2 EDCAL March 6 , 2017
Hundreds of students help celebrate CTE century milestone
More than 400 Career Technical Education students helped mark the 100- year anniversary of the signing of the Smith- Hughes Act at the SkillsUSA Region 1 competition in Silicon Valley .
“ In California and through the entire country , more and more businesses are turning to CTE programs to partner with and find well-trained students ,” said Alyssa Lynch , superintendent of Metropolitan Education District in San Jose . “ By looking to CTE programs , these businesses know they can hire qualified students with real experience .”
Students from throughout the Bay Area participated in competitions including automotive refinishing and service technology , carpentry , culinary and baking , photography and information technology . Job demonstration contests were held in several categories , including digital cinema production , drafting , HVAC , and welding .
February was national CTE month , which in the early days of the program was known as vocational education . Upon the launch of the Local Control Funding Formula , CTE budgets that had shrunk or were frozen due to the recession began receiving the funding needed to strengthen the statewide programs . In 2014 , California Career Pathway Grants were introduced and 40 grants were awarded in the state
NOGUERA
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Noguera discussed the need to compensate for the effects of poverty and the ways in which the achievement gap is an educational manifestation of social inequality .
“ We ’ ve known for a long time that the strongest predictor for how well our children do in school is family income ,” he said . “ Family income and parental education drive outcomes for kids .”
He went on to elaborate that the real issue then becomes figuring out how schools can offset or compensate for what families don ’ t have , emphasizing that the achievement gap is about outcomes on tests or graduation rates . He stated that educators cannot focus on closing the achievement gap without first addressing opportunity gaps , which are what reinforce the disparities in outcomes among students .
Noguera highlighted that some schools are high-performing and high poverty but that they are the exceptions to the norm . It is important to build capacity in schools and to help schools to get better at what they do , supporting them in their efforts at both policy and community levels . He also discussed the idea of grit vs . agency in education ,
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• Job ads : e-mail careerconnect @ acsa . org
• News : e-mail lroberts @ acsa . org to groups of school districts , ROP centers and community colleges that had joined together to become consortiums .
In 2015 , CCPT grants were awarded to another 40 consortiums .
In 2016 , CTE Incentive Grants were introduced for 3 years , awarding $ 400 million that first year and $ 300 million in 2017 awards . In 2018 , plans are in place to award another $ 200 million .
All of the infused dollars were designed to improve existing programs and start new programs that would train students for high wage-high skill jobs .
“ Students take away confidence , leadership skills and skills in an area that prepares them for entry-level jobs ,” Lynch said . “ They have a number of competencies that they can meet , similar to knowing how to install windows , repair a computer , or create a mobile app .”
Prior to the 2017 Congressional break , the Senate passed a resolution for CTE . The Senate recognized the important role CTE plays in “ preparing a well-educated and skilled workforce in the United States ,” but it also “ encourages educators , counselors , and administrators to promote [ CTE ] as an option for students .”
Illustrating the increased attention to CTE , 31 senators co-sponsored the resolution . During a span of 10 years , Career
pointing out that agency is a key component to the idea of grit . Not only do kids need to work hard , Noguera said , but they also need to know how to get help , critical thinking skills and community support .
“ Hard work without opportunity ,” he said , “ just leaves you working hard and tired . We need students to work hard and have access to the support they need to improve their lives .”
Noguera said that he appreciated hearing from ACSA leadership that social justice would be a major focus going forward .
“ Social justice is one of those things that can be easily misunderstood and like equity , become nothing more than a slogan ,” he said . “ To me , social justice means that we make a real commitment to addressing disadvantages , that we make a commitment to expanding opportunities and that it is more than words . It shows up as concrete strategies that lead to expanded opportunities for children and families .
“ When an organization like ACSA says we ’ re going to commit to social justice , that means that superintendents that work with them will have a clearer sense of how to operationalize that on a day-to-day basis . It has to show up in everything we do in schools .”
ACSA Executive Director , Wesley Smith Senior Director , Communications / PIO , Naj Alikhan Senior Director , Educational Services , Barry Groves Chief Marketing Officer , Tatia Davenport
Senior Directors , Governmental Relations , Edgar Zazueta and Adonai Mack
Senior Director , Member Services , Margarita Cuizon Senior Director , Information Technology , Tony Baldwin
EdCal Editor , London Roberts Assistant Editor / Reporter , Cary Rodda Advertising / Website Coordinator , Emily Senecal Communications Content Specialist , Darcy Totten ACSA CareerConnect Coordinator , Tracy Olmedo
ACSA Board of Directors President , Ralph Gómez Porras President-elect , Lisa Gonzales Vice President , Holly Edds VP for Legislative Action , Linda Kaminski Past President , Tom Armelino
Members : Eric Andrew , Mauricio Arellano , Randy Bangs , Angel Barrett , Ana Boyenga , Jonathon Brunson , Daryl Camp , Katherine Castleberry , Craig Helmstedter , Linda Hutcherson , Andrew Ishibashi , Darrien Johnson , Peter Johnson , Sue Kaiser , Jon LeDoux , Robert Martinez , Mary O ’ Neil Grace , Elsbeth Prigmore , Rob Stockberger , Roxanna Villaseñor , Craig Wheaton , Denise Wickham , Ron Williams
Tech Student Organizations have exploded in California . CTSO help students develop critical thinking skills , problem-solving skills and leadership skills . CTE students are well-suited to help fill the current skillgap persisting in California .
