Bedford supports dual-enrollment program

Pictured at last week’s meeting are: Gary Dan Williams, principal and career tech director at Muscle Shoals City Schools; Roger Bedford; Alex Campbell, 2014 graduate of Sheffield High and Muscle Shoals Career Academy; and Marcel Black.

On Friday June 27th, area legislators and business leaders met at Northwest-Shoals Community College (NW-SCC) to discuss opportunities resulting from new dual-enrollment legislation.

Passed during the 2014 legislative session, the dual-enrollment law lets high school students take job training classes at two-year colleges and allows local employers to donate funds for career tech dual-enrollment and receive tax credits of 50 percent of their contributions.

Sen. Roger Bedford, a strong proponent of the new legislation that created the tax credits, initiated a $5 million appropriation creating 10,000 new dual-enrollment scholarships.

“The dual-enrollment program will provide greater opportunity for young people in Northwest Alabama to gain access to education and training programs that provide great service to our community while allowing the students to build an outstanding quality of life for themselves and their families,” Bedford said.

“I give all the credit in the world to Northwest-Shoals Community College for taking the lead in promoting and educating the community about this vital program.”

The dual-enrollment program will also allow donors to direct up to 80 percent of their donation to a specific training program that would directly impact their local needs.

According to Bedford, this type of donor autonomy and targeted local impact is unprecedented in postsecondary education training programs.