CareerTech Underfunded for Demand: About CareerTech
Posted on: Sunday, 29 July 2007, 09:16 CDT
By Angel Riggs, Tulsa World, Okla.
Jul. 29--OKLAHOMA CITY -- Five years ago, Pryor Public Schools could expect to enroll about 75 students in its agriculture program, which partners with the state's CareerTech system.
But, after the school added a greenhouse and a horticulture program, the number of kids signing up has nearly doubled.
The agriculture program -- like business, technology and family sciences -- is sponsored by the state's CareerTech system, which also operates technology and skills centers statewide.
However, Oklahoma has more kids clamoring to take classes than CareerTech can afford.
"It's very disheartening when you have to tell a superintendent that says 'I have 150 students that want to take this program,' that 'I can't fund you,' " said Phil Berkenbile, director of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, known as CareerTech.
When school starts this year, about 12,000 Oklahoma students will remain on a waiting list for a slot in a Career ech-funded class, including:
--7,400 high school students wanting to take a class offered at school.
--4,500 students wanting to enroll in a CareerTech Center.
--400 former
students wanting to enroll in CareerTech's dropout recovery program.
The agency's state funding was increased about 4 percent to $157 million for the fiscal year that began July 1.
CareerTech officials plan to ask the agency's board of directors to approve a request that lawmakers provide $15.2 million in the next budget year to fund new programs, equipment and other costs to meet the demand for programs.
"It's not just about providing new programs," Berkenbile said. "It's about expanding old programs, also."
Pryor's pre-enrollment figures show about 130 kids want to take one of the agriculture classes this fall, said Larry Burdick, the school's superintendent.
The school needed another teacher last year, but because the CareerTech system couldn't fund a second program, the number of students had to be whittled down to a more manageable figure for one teacher.
However, this year, the school plans to dig into its own pockets to hire a second teacher, with the hope that the state will eventually provide funding.
"We're going to go ahead this year and pay him as though they were funding us, even though they're not," Burdick said. "That means we're going to take quite a bit of money from our budget that we could have used on other programs."
In Tulsa, where about 10,000 students enroll in a CareerTech class each year, demand is mostly for business information and technology programs, said Harold Helton, Tulsa Public School's CareerTech programs director. The district offers about 75 programs for students in middle through high school.
"We always have more requests than what the state is able to fund, so we try to go ahead and offer those classes in TPS without the funding," Helton said. That usually means cobbling together district funding with federal grants to jumpstart programs, he said.
Berkenbile noted that the CareerTech programs often play a vital role in keeping kids involved in school and in finding a niche.
CareerTech classes vary, but the ones most in demand generally teach real-life skills, such as family and consumer sciences.
In the family and consumer classes, students are drawn to studies on financial literacy, relationships and parenting, Berkenbile said. Technology classes can also include small-engine or appliance repair, carpentry, or automotive service, all of which require much more computer-savvy skills than in years past.
Teens especially are interested in the "hands-on training," Berkenbile said. "They can see what their capabilities are and they can get a job at an early age and make a good living," he said. Some programs allow kids to earn college credit.
"We have some people earning an associate's degree before they get out of high school," he said.
Berkenbile noted that CareerTech is increasingly seeing demand for health-care workers, especially in respiratory care and surgical technology.
"We're tremendously short of those kinds of positions, and people to fill those kinds of positions," he said, adding that demand will only grow as baby boomers reach retirement ages.
And, he said, despite the losses of major Oklahoma manufacturing businesses, the industry remains strong in the state, he said.
For example, demand is high for people skilled as welders or metal workers, he said.
Waiting for a spot in a program, Berkenbile said, "is like putting your life on hold; what do you do during that year?"
In some cases, officials try to get the student enrolled in a similar program, but others end up waiting and can change their minds about school before the positions opens up.
Berkenbile noted that the notion that every student should go to college is not realistic. "We've got to provide an alternative for them that provides a good wage."
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Angel Riggs (405) 528-2465 angel.riggs@tulsaworld.com
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Enrollment in school programs, grades 6-12:
Agricultural education: 26,584
Business and information technology education: 18,178
Family and consumer sciences education: 52,861
Health careers education: 1,178
Marketing education: 4,620
Technology education: 33,988
Trade and industrial education: 1,035
Number of school programs
Agriculture education: 370
Business and information technology education: 158
Family and consumer sciences education: 367
Health careers education: 11
Marketing education: 42
Technology education: 255
Trade and industrial education: 23
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Source: Tulsa World
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