Silicon Valley Career Technical Education students earned 58 medals at
The National Council on Teacher Quality and EducationCounsel have released a new report , “ Lifting the Pension Fog : What teachers and taxpayers need to know about the teacher pension crisis .” The report evaluates state teacher pension policies , and includes policy profiles and tailored recommendations for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia .
In the state report cards , California ’ s system got mediocre results . The state received a good grade in Neutrality , but poor grades in Sustainability , Flexibility , and Transparency .
“ This report documents the ways that optimistic projections , willful ignorance , and continued deferral of consequences hang like a fog over the teacher pension policy landscape ,” said EducationCounsel ’ s Sandi Jacobs . “ At this point , state teacher pensions won ’ t turn around with just a few good years on Wall Street . The crisis can ’ t be solved without intentional action by policymakers .”
“ The pension crisis has a direct impact on teacher compensation and the ability of school districts to attract and retain high quality teachers ,” said Kate Walsh , president of the National Council on Teacher Quality . “ Reforming pension policy is an education issue , not just a financial one .”
This report examines the sustainability , flexibility and fairness of each state ’ s current teacher pension policies . New for 2016 , NCTQ and EducationCounsel also examine pension policy transparency in the states . Nationwide , just 11 states meet benchmarks in any one of these four areas – and no state meets them all .
• Poor funding . In 2016 , just seven states have teacher pension systems that are wellfunded ( funded at 90 percent ) or higher . South Dakota and Wisconsin are the only two states in the nation with fully-funded teacher pension systems . At 42 percent , Illinois continues to have the lowest funded pension system in the nation .
• Large pension debt . Nationwide , more than two-thirds of every dollar contributed by employers to teacher retirement systems goes to servicing the enormous pension debts that have accrued across the states , rather than to current teacher benefits ( or saved for future benefits to the teachers contributing now ).
• Limited flexibility . In 38 states , teachers have only one option . They are enrolled
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the 2017 SkillsUSA Regional Leadership and Skills Competition . Students who placed first and second in their respective skills category qualified to compete at the SkillsUSA California 50th Annual State Leadership and Skill Conference at the Town & Country Resort in San Diego April 20-23 .
Report looks at teacher pensions
in defined benefit pension plans . Only Alaska provides teachers with a flexible and fair defined contribution plan . Six other states – Florida , Michigan , Ohio , South Carolina , Utah , and Washington – offer teachers a choice .
• Pension costs rising . Since 2008 , when NCTQ started collecting data on teacher pensions , 31 states have increased teacher contributions to pension systems . Just since 2012 , 36 states have increased the contribution rates required of employers .
• Teacher benefits squeezed . Every state except Arizona , Minnesota and South Dakota now delays teacher vesting in pension systems for longer than three years . Twenty states make teachers wait seven to 10 years to vest . Only six states allow teachers to take their contributions and at least a portion of employer contributions when they leave the pension system .
• Inequitable accrual of benefits . In 38 states , pension benefits are a function of the years of service a teacher has worked , rather than age only , and most also allow for retirement at young ages with full benefits , at a cost of as much as $ 841,000 per teacher just for the benefits collected before the age of 65 .
There is no doubt that pension reform is a complex and technical policy arena , which contributes to a lack of clarity and understanding in discussions of the subject . But the fog blanketing teacher pension policy suggests that states and stakeholders are , at best , engaged in short-term magical thinking about the long-term viability of their retirement systems .
• Lack of public disclosure . Few states with traditional defined benefit pensions provide adequate information to policymakers on pension system health or to teachers on their personal retirement benefits . Only 15 states publicly report projections for the future contributions that would be required to pay off pension debt .
• Poor information for teachers . Only two states ( South Dakota and Vermont ) provide teachers with information on the amount of money employees and teachers contribute to the pension system each year . South Dakota does better than most states by providing teachers with a detailed annual benefits statement that includes some of the most important data teachers should have about their own nest eggs .
See PENSIONS , page 5