ATLANTA – Nearly $30 million in state funding has been proposed for the construction of a new building at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College.

The funding is included in the proposed bond package of the budget Gov. Brian Kemp has pitched for next year. State lawmakers must still sign off on the spending plan.

The 96,000-square-foot building would house updated classroom and lab spaces for the college’s allied health programs, such as its associate nursing degree, dental assisting, pharmacy technology and several other specialties.

The project will help the college keep pace with the demand for these health-care workers in South Georgia, said Rep. John LaHood, a Republican from Valdosta who also owns a senior-care business.

“This will have a tremendous impact on the school’s ability to produce more health-care professionals that are greatly needed in the regional workforce,” LaHood said.

“There’s the economic impact of dollars going into the building itself, which should stir up some economic activity,” LaHood said. “But then from the professional workforce that it will produce, it will enable businesses of all types to grow and provide much needed services to people in our area.”

Kemp has included $29.5 million for the project in the new budget, which starts in July. About $1.9 million for planning was included in an earlier budget.

Technical colleges, which train the majority of health professionals in the region, often have waiting lists for their health-related programs, according to a flyer the college gave to lawmakers. The wait can at times last longer than a year.

About one-fifth of the college’s nearly 6,000 students were enrolled in a health program at the Valdosta campus in 2018.

 

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s newspapers and websites.