Lane County schools get $1M in state funding to boost CTE programs

Six local school and education service districts across Lane County will get new state money to grow their career technical education programs.

CTE Revitalization Grants will go to schools in Bethel, Creswell, Junction City, Marcola, and South Lane school districts, as well as Lane Education Service District, Oregon Department of Education Director Colt Gill and Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle announced last week. In total, 148 middle and high schools across Oregon received grants, totaling $7.3 million in state funds.

Lane County's schools will receive seven grants totaling $1.08 million.

Creswell High School was the recipient of one of the grants, at $125,000. Principal Jenny Collins wrote the grant application over winter break this school year and had to wait until February to find out whether they got it. She told some of the welding students the news on Thursday morning, to their excitement.

"Having new updated and more welding equipment will get kids excited about it now and it will help them get jobs in the future — that is what my dad always says," CHS Senior Camrin Marple said. "It has helped a lot of students get a good head start to then go get certified at (Lane Community College). By the time my brother is a senior, we could have more kids get dual credit and move on to Lane or a trade school. So exciting! It is a dying art form."

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The growth of CTE

CTE has been a growing interest for state leaders to prioritize and grow again in schools for several years. CTE classes, also known in the past as vocational education classes, were popular before the turn of the century, but started to fall off from 1992 to at least 2013 with fewer students participating in CTE. This prompted some concerns about workforce shortages, according to research from the U.S. Department of Education.

Around that time, interest in CTE grew again. Since 2015, Oregon’s schools have seen a boost from 716 CTE programs to 1,086 approved programs this school year, with a growing push for programs run by outside groups as well.

For subscribers: The CTE resurgence: Pipeline to give students career options out of high school expands

More schools are growing their programs because Oregon students who are enrolled in CTE courses consistently have higher graduation rates than students who are not, ODE data shows. They also leave high school on the direct path to higher earning potential, to jobs in areas like computer science or construction, with salaries of more than $100,000 a year.

In 2011, the Oregon Legislature established a competitive grant program entitled the CTE Revitalization Grant to aid these efforts and strengthen the pipeline from CTE classes to the workforce. In July 2015, Gov. Kate Brown signed House bills 3072 and 5016, authorizing $9 million for the Oregon Department of Education to continue the CTE Revitalization Grant program. During the 2021 legislative session, $7.3 million was allocated for the program.

There were 64 applications totaling $8.7 million in requests from across the state. Each application required the district or school state what project the money would be used for, and with this, the advisory committee selected those who would receive the state funds. The committee is made up of people in organized labor, trade organizations, education and Oregon’s business, labor, industry and trades communities, and prioritized applications based on "geographic diversity, community partnerships and programs that lead to high-wage, in-demand occupations, especially for historically and currently marginalized students," according to the release.

Funding to enhance welding program

At Creswell High, the grant means the difference between having limited welding classes available for students and being able to grow their program significantly, sending students out the door with foundational skills of the three basic types of welding, so they can easily transition to a trade program or local employer.

"Our goal is really to just enhance our welding program and develop that into a manufacturing technology pathway, and the bulk of the (grant) is really going to go toward just equipment we need," Collins said. "We've partnered with a local business person who's going to come in and do our ductwork and just help us to have space to put in more booths, which then will allow us to buy more welding machines, and diversify the types of welding machines that we use."

The district also has committed to using some funds from the High School Success Fund to go toward this. It's also partnering with other local schools, tapping Lane Community College for its welding program, and Harrisburg High School.

Related: New high school hands-on CTE program in Eugene hopes to spur high-earning careers

"They're doing some amazing things and have some equipment that we may not be able to get this year," Collins said. "So they're going to partner with us to do some projects that our students can bring back and create and construct here."

Here's how much each local school or district is receiving for their projects, according to the state's announcement and the districts' applications:

• Bethel School District: $125,000 for the Kalapuya YouthBuild Construction CTE Project training students in trade career pathways (framing, construction, plumbing, electrical, sheet metal) and advanced degree pathways (architecture, engineering, land-use planning, nonprofit management).

• Creswell School District: $125,000 for High School Construction and Manufacturing Technology Expansion, to revitalize the the welding/fabrication pathway for students and develop Manufacturing Technology as a new program of study.

• Junction City High School: $125,000 for Digital Arts—Media and Production, providing funds to purchase industry standard equipment including computers, cameras and peripherals to support hands-on-student learning opportunities and collaboration with community and industry partners. The school has expanded program offerings in Yearbook, Graphic Design, 3-D Design and Animation, Digital Photography, Digital News Media and Introduction to Journalism.

• Lane Education Service District: $465,426 for the Lane Health Science Hub to expand current programs to build relevant and rigorous high-quality Health Science CTE Programs that especially support marginalized students, and to expand Lane County's (11) Full and (3) Start-Up CTE Construction Trades Programs.

• Marcola School District: $125,000 for Mohawk Ag Institute and CTE Program Enhancement to staff the Mohawk Ag Institute farm to increase food production, planning-related instruction/activities for pre-K-12th grade students, move the welding shop into a new space, improve capacity to process food from the farm for cafeteria/food pantry use, expand partnerships for Health Sciences and create authentic real-world construction projects for the addition of animals to the farm.

• South Lane School District: $124,240 for South Lane Advanced Manufacturing for Cottage Grove Youth, adding equipment to have more advanced manufacturing technology, including 2-D and 3-D design equipment pieces, robotics and an outdoor welding center.

Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at jbrown@registerguard.com or 541-246-426 and follow her on Twitter @thejordynbrown and Instagram @registerguard.

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This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Lane County schools' CTE programs getting $1M funding boost from state