More than 100 students from Lompoc and Cabrillo high schools will no longer get to participate in the local Air Force JROTC program.
The Lompoc Unified School District Board of Education recently approved $3.7 million in budget cuts, including $107,000 in funding for the JROTC program, which covered teacher salaries, benefits, and student transportation costs.
According to Master Sgt. Timothy Knipp, who helped run the program with Lt. Col. William Fuqua, the funds covered each of the two teachers’ salaries. With those funds no longer available, the program can’t continue.
The district launched the program only two years ago, in January 2010. One of the newest JROTC programs in California, it was offered six periods a day, every school day. According to Knipp, the program gave its students valuable lessons in leadership, accountability, and responsibility, as well as giving back to the community.
“Since August, these students have put in 1,225 hours of community service,” Knipp said, adding that he feels the program was an easy target and that other programs could have been cut instead.
Knipp said the program was just hitting its peak when the school board unanimously voted to make the cut. The teachers had already started recruiting at local junior high schools.
Along with important lessons, he said the program offered a vital link to military scholarships and job opportunities in a wide variety of careers. The students took field trips to military bases, built rockets and launched them, conducted weekly military drills, and participated in the color guard and cyberspace teams.
In an effort to plead their case, 10 cadets from the program attended the school board meeting in uniform on April 24. Knipp said they were all very respectful of the board members, but as soon as they stepped outside the building, students were very distraught and some of them began crying.
“I’m hurt more for the kids than anything,” Knipp said.
School board member Ken Ostini isn’t happy about the cut, either, but said it had to be done. He said the board had to look at programs that most impacted the general fund.
Ostini, who has on the board for 15 years, said this year has been the worst year for cuts.
“We live in a military community, and this program was very valuable and offered viable career options for kids who can’t afford college; it was very painful,” he said.
The Civil Air Patrol has invited former JROTC students to join its program and will begin meeting at Vandenberg Air Force Base at the end of May.
This article appears in May 10-17, 2012.
