Schwarzenegger budget could boost career training in valley
Desert Sun 1/4/07
The goal is to provide more students in high schools and community colleges with training for jobs in growing fields like health care, biotechnology, media arts and engineering-construction.
Officials said such programs also would help prevent students from dropping out of school because they don't plan to go to college.
While the state doesn't have exact figures on the number of students who do or don't attend college, advocates for more career training say more than half end their formal education in high school.
The governor's proposal will put $52 million to career training from the money required to go to kindergarten through community colleges.
''We must reverse the trend of under funding career technical education,'' Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement.
The College of the Desert in Palm Desert currently relies on a federal grant for its Career Pathway program, which seeks to help students identify the best courses and activities for their professional goals.
"We're always hoping to get more financial assistance," said Sheryl O'Donnell, Career Pathway coordinator at the college.
College of the Desert also offers college course waivers to students who take rigorous classes in high school in hopes of preventing students from re-taking curriculum in college. Few valley high-schoolers, though, actually take classes at the community college, O'Donnell said, listing the rigid set of requirements and limitations for students under 18 years of age.
The funds would be used to broaden the careers available for training,
improve coordination between high school and community colleges coursework,
increase the number of classes as well as apprenticeships and internships
and add more training for teachers and counselors.
In the current year, the state budget provides $100 million for career
technical education. But that includes $80 million for facilities which
won't be renewed because voters last year approved $500 million for
this purpose in the $10.4 billion school bond, a governor's spokeswoman
said.
As a result, the proposed 2007-08 budget would continue on-going funding of $20 million for career technical training and then add $32 million as part of settlement with California Teachers Association over past funding shortages.
The governor's plan calls for increasing the $32 million to $38 million for the six following years for career technical programs as part of the CTA settlement.
The proposal must be approved by the Legislature along with the rest
of the governor's budget set for release Jan. 10.