[1][2] The school, operated by the nonprofit agency Gulf Coast Trades Center Inc.,[3] is in proximity to Houston.
[4] The school, located within the Sam Houston National Forest, is a center for adjudicated children, who can learn construction trades.
In July 1988 the department revoked GCTC's authority to award grants, with the revocation date retroactively being March 1984.
In 1990 the GCTC sued the U.S. Department of Education in federal court, asking for the authority to distribute Pell Grants.
[3] In 2001 the report of the study "Less Cost, More Safety: Guiding Lights for Reform in Juvenile Justice" of the American Youth Policy Forum praised the GCTC.
[7] In 2009 the students built a neighborhood for disabled people and low-income seniors in an unincorporated area of Montgomery County, near Willis.
It includes the 10,000-square-foot (930 m2) GCTC Administration Building, the Family/Life/Visitor Center, a gymnasium, eight dormitories, an infirmary, and a cafeteria.