BROOKSVILLE — Pasco-Hernando State College has received a $3 million state grant to launch an aviation maintenance program, a step officials say could open high-wage careers to Hernando County students and help feed Florida’s growing aerospace workforce.
Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the award June 10 at the college’s campus on Ponce de Leon Boulevard, pairing it with a goal of making Florida No. 1 in workforce education by 2030.
The money will help PHSC build a program leading to an FAA Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certificate, the credential aircraft mechanics need to inspect and repair planes. About 100 students are expected to enroll each year, DeSantis said.
He cast the grant as part of a broader push to strengthen Florida’s industrial base — from high school through vocational training — that also includes new roads to industrial parks and more commercial driver’s licenses for truckers, paid for through the state’s Job Growth Grant Fund.
“We’ve got kids going in to work for SpaceX and for Elon Musk,” DeSantis said. “They’re doing most of their launches right here in the state of Florida. They need workforce.”
Speaking in a room lined with drones and remote-controlled aircraft, DeSantis said a four-year degree still has value — his own included — but argued that some universities have “lost their way,” teaching subjects with little real-world use. Too many students, he said, went deep into debt only to end up with a “degree in ‘Zombie Studies’” before taking a job they could have landed with a high school diploma and a skills certification.
Local response
With aviation and aerospace employers hungry for workers, Hernando County will be well positioned, local officials said.
PHSC President Eric Hall, a graduate of the college, said the program is in its early stages and likely will begin in spring 2027, with hands-on training at Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport.
“We’ve had our professional pilots program. We’ve had an incredible unmanned vehicle program with our drones,” Hall said. “Now we can partner that with a comprehensive strategy that looks at how we can care, repair and really ensure the safety of our aircraft.
“It’s really going to be a game-changer, not just for PHSC, but it’s really going to help create incredible job opportunities for individuals that live here and want to have these great careers that will lead to middle- and high-wage careers.”
The college has $1 million earmarked for hangar space, plus money for faculty, Hall said. Students would apply through the college’s website, PHSC.edu, with applications expected to open in spring 2027, said Prashanth Pilly, vice president of academic affairs.
County Commissioner John Allocco said the grant fulfills a long-held vision for the airport.
“When the County Commission worked to carve out the land at the airport, it was exactly with this idea — that there would be an area for the local high school, an area for Pasco-Hernando State College and then potentially a place for Hernando government to have facilities at the airport, because the airport is such an integral part of our community,” he said. Allocco added that it was “a little frustrating” the Spring Hill campus was built away from the airport, “so I’m glad that we’re actually going to have a space for Pasco-Hernando State College.”
Paths to success
DeSantis said traditional universities and a classical education still have their place; students just need to know that taking a different path doesn’t make them inferior, and that skilled trades can lead to solid careers — even to their own businesses.
“No matter what happens in society in the state of Florida in the future, people’s air conditioning is going to break, and they’re going to need somebody to have to fix it,” he said.
For Allocco, the grant turns an idea into a plan. “Until today, this was a dream,” he said. “So now we’ll work forward on the implementation. I look forward to participating on Pasco-Hernando’s Board of Trustees to make it happen.”