U.S. Education Secretary: Vocational Training Programs Ineffective Nationwide
Posted on: Saturday, 1 March 2008, 00:00 CST
By Janice Francis-Smith
The nation's top education official told Oklahoma legislators on Thursday that vocational training programs nationwide are ineffective. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings defended the Bush administration's plan to slash funding for vocational education.
Spellings was invited to speak Thursday at state House of Representatives, fielding questions from lawmakers and guests.
Pat McGregor, executive director of the Oklahoma Association of Career and Technology Education, asked Spellings why President George W. Bush has for the last several years sought to cut funding for vocational education programs.
Bush's proposed budget for 2008 recommended the elimination of a program to help students transition between high school and vocational education, and to cut spending for state grants through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 from more than $1 billion down to about $600 million.
McGregor told Spellings about the hundreds of thousands enrolled at CareerTech facilities throughout the state, about the work CareerTech is doing regarding work force development and about retraining displaced workers and inmates transitioning out of prison.
But Spellings said that nationwide the vocational training system "in its entirety" has not proven to be effective, and is not yielding a level of results that warrants additional funding.
"It hurts me when someone like Secretary Spellings says that," said Phil Berkenbile, state director of the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. Federal officials have come to visit and seen firsthand the work Oklahoma's CareerTech system is accomplishing, and have even called up on CareerTech to help train skilled workers for companies that contract with the government.
"I would say our system is highly effective and the money spent is well used," said Berkenbile. "We can show results for everything we do."
Paula Bowles, communications and marketing director, said the CareerTech system's impact on the state's economy is estimated at $2 billion a year, based on a study by Oklahoma State University economist Mark Snead.
The CareerTech system in Oklahoma passes along more than a $1 million a year to higher education facilities in federal funding provided through the Perkins Act, and provides services to roughly half of all high school students in the state.
The scope of Oklahoma's CareerTech system is unique, said Berkenbile. In other states, training programs for high school students, inmates and the private sector may be divided among a handful of state agencies, but Oklahoma's seamless delivery model provides efficiencies and a level of expertise that creates measurable results.
Originally published by Janice Francis-Smith.
(c) 2008 Journal Record - Oklahoma City. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
Source: Journal Record - Oklahoma City
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