Election: We can all vote for KTEC

In 2010 our community passed and built KTEC. This is a place where high school students learn valuable skills leading them into success, high paying jobs. I don't have children nor am I in the manufacturing industry, but I took my role seriously in passing KTEC and I think it's time to look at an expansion of those programs. Here's why.

I am a product of North Idaho. A Post Falls High School and NIC grad, most of my education was provided and paid for by you. In 2004, like many people my age at the time, I left to complete my education elsewhere. In my case it was Portland State University.

After graduating and working in Portland for a number of years, I returned to Coeur d'Alene to go into business with my father. In an effort to pay back what I received from my community, I joined the massive undertaking to create and build a technical high school. My part was to be the treasurer and marketing manager of the KTEC campaign.

For KTEC to become reality, state government, local school districts, local business owners and citizens sat at the same table. We worked together and compromised in order to achieve a common goal.

Today I run a business in Coeur d'Alene and in Portland. I travel back and forth regularly which leads me to this vital message for Kootenai County: Regardless of how good or bad you think the management of your school district is, it is 1,000 times better than another example I can give you.

Over the last year, I've attempted to repeat the support of technical programs at the high school level in Portland. The behavior and decision making of the school board there is confounding to say the least. When the KTEC campaign was under way, your local school districts were open-minded, cooperative and cared about doing the right thing for their kids. Three school districts, buoyed by your support, succeeded in innovating your education programs. This is not so easy to do, trust me.

Today, our nation and our community struggle with obvious political divides. Where we all agreed was that making the investment in our kids was the basis for our success. KTEC is real; it is at capacity and there are more students clamoring to get in. In this modern environment of right v. left, education is what healed the wounds of political turmoil in our past.

With the economic needs of our community changing and the common goal of readying our next generation, it's time to put a KTEC expansion on the table. Our kids need it, our culture needs it and maybe it's what we can do to set the example for other communities who may be suffering the same way we do.