Dear Senate Education Committee,
Thank you for expressing a commitment to solving the issues with our career and technical education (CTE) system that have persisted for decades. We believe that this system will be critical to the success of our workforce in the 21st century.
The current funding system is not working and creates a disincentive for high schools to send their students to CTE centers. The Governor’s foundation formula proposal makes strides towards addressing this and we support that effort.
There is also a question about governance of CTE centers. One proposal is to have a statewide governing body that is separate from our PK-12 system. We believe that is a mistake. CTE should be vertically integrated into our secondary education system. Governance should also be tied to local communities and businesses in order to create a workforce pipeline that meets local needs. It makes little sense to train students who live in Brattleboro to for jobs in Burlington.
We put forward a proposal for education governance several weeks ago that places CTE Centers within supervisory unions in order to accomplish the goals laid out above. We believe there is merit to this proposal and would welcome your thoughts and questions.
Best regards,
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Ben Kinsley Executive Director |