A drone certification program is part of a technology program Ranger College will bring to Brownwood High School this spring.

Brownwood City Council members approved a $30,322 match Tuesday for a state grant that will enable Ranger College to bring a mobile electronics, robotics and technology program to the school.

Ranger College received a $282,000 Texas Workforce Commission Jobs and Education for Texas Grant, which required a local match, council members were told.

“Basically the program’s going to have all the equipment for this training for high school students,” Brownwood economic director Ray Tipton told council members. “The drone components’s kind of the hook. They’re going to have 40 drones that the students can pilot.

“You have to have a state license just like a driver’s license to pilot and drone and this can actually train you to take the test and be certified. Ranger said whatever community provides the local match is where they’re going to put the program.”

Being mobile, the training hub can provide training to other schools, industry and organizations, Tipton said.

Brownwood High School principal Lindsay Smith told council members, “any time we can bring extra technology into the hands of our students, it’s a good thing. It works really well with some of the other programs that we’ve started to develop.

“This partners really well with another program that we are in the stages of developing with 3M and TSTC. Any time we can bring our local community colleges into the schools, that’s a good thing. And drones are just cool.”