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The Kentucky Community and Technical College System says it expects to welcome more than 85,000 students to its campuses this fall, which the system says is an 8.4 percent increase from last year and will set a 10-year record.

Elizabethtown Community and Technical College President and CEO Dr. Juston Pate says ECTC has also seen substantial growth.

“The college has really had a record period of growth since 2017,” Pate said. “Our graduation rate has gone from 31 percent to a little over 57 percent.”

KCTCS says the system has seen growth across all student classifications. New student enrollment is up 11 percent, credential-seeking enrollment is up 11.9 percent, and high school students taking dual credit courses is up 11.6 percent.

Pate says more and more people are recognizing that a community college education can be more than just a cost-saving measure.

“The real value is the quality of the education, and the people who chose to teach at a community college because they wanted to teach,” Pate said. “They didn’t want to do research. They didn’t want to publish papers. They want to be with students. That, to me, is what’s reflected when you start looking at the way ECTC has increased its student success. We’ve got to where now the number of students who are passing all of their classes in the first semester is, I think it’s almost like 80 percent. That’s unheard of.”

KCTCS expects to enroll about 112,000 students by the end of the 2024-2025 school year in either an associate program designed to transfer to a four-year university or one of 104 technical programs.

In addition to expanding programming, KCTCS campuses have focused on assisting students with barriers to education, such as ECTC’s work with Family Scholar House.

“I think all of these things have just really led us to meet students where they are, help them overcome the barriers they’re facing, and getting them the skills and the education, the training they need to go out and get that career that’s going to change their lives and their families’ lives,” Pate said.

Visit the KCTCS website for more information on enrollment numbers, and visit ECTC’s website for more information on classes and program offerings.

The Elizabethtown City Council met for their first meeting of the month Tuesday.

The first reading was held on ordinances that establish city taxes for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The franchise tax rate on all eligible bank deposits will be set at .025 percent. The tax rate for real and personal property will be 11 cents per $100 assessed value. The tax rate on motor vehicles and watercraft will be 11.6 cents per $100 assessed value. Those ordinances will go up for approval on their second readings at the next regular council meeting.

The council approved a municipal order for the purchase of 723 Greenwood Drive for $323,000.

“Whereas the City of Elizabethtown desires to address drainage issues in the community, and whereas in the engineering studies of the community watersheds the need to develop a basin in the Helmwood Heights area was identified,” said City Attorney Ken Howard, reading from the municipal order. 

Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory noted that the property is owned by one of his relatives and said he was not part of negotiations.

A bid from Dirt Works Unlimited was approved in an amount not to exceed $418,847 for the Arnett Place construction project. The city agreed to a property contract with the Elizabethtown Lions Club that requires certain improvements by the city. The project will establish a street from Ring Road between the current Lions Club building and the volunteer fire department. City Administrator Ed Poppe said city officials are happy with the bid.

“They’re doing a sewer project for us currently,” Poppe said. “They’ve got a couple other subdivision projects in this general area. Our design engineer reviewed their cost breakdown and felt comfortable with that. Michael Page with our engineering department also looked at the bid numbers and everybody thinks it’s a really good number that we got from it.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet for a work session on September 9.

The Kentucky State Police is investigating a fatal accident on the Bluegrass Parkway Saturday.

According to the KSP, a trooper with KSP Post Four responded to a two-vehicle collision near the 13-mile marker on the parkway at around 5:45 p.m. on August 30. 

The KSP says the preliminary investigation indicates a 17-year-old male from Cox Creek was driving west on the parkway when for unknown reasons his vehicle crossed the median and went into the path of an eastbound vehicle driven by Patrick Reed of Bardstown.

The juvenile driver was pronounced dead at the scene by the Nelson County Coroner’s Office. Reed and two passengers were transported to the University of Louisville Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The eastbound lane on the Bluegrass Parkway was closed until about 10:30 p.m. Saturday for accident reconstruction. The investigation into the crash is ongoing.