A high school designed to provide businesses with trained vocational graduates plans to open this fall in Santa Ana.
But first, backers have more fund raising to do: The program has about 20% of the $1.2 million needed for its first year of operations.
High School Inc. Academies, a four-year technical program, is set to open as part of Santa Ana’s Valley High School, which has undergone a $26 million makeover.
The newly renovated school is set to admit about 2,500 students this fall, 400 to 500 of those for High School Inc.
Local businesses could start seeing workers from the school by 2011.
“Businesses are having a hard time finding a qualified workforce,” said George Heidler, president of Santa Ana-based Tom’s Truck Center and head of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce’s workplace development council.
High School Inc. “could help solve this problem,” he said. “There’s also a real benefit to the students who want to go into these industries but want to be taught in a relevant way.”
The program is the result of work by the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Ana Unified School District and financial backers.
High School Inc. plans six academies that would act as mini technical schools. The academies are supposed to prepare high school students for jobs in media, healthcare, manufacturing, global business, automotive, transportation, engineering and construction.
Some students could go on to start their own businesses.
Reading, writing, math and social science are set to be taught and tailored to jobs such as nursing, engineering and accounting.
The program is modeled after 30 schools around the country such as San Diego’s Kearny High School and Fresno’s Center for Advanced Research and Technology.
Plans for High School Inc. have been in the works for more than two years, according to the chamber.
Five years ago, the chamber started doing research on businesses in Santa Ana and central Orange County with a grant from the U.S. Labor Department to Rancho Santiago Community College district.
The chamber surveyed Santa Ana businesses and found many had a tough time hiring qualified workers for automotive, healthcare, engineering and other jobs.
“There’s a real gap between what schools are putting out and what the market needs,” said Dale Ward, executive vice president of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce. “High School Inc. provides an economic solution to an economy that’s struggling not only in Santa Ana but also in central Orange County.”
High School Inc. still needs to raise more money.
The program needs $1.2 million for staff training, student services and operating costs for 2007, said Michael Metzler, chief executive of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce.
California is providing about $100,000. Most of the rest is yet to be raised.
High School Inc. doesn’t need all the money before starting, according to Metzler. He said he thinks the funding will be in place before fall.
The chamber is in talks with local and national businesses about being corporate sponsors, Metzler said. He didn’t name possible companies.
The chamber is looking to businesses for money as well as for internship and mentoring help.
Givers so far include United Way of Orange County, AT & T; Inc., Santa Ana’s Corinthian Colleges Inc., General Motors Isuzu Commercial Truck LLC, Automobile Club of Southern California and Orange Empire SMACNA Inc., a chapter of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association.
The area’s auto industry needs more skilled, bilingual technicians, said Tony Page, owner of Cerritos-based General Motors Isuzu Commercial Truck.
“Businesses are very interested when it comes to education because they’re hungry for people who have skills,” he said. “They want people who can read, write and be reliable.”
United Way of Orange County has pledged $100,000 in yearly funding for High School Inc. for the next four years.
“We’re trying to fill a need in both ways by helping businesses have competent workers and encouraging students to think about their futures,” said Juan Carlos Araque, vice president of community investments for United Way Orange County. “We want to work closely with this program and we’re committed to supporting it at all levels. But we want to see results.”
Santa Ana Unified School District is looking to High School Inc. to help stem the city’s high dropout rate, said Jane Russo, district superintendent.
Santa Ana schools have a four-year dropout rate of 11%, according to the California Department of Education. That’s among the worst for California urban school districts, though it’s down by nearly half from 2002 and by nearly two-thirds from the mid-1990s.
Language and economic factors are behind the city’s dropout rate. More than 90% of Santa Ana’s students are Hispanic, many of them children of recent immigrants.
“We are a large urban district and our high schools have students who are second language learners,” Russo said. “Some come into a school without speaking English and come from impoverished backgrounds and don’t have goals in higher education because they feel a need to get into the workforce to help their parents.”
About half of Santa Ana’s 340,000 people speak English well, leaving limited job prospects for the other half. Three-quarters of businesses surveyed in Santa Ana and central OC won’t hire non-English speakers, according to the chamber.
As part of its effort, the chamber is launching an English literacy program called English Works, which will work hand-in-hand with High School Inc.
The program is about 55% funded.
