Career, technical options expanded with funding

After voters approved JTED two years ago, the Sahuarita school district has been able to dramatically increase its Career and Technical Education budget and course offerings.

Two years ago, the CTE budget was $90,000, all from two grants, district CTE Director Claudette Welch said. The budget jumped to $355,000 last year with the advent of Joint Technological Education District funding, and to $482,000 this year, Welch said.

This funding increase allowed the Sahuarita Unified School District’s CTE offerings to expand from seven to nine programs last year because the existing Law and Sports Medicine programs were brought into CTE, allowing them to receive funding. This year, two more programs were added: Information Technology (Web Page Development) and Marketing (Sports Entertainment).

Students in one popular CTE class, Nursing Services, were highlighted in a story in the Dec. 24 issue of the Sahuarita Sun.

The JTED funding has allowed for other expansion of career and technical education opportunities. The Cooperative Business Education students have obtained employment in such places as PC Solutions, Brite Dental, La Posada, the Cow Palace and the new McDonald’s (as a crew leader). Some students also have gotten internships with a local fire department and the Town of Sahuarita.

Next semester, an Aircraft Mechanics class will be offered to approximately 18 students who are taking the Blueprint class being taught by the district’s automotive instructor, Bryce Bond, who is dually certified with Pima Community College and who also is a pilot. About seven Sunnyside High School students also will take the class.

Early Childhood Professions started with two students who dropped the class, but it will be offered again next year.

Sahuarita juniors and seniors will be able to take Nursing; Law, Public Safety and Security; and Aircraft Mechanics in the Sahuarita/Green Valley area, but may also travel to the central site or other locations for Cosmetology; Fire Science; Education Professions; and Electrical and Power Transmission Technologies. The central site is located at 2855 W. Master Pieces Dr. near Shannon and River in Tucson.

Contact Welch, the CTE director, through Sahuarita High School for more information.

pfranchine@sahuaritasun.com | 547-9738