillips said regarding the over $402,103.
The funds pay about 50% of the salaries for BCSC’s 10 elementary STEM teachers.
In addition, it enables BCSC students in grade K-6 to take part in a hands-on STEM lab taught by a certified teacher one day per week, just as they would do for art, music or PE.
Phillips said it’s the case that most elementary students will say STEM lab is the highlight of their week at school.
“They get to make things that fly, zip, make noise and all kinds of things like that,” said Phillips. “We do think that we’re probably still the only district in the state that has that opportunity, starting for students when they’re in kindergarten.”
The STEM funds also fuel special events such as the recent “Girl-Up” night where 150 or so fifth and sixth-grade girls “got to do everything from welding to testing for blood types— all with both young ladies and volunteers from the community there to mentor,” Phillips told the council.
The funding also supports another Ivy Tech partnership for CSA New Tech students, who can choose an information technology pathway that could allow them to leave the school already equipped with more than 30 college credits.
One of the other areas where the funding has paid dividends is through BCSC’s fast-growing robotics programs.