Four West Central Texas schools have been awarded more than $1.3 million in grants to expand career training and prepare students for high-demand jobs through the Texas Workforce Commission’s Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) program.
Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Joe Esparza presented the grants on Monday morning at Workforce Solutions of West Central Texas in Abilene. Ranger College, Cisco College, Texas State Technical College, and Graford ISD each received more than $300,000.
“Today is basically a celebration of our grant award to the Abilene area schools. We have Ranger College, Cisco College, TSTC, and Graford ISD all getting access to our JET grant, which is our Jobs and Education for Texans grant,” Esparza said. “The grant is $1.3 million and it will effectively train up to 350 students.”
The program provides funding for school districts, community colleges, and technical schools to purchase industry-standard equipment for career education.
“Students will be learning on this equipment as if they’re going to be hired tomorrow,” Esparza said. “They’ll be using the same stuff out in the field that they’re learning on now.”
For Cisco College, the grant represents an opportunity to further develop programs that give students practical, career-ready skills. Dr. Pearl Merritt, dean of nursing at Cisco College, discussed the school’s approach to the funding.
KTXS asked, “What safeguards are in place to ensure that this funding is used effectively and for its intended purpose?”
Merritt explained that Cisco College will maintain detailed records to track how the funding is spent.
“With the grant, we have to be accountable for every penny that we spend. We keep very good records that we’re accountable for,” she said. “We’re really excited that they believe in Cisco College. We have a great reputation. They know that we’re going to have a wonderful program where we’ll be able to continue giving the students a state-of-the-art education.”
