Education Q&A -- Pierce College Offers State's Only Veterinary Tech Degree

Q.: Could you tell me if there are any veterinary assistant/technician programs in Washington, and how important they are to getting a job? Or is on-the-job training usually required? - T.S. via Internet.

A.: For those hoping to work as a veterinary technician, a degree is a must. Veterinary technicians also must pass national and state board exams and be licensed by the state, said Shirley DeYoung of the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association.

Veterinary assistants require no formal training and are not permitted to perform some of the procedures administered by veterinarians and technicians. Many animal hospitals look for people with backgrounds related to veterinary medicine, however. Terry Beatty, a veterinary assistant at Woodinville Animal Hospital, for example, has a bachelor's degree in biology.

Pierce College in Tacoma offers the only accredited program in veterinary technology in the state, DeYoung said.

The school's two-year associate's degree program includes one quarter of on-the-job training in an animal hospital, said Cathy Kube, an administrative assistant and veterinary technician at Pierce College.

Veterinary technicians, assistants and veterinarians perform very different jobs, Kube said.

"A degree in veterinary technology is not a stepping stone to vet school," Kube said. "This is a vocational program designed to give (students) a skill and put them on the job market."

Applications for fall admission are due March 1. Prospective students should have a high school diploma or equivalent, a 2.5 grade point average, some veterinary clinic experience, and course work in algebra, biology and chemistry.

For more information, contact the Pierce College Veterinary Technology Department at 9401 Far West Drive, S.W., Lakewood, WA 98498, phone (206) 964-6708.

Q: How will the new statewide assessments of students planned under the education-reform law be funded? I understand they'll be sent out of state for correction and the CTBS (Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills) still will be required. Those are two very expensive projects. We don't have enough money for special education and teachers have seen only a 3 percent increase in salary in the last six years. - B.B., Bainbridge Island

A: You're right that education reform will be costly. For example, under the new system scheduled to be in place statewide for the 2000-2001 school year, it will cost an estimated $15 million annually to administer and grade the more complex tests - which will include open-ended questions students will have to answer with brief essays. That's compared with about $430,000 per year being spent now for standardized tests (the CTBS and CFAS) given annually to fourth-, eighth- and 11th-graders statewide, according to Chris Thompson, spokesman for the Commission on Student Learning, the agency created by the Legislature in 1993 to carry out education reform.

The good news is that the CTBS and CFAS will be phased out in favor of the new tests so there won't be duplication.

Put in perspective, the $15 million cost of the new testing program is expected to be only one-third of 1 percent of the state's biennial kindergarten-through-12th-grade education budget, a sum already approaching $9 billion and serving nearly 950,000 kids, says Thompson.

Where will the money for the new student "assessments" come from? The state general fund, appropriated by the Legislature, if lawmakers continue their commitment to reform.

You're mistaken, though, on teacher salaries. Teachers received a 4 percent raise for the 1991-92 school year, followed by a 3 percent raise for the 1992-93 school year, then nothing until the 1995-96 school year, when there was a 4 percent raise, according to the Washington Education Association, the teachers union.

Education Q&A is a regular Sunday feature in The Seattle Times prepared by Times education reporters. Call in your questions to our Education Hotline at 464-3339, or write to Education Q&A c/o The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111; FAX to Education Q&A at 464-2261 or e-mail at schools@seatimes.com.

Coming up in education:

Saturday Seminars: The University of Washington's popular series of seminars on the mornings of Husky home football games begins its 10th season on Saturday. UW professors talk about their fields at the seminars, with four different sessions to choose from each Saturday. This week, for example, you could pick Communications Professor Katherine Heintz-Knowles on media violence; George Rolfe, from Urban Planning, on the new, uncertain prospects for homeowners; History Professor Suzanne Lebsock, on a sensational murder case from the 1890s; or Professor Kent Guy, of the Jackson School of International Studies, on the future of Hong Kong. For more information and to make reservations (space is limited), call 543-2310.

Additional education calendar listings appear Mondays in The Times inside the Local News section.