Thanks to a grant, career and technical education classes in rural schools are getting a boost.

"There was nothing really on the west side of the state to get programs out to small areas," said Dale Hoerauf, director of Bismarck Public Schools career and technical education.

Hoerauf helped the Missouri River Education Cooperative, comprised of 38 school districts, to offer career-oriented classes to schools that might not be able to afford it on their own. The MREC and two other education consortiums received a grant through the state to provide career and technical education programs.

The grant reimburses 75 percent of the cost and the remainder is made up through fees paid to the MREC. Start-up costs for the classes will be about $533,000; for the first year, the cooperative can buy equipment and be reimbursed by the state.

The programs offered by the MREC are in welding, electronics, medical related careers and information technology. The classes are delivered by interactive television, over the Internet and by local teachers.

Now, Hoerauf, with the help of Dennis Steele, the assistant career and technical education director who is employed by the MREC, travel to rural North Dakota schools to see what classes they need.

In welding, for example, the class size is equivalent to those offered by Bismarck Public Schools, but the students are spread out in many classrooms instead of one.

Many of the schools had space to add the programs, and in some cases already had the special booths and ventilation needed for the welding classes, Hoerauf said.

Over the years, enrollment dwindled to where fewer than five students would sign up for the class. The programs became too costly as resources at the schools needed to shift to core academic areas, he said.

To start up again, some schools just needed newer technology, which the MRECpurchased:"Each welding unit costs about $4,000," said Flasher Superintendent John Barry. "We wouldn't have been able to afford it."

The Flasher community needs people with those skills, he said. He sees these classes providing opportunities for students to get jobs in the oil fields and manufacturing business like Bobcat, as well as opening their own shops, he said.

"We try to connect the high school to future careers," Barry said.

All the programs the MREC offers are meant to help a student learn the skills for high-demand jobs. Some classes offer college credit, which the student pays additional tuition to earn. In Steele, a local business paid the cost so all students could earn the college credit without an additional expense, Dennis Steele said.

The classes are available to ninth- through 12th-grade students. About 50 students are enrolled in welding, 15 in information technology and 26 in electronics. The medical related careers program has not started because they need to find instructors with the right certification, Hoerauf said. They hope to offer it over ITV or in the schools.

The future could see programs in construction, culinary arts and automotive technology and auto body.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)