Amid budget woes, Seattle Central’s Wood Technology Center is on the chopping block

(Image: @woodtechnologycenter)

More than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling on Seattle Colleges not to put the 23rd Ave Wood Technology Center on the chopping block as the board of trustees wrestles an ongoing budget deficit.

The board is scheduled to meet in a private “executive session” Monday afternoon.

Seattle Colleges officials are considering a plan to close the center and put the property up for sale, the South Seattle Emerald reports.

The city’s community college system including North Seattle College, South Seattle College, and Capitol Hill’s Seattle Central College has been scrambling to overcome a deficit once feared to reach depths of $30 million as costs have risen and enrollment and revenues have not kept pace.

According to results of an audit presentation from a Seattle Colleges Board of Trustees session earlier this month, the actual shortfall came in around $12 million for the fiscal year thanks to belt tightening including freezes on spending, hiring, travel, and contracts.

Non-operating revenues and expenses including state appropriations and investment income helped patch much of that hole but worries of cuts have persisted, including concerns the system might shut down its Wood Technology Center and program in the Central District.

Seattle Colleges and Seattle Central have not yet responded to CHS’s inquiries about the possible cuts.

A petition to save the program has collected more than 2,000 signatures:

Supporters of trades, industry, community, and education, we call upon you to assist and fight for the Wood Technology Center. Faculty & Students learned late on Thursday(3/19) that Seattle Central College’s Wood Technology Center programs (Carpentry, Boat Building, Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Training/P.A.C.T) and its building are on the chopping block. The Seattle Central College President and the District Chancellor, with the district’s Board of Trustees, announced an official “state of emergency” on Wednesday(3/18) based on a budget crisis. This allows the Colleges to close programs, waive contract agreements, and terminate tenured faculty. Part of the plan to balance the Seattle Colleges’ budget deficit is to close WTC programs and sell the building. It’s time to stand up once more to protect WTC/PACT programs.

Proponents of the program say Seattle Colleges shouldn’t shut it down even if it is deemed necessary to sell the 23rd Ave property.

“Selling an irreplaceable building that is custom-designed to support construction workforce training is no reason to end programs that have been training builders in our community for nearly 90 years,” the petition reads.

The 23rd Ave center has been shadowed by financial concerns for years since its $25 million 2012 opening and has been boosted by donations like this 2023 gift from Lowe’s.

The Wood Technology Center, a division of Seattle Central College, provides comprehensive, hands-on technical instruction to prepare students for careers in the building and maritime trades. Student projects have included several structures for the Low Income Housing Institute’s “tiny home village” properties.

Currently hobbled by the economic circumstances, Seattle Central remains poised for growth as it and the Seattle Colleges system wade through the current financial challenges. A major housing project remains in the planning stages on the land currently home to the school’s massive parking structure. Updates to the college’s master plan also include an initiative to build a six-story Information Technology Education Center on Broadway in addition to the student housing project at Harvard and Pine. The school is also sorting out how to reactivate the Egyptian Theatre after SIFF exited the Seattle Central property last year.

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