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Thorn Hill Learning Center may relocate or divide

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Thorn Hill Learning Center could relocate or divide its GED and community education programs to survive an upcoming split from the county school system.

Those are just two of the possibilities administrators are considering as they move forward, said Mike Rosenstein, executive director of Frankfort-Franklin County Community Education. 

“We’re not suggesting (that),” he told The State Journal Tuesday. “We’re only trying to raise the awareness of our options.”

Last month, the Franklin County Board of Education voted to stop serving as the center’s fiscal agent on June 30, 2010. 

The board also authorized Superintendent Harrie Buecker to take steps toward selling the building that houses the GED center, after school and summer programs and community education. 

Community Education could form a nonprofit corporation to purchase the former elementary school, Rosenstein said, or the center’s new fiscal agent could buy it. 

He said the school district has offered to directly transfer the building to Community Education at the “least possible legal cost.” But if that cost is too high, Rosenstein said the center could have to relocate. 

Administrators are already looking at other facilities to prepare for “the possibility of being there (at Thorn Hill) or moving the program” to another location, he said.

An appraisal of the Thorn Hill property could be complete by the end of the week, said Wayne Dominick, communications coordinator for Franklin County Public Schools. 

Some have suggested that FCPS sell the building to the center for $1, but Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross said Tuesday that isn’t legal.

“They cannot donate it, they cannot sell it for a dollar, and they cannot transfer it to another governmental organization,” she told The State Journal. 

The school district can surplus the building, auction it or sell it at fair market value, she said. Anything else is prohibited by the state constitution, which says public school property can’t be used for any private purpose.

The Department of Education told Corbin, Ky., school board members the same thing last month.

According to The News Journal, the board wanted to donate a vacant school building to the local Housing Authority for a low-income housing project. State education officials said the school system must sell it at fair market value.

Dominick said the school system is looking at any option that would allow Community Education to purchase the building. 

It could sell for less than fair market value at auction, he said, but there would be no guarantee that Community Education would be the winning bidder. 

Rosenstein says Thorn Hill board will search for a new fiscal agent over the next 60 to 90 days. The board will consider any public entity, he said.

Franklin County Fiscal Court, the City of Frankfort, Kentucky State University, a public school board, or a nonprofit corporation could take over the role of processing payroll checks and handling retirement for employees, he said.

Administrators could choose Kentucky Community and Technical College System as a fiscal agent and conduct classes at KSU, he said. KCTCS already runs 28 of the state’s adult education programs – a number that has more than doubled in the last decade.

“Anybody that’s eligible, we’re putting on the table and looking to see who we can partner with to carry on in the future,” he said.

The center could also have separate fiscal agents for the GED and community education programs, Rosenstein said.

“In many counties, adult education and the community education are handled under two standalone programs,” he said.

“We’re kind of unique in that we have both of them under one executive director, and its worked exceptionally well for us – everybody gets along well, and there’s synergy from all being under one roof.”

Rosenstein said the staff would like to keep it that way, but other counties make it work by renting office space and holding classes in churches and school buildings.

Rosenstein said Franklin County’s program is “intentionally flexible” to meet the needs of the community. 

“We have the freedom, by design, to morph into a more efficient structure to serve the community the best,” he said.

“We plan to have the same employees, the same mission, the same function, but somebody different publishing payroll checks and putting money into a retirement system.”

Annually for 25 years, Franklin County Public Schools has bid successfully for the state grant that allows it to be Franklin County’s adult education provider.

That $297,000 contract expires June 30, but Rosenstein says his agency is determined to be the winning bidder again in 2010 – either by forming a nonprofit corporation, or with the help of a new fiscal agent. 

 “This is the most optimistic group that I’ve ever worked with,” he said. “Change is difficult, but they’re looking at it with hope and courage that it will bring only improvement.” 

At least one issue has been resolved: The building’s leaky roof is patched. 

“The building condition right now is dry,” he said.

A $238,000 federal grant to replace the roof has been stalled since April, as public school officials struggled with red tape. But the Kentucky Department of Education has approved the expenditure, Rosenstein said.

It could take 30 to 90 days to receive the funds, after which contractors will bid on the project. Rosenstein said the renovation would likely be a springtime project.