Locals relieved FFA programs still funded
Due to the opposition of the state exploring the idea to redirect career technical education funds away from middle and high schools and pour it into community colleges, Gov. Jerry Brown walked back on his proposal to take away funding for the CTE programs.
Currently, under Senate Bill 1070 the state allocates $48 million dollars to be split among the California Community College Chancellor’s Office ($33 million) and the California Department of Education ($15 million) for CTE initiatives.
Brown’s initial proposal was to allocate all funds to the CCCCO.
The redirection of funds would’ve resulted in cuts to Partnership Academy Programs, University of California Curriculum Institute which works with CTE instructors to recognized CTE coursework, professional development activities for CTE Instructors and Career Technical Student Organizations which includes programs such as Future Farmers of America.
“We really rely on these funds for our CTE students,” said Kristin Mayo FFA teacher at Southwest High School. “To hear that they could go away was scary.”
The objections to Gov. Brown came from many different local and prominent statewide groups like the California Agricultural Teachers’ Association.
Executive Director of the CATA Jim Aschwanden said in a statement:
“We are extremely disappointed that Governor Brown has proposed eliminating Career Technical Student Organizations like the Future Farmers of America and other CTE funding in California,” he said. “The loss of these components of Career Technical Education will have a devastating effect on programs and teachers statewide. CTE programs remain vitally important to the economic well-being of our state, and this proposal eliminates highly effective programs that have proven their worth over time. We think this is a terrible mistake.”
Mayo also pointed out that the FFA program is especially vital in an agricultural community such as the Imperial Valley to have in order to teach the young about the skills they will need to take over the industry in the future.
“We need to have the students with the skills to do these tasks in order to continue to be a thriving ag industry,” she said.
Mike Campbell, FFA teacher at Imperial High School said the biggest impact to his students with the proposed cuts was their ability to get the necessary funds to attend leadership conferences.
“These cuts would’ve affected the leadership opportunities beyond the local level and our students would have to chip in from their pocket,” he said. Also, Campbell noted that because a large portion of his students lack the financial resources to pay for their travel and event expenses, “They really wouldn’t be able to attend mentorship conferences. It’s a big deal.”
Although the CTE and FFA programs are safe for the next fiscal year, Mayo said it would be foolish not to anticipate the programs will be put on the chopping block again in the near future.
“For now I’m happy with the decision to keep funds in place and focused on providing the best education possible but ready for when the issue arises again,” she said.