The additional funding Schwarzenegger has provided for career technical education, formerly known as vocational education, is a drop in the bucket in a state budget spending $2.2 billion on high school jobs programs this year. But the attention it is getting is not.

The last two budgets each contained an additional $20 million for career technical education. He is seeking an additional $57 million in the budget for the new fiscal year that begins in July.

The big money provided by the governor – $500 million in a $10.4 billion school-construction bond approved by voters last fall – is for career tech facilities and cannot be used to pay for the operation of programs.

What Schwarzenegger gets high praise for is putting the spotlight on a national trend that is reviving high school job-training programs. And he sells career tech, in part, by citing the value of his own high school training in salesmanship in Austria.

“The efforts in California have the (highest) profile, and part of that is because it's Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that is pushing it,” said Alisha Hyslop of the Association for Career and Technical Education.

The group, formed in 1926 as the American Vocational Association, changed its name in 1998 to reflect modern high-tech courses. Some also thought vocational education had unfairly become stigmatized as low-status and low-paying.

In California, the “and” used by the rebranded national association to separate “career” and “technical” is often dropped, leaving a shorter term: career technical education.

The ability of the celebrity governor – a champion bodybuilder, international movie star and successful businessman – to set an agenda and create excitement impresses some education officials.

“Three years ago, the whole focus was college for all,” said Steve Pinning, a career technical education director for the San Diego County Office of Education.

“Everybody was going to get a four-year college degree,” Pinning said. “We have seen that change in a short period of time. It's amazing how much influence the governor can have.”

Labels: career training