Career Technical Education Initiative
The Governor’s proposed 2007-08 budget includes $52 million to build and improve Career Technical Education (CTE) programs by enhancing curriculum, streamlining teacher recruitment and training and maximizing bond funds for new facilities. Formerly known as vocational education, CTE integrates core academics with technical and occupational courses to give students a pathway to postsecondary education and careers.

Governor Schwarzenegger reversed California’s chronic under-funding of CTE in his first term, increasing funds by 18 percent and working with Legislative leaders to include $500 million for CTE facilities in the Strategic Growth Plan education bond.

Providing New and Ongoing Funding

• $20 million in ongoing funding for CTE instruction in high schools and community colleges. This funding will:
• Reform high school CTE coursework through partnerships with community colleges. Reforms include coordinating CTE courses so that when students move on to community college they do not need to repeat classes; broadening curricula to include technical programs in emerging and traditional career paths; and expanding courses to ensure more students gain the skills needed for gainful employment. 
• $32 million in new funding for CTE instruction and programs. This funding, part of the Proposition 98 settlement, will:
• Expand student exposure to career options by building public-private partnerships between key industries and CTE programs to expand apprenticeships, internships and training.
• Increase professional development opportunities for educators by giving teachers and counselors more access to CTE instruction and career counseling training.
• Design courses for growth industries by raising the quality and quantity of classes in high-growth sectors and emerging industries, like construction and medical technology.
• Build academic relevance by increasing the number of CTE courses that meet “A-G requirements,” classes that prospective UC and CSU students must complete while in high school.

Maximizing Bond Dollars
The Strategic Growth Plan education bond includes $500 million in grants for CTE facilities. The quick, efficient distribution and use of these funds is a top priority for the Governor. He has directed the Office of Public School Construction to expeditiously implement the CTE portion of the bonds.

In March 2007 Governor Schwarzenegger will host a CTE summit to give school districts hands-on help in applying for bond funds. In addition, the summit will bring government and industry together to review existing CTE curricula, outline industry needs over the next decade, identify how curricula can meet these needs and evaluate how schools can best prepare students for the workforce.  

Streamlining Teacher Credentialing
Currently there are 175 separate CTE credentials, an inefficient structure that makes credentialing teachers difficult and fails to reflect industry realities. The Governor will propose legislation this year that streamlines the number of CTE credentials to 15 , reflecting the major industry sectors and simplifying teacher credentialing.  

Providing Online, User-Friendly School Information
California needs an integrated, transparent system that allows parents, the public, educators and policymakers to access useful information about our schools. The Governor has directed his administration to work with the Legislature, Superintendent of Public Instruction and others to make the School Accountability Report Card parent-friendly and include relevant district and site information so that schools can easily be compared to one another. The Administration is also pursuing a public/private partnership to launch an easy-to-use website that will provide parents with online consumer information about schools.

• Over the past decade, the state has invested significant resources to collect an increasing amount of data from school districts. From demographic data of students and teachers to student performance and financial expenditures, California school districts collect extensive data and make over 100 reports to the California Department of Education and other state educational agencies to meet state and federal reporting requirements.
• Yet currently, there are few useful informational tools available to easily access this data. The primary reason? Failure to integrate the data into tools that parents, educators, the public and policymakers can use. The Governor’s proposal addresses this shortfall.
• According to a 2006 poll by Public Opinion Strategies, 92 percent of voters favor “Requiring better and more accessible information so that we can understand where our education tax dollars are being spent.”

On the Record
Kids “Not Prepared”: “We need to get more vocational education. Kids are not being prepared for the jobs they will likely face.” - Tom Martin, People Management Professionals LLC, “Health costs are top concern,” Sacramento Bee, March 24, 2006.

“Overwhelming Requests” From Local Businesses: “I have visited dozens of community colleges and vocational training centers, all over America. Every school tells me the same story—that local business is overwhelming them with requests for new graduates with employable skills." - Peter Zierhut, Haas Automation Inc., California Manufacturers and Technology Association, October 15, 2006.

CTE Provides Educational Relevance: “What we are advocating is that every American high school has the goal of preparing every student for full participation in a spectrum of college opportunities, meaningful work, career advancement, and active citizenship…The three words that have become the brand of reform are rigor, relevance and relationships, and the way to really provide relevance, in particular, is through CTE.” - Janet B. Bray, Executive Director of the Association for Career and Technical Education, American Youth Policy Forum, May 19, 2006.

Voters want more accountability: “Although voters show an interest in increased funding for education, they also express a strong desire for better management of existing educational resources. In short, voters believe reforming California’s education system is a two-prong attack – more funding AND more accountability.” – Letter from Public Opinion Strategies to Children NOW on results of statewide education poll, November 21, 2006, http://www.childrennow.org/assets/pdf/edu_poll.pdf.

Just the Facts
“Many California companies cannot find enough skilled workers to compete successfully. Positions in biotech, for example, can remain open for as long as 12 months, because companies can’t find the trained people to fill them.” Source: “One Million Jobs at Risk: The Future of Manufacturing In  California,” Bay Area Economic Forum, March 2005.

“Seven years after graduation, for example, students earned almost 2 percent more for each extra high school occupational course they took…the benefit would be $1,350 more for the 45 percent of all high school graduates who take at least three occupational courses…” Source: “National Assessment of Vocational Education: Final Report to Congress,” U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Under Secretary, Policy and Program Studies Service, 2004.

“Vocational education has important short-and medium-run earning benefits for most students at both the secondary and postsecondary levels, and these benefits extend to those who are economically disadvantaged.” Source: “National Assessment of Vocational Education: Final Report to Congress,” U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Under Secretary, Policy and Program Studies Service, 2004.

“Some postsecondary vocational participants do benefit from a year’s worth of vocational course taking even without attaining a credential, earning between 5 and 8 percent more than do high school graduates with similar characteristics. However, much higher economic rewards go to those who pursue significant amounts of postsecondary vocational education and earn a degree or certificate; female associate’s degree holders, for example, earn 47 percent more than similar students with a high school degree and males earn 30 percent more.” Source: “National Assessment of Vocational Education: Final Report to Congress.” U.S. Department of Education, Office of the Under Secretary, Policy and Program Studies Service, 2004.

"In order to spend our education dollars fairly, the State must lift the veil on education spending on a school-level to provide real accounting transparency on funding within districts." Source: Education Trust-West, FAQs on "California’s Hidden Teacher Spending Gap: How State and District Budgeting Practices Shortchange Poor and Minority Students and Their Schools".

ⁱ Agriculture and Natural Resources; Arts, Media, and Entertainment; Building Trades and Construction; Education, Child Development, and Family Services; Energy and Utilities; Engineering and Design; Fashion and Interior Design; Finance and Business; Health Science and Medical Technology; Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation; Information Technology; Manufacturing and Product Development; Marketing, Sales, and Service; Public Services; and Transportation.