POST FALLS - With building set to begin next month on the Kootenai Technical Education Campus high school, business leaders involved in the project gathered Friday in Post Falls to celebrate another milestone.

They signed the deed to the 20-acre property on the Rathdrum Prairie over to the three local school districts - Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland - that comprise the KTEC cooperative service agency.

Ron Nilson, CEO of Ground Force Manufacturing in Post Falls and KTEC board member, said there are several reasons the business leaders began leading the charge for the school several years ago, and then dug into their own pockets to make it happen.

"I think the one thing that everyone in this room will say, is that it's for the kids," Nilson said. "That has always been what it's for."

The business leaders purchased the 20-acre parcel of prairie land in January 2010, funding it solely with donations from private industries and individuals.

"We wanted to prove that as business owners in the private sector, we're committed to this program," Nilson said. "We didn't want to go to the taxpayers and ask them for money without doing that."

The largest private contribution was made several years ago by Wayne Meyer, the Rathdrum Prairie bluegrass farmer and former state representative who passed away in 2009.

The Meyer family kept Wayne's commitment and donated 10 acres of land to the project and sold the remaining acreage to the KTEC businesses for $275,000.

Meyer's widow, Karleen, sits on KTEC's advisory board. She attended the deed-signing and helped highlight another reason the business owners feel so strongly about building the school. "Wayne and I have three grandsons that will never be college material," Karleen said. "One of them, with luck, will be one of the first KTEC students."

Tom Power, CEO and president of Sunshine Minting, said the businesses want to "ensure that the education system is meeting the needs of the private sector, as opposed to creating an avenue for 300 liberal arts students, when there is a true need to give kids a skill, a trade, something they can actually go earn a living wage with."

KTEC will offer classes in skilled trades such as health occupations, welding, construction and automotive to juniors and seniors in the three districts.

The business leaders expressed concern about the future of Kootenai County's economy, pointing to a lack of skilled workers to fill currently available jobs.

At Sunshine Minting, Tom Power said there are 32 skilled jobs available right now, and they plan to add another 65 jobs within the next 12 to 16 months.

Greg Gervais, owner of Copper Basin building company, said he foresees a possible shortage of construction workers in the future. The job losses due to the recession prompted many construction workers to leave the state, he said. Many have gone to places like the oil fields of North Dakota. Others have learned new skills.

Dean Haagenson, CEO of Contractors Northwest, said the recent loss of workers will be compounded because the United States workforce is aging.

"The Wall Street Journal put out an article two years ago that the average age of a welder is 55, and in two years, there will be a shortage of 200,000 (welders)," said John Chambers, of Ground Force Manufacturing.

Ground Force recently leased a new facility and expects to have 125 skilled jobs open up within the next few months.

Haagenson said that when the discussions to create KTEC high school began several years ago, there was some resistance from educators in the area who felt students would be drawn away from pursuing higher education, but statistics tell another story.

"About 40 percent of the general population will go on to college, but 60 percent of the students that have gone through the professional-technical courses, go on to college," Haagenson said. "Why is that? First of all, they get a focus. Secondly, they've got a skill that they can market, and go make $20 an hour instead of seven. That makes it easier for them to go to college, if that's what they want to do."

A year ago, voters in all three school districts approved levies that will finance construction of the 54,000-square-foot KTEC high school building.

It is expected to open in the fall of 2012.