October 6, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
California
Advocates tout importance of FFA,
other career-technical programs
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By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
Advocates for agricultur-
al and other career-technical
training in California high
schools should make their
voices heard during upcoming
budget negotiations, state law-
makers told them this week.
Ag teachers, FFA stu-
dents and other enthusiasts
for career-oriented instruction
packed a high school perform-
ing arts center in Buena Park,
Calif., on Oct. 2 as state lead-
ers discussed how to stabilize
funding for the programs.
Assemblyman
Patrick
O’Donnell, D-Long Beach,
encouraged school board
members, administrators and
others to educate their elected
officials about the importance
of including money for the
programs in next year’s bud-
get.
“The commitment from the
governor is gone, so we need
to make it happen next year,”
said O’Donnell, who chairs
the lower chamber’s Educa-
tion Committee. “Every time
you’re at a function, you need
to say to your state senator or
Assembly member, ‘Hey, we
need to continue (career-tech-
nical education) funding.”
The sense of urgency comes
after Gov. Jerry Brown sent
shock waves through many
high schools when he proposed
deleting $15.4 million for FFA
and high school career-techni-
cal programs from the 2017-18
state budget.
Brown reinserted the fund-
ing in his May budget revision
after parents, students and other
FFA advocates took to social
media to rally support for the
programs. The outcry prompt-
ed 65 legislators to send a letter
to the governor and to budget
committee leaders asking that
the funding be restored.
Of the 114,000 students
that would have been affected
by the cut, 86,000 are in FFA,
which has a foundation to
help raise money but relies on
the $250,000 state allocation
as “base funding,” California
DID YOU KNOW?
Tim Hearden/Capital Press
FFA member Dustin McNeely of Anderson, Calif., stands next to
the garden cart he made in shop class and entered in the mechan-
ics contest at last year’s Shasta District Fair, winning best of show.
California lawmakers are considering ways to boost funding for
career-technical education.
Agricultural Teachers Asso-
ciation executive director Jim
Aschwanden has said.
But Brown found one-time
funding for the programs for
this academic year, meaning
they can be on the chopping
block again next year.
“What you need to do is
take this to your school boards
and administrators and make
sure they’re advocating and
reaching out to elected mem-
bers,” O’Donnell said during
the Buena Park informational
meeting, which was streamed
online.
O’Donnell was joined by
his committee’s vice chair-
man, Assemblyman Rocky
Chavez, R-Oceanside; Assem-
blywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva,
D-Fullerton, who chairs the
chamber’s Committee on Jobs,
Economic Development and
the Economy; and other law-
makers.
The legislators heard from
panels of students, teachers, su-
perintendents and other school
officials and took about an hour
of comments from the audi-
ence.
Edwin Madrid, an FFA
member at Buena Park High
School, told the lawmakers
he manages a 4-acre farm that
grows avocados and other
commodities and plans to study
agriculture at California State
University-Chico.
“I’ve developed skills that
are practical and real world,”
Madrid said. “I go to compe-
titions and compete in them. I
compete in job interview.”
Aaron Gonzalez said his
auto shop class motivated him
to continue his education. He
was 30 credits behind, but
made them up and graduated
from Redlands High School in
June.
He now he has a job with
California Steel Industries.
“It was the only reason I
wanted to go to school,” Gon-
zalez said. “Auto shop was my
getaway. When I would have
problems in a regular class, I
would go there and work it out
.”He said career-technical pro-
grams help high school gradu-
ates get a start in life.
“Regular high school ... is
preparing you just for more
school,” he said.
While lawmakers rescued
the career programs last spring,
convincing them of their long-
term value could still be a chal-
lenge, committee members
said.
“When I got to the Legis-
lature, people fought with me
about career-technical educa-
tion as if it were a dead end,”
said Assemblywoman Autumn
Burke, D-Inglewood.
“You have achieved soft
skills,” she told the students.
“Every one of you speaks so
well.”
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Courtesy of UCANR
Agricultural start-up Blue River tests its technology by flying a
drone over sorghum crops to collect data at the University of
California’s Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center in
Parlier. The UC has received a $500,000 federal grant to develop a
network for entrepreneurs.
UC, nonprofit receive
$500,000 grant to start
entrepreneurs’ network
PARLIER, Calif. — The
University of California and
a nonprofit organization will
share a $500,000 grant to de-
velop a network for agricul-
tural entrepreneurs.
The UC’s Division of
Agriculture and Natural Re-
sources and AgStart, which
seeks to connect start-up busi-
nesses with researchers and
investors, were awarded the
grant from the U.S. Economic
Development Administration.
The money will go toward
cultivating the Verde Innova-
tion Network for Entrepre-
neurship (VINE), which will
link businesses with men-
tors, advisers, collaborators,
events, competitions and oth-
er services, according to the
UCANR’s website.
“We want to make sure
every Californian has the
support system to take a nov-
el idea and commercialize a
new product or start a new
business,” Glenda Humiston,
the UC’s vice president for ag
and natural resources, said in
a statement. “They don’t have
to be a university inventor.
They could be a farmer or a
young person.”
AgStart itself was es-
tablished with federal grant
funds and has supported more
than 50 entrepreneurs and
their companies since 2012.
Last year the group helped 16
companies, including eight
from outside the Central Val-
ley region, explained John Se-
lep, president of AgTech In-
novation Alliance, AgStart’s
sponsor.
Among the VINE’s con-
tributors will be the UC’s
nine research and exten-
sion centers, which can
provide places to field-test
products, university offi-
cials said. For instance, the
Sunnyvale,
Calif.-based
Blue River Technology is
testing its data-collecting
ability by flying a drone
over sorghum crops at the
UC’s Kearney Agricultur-
al Research and Extension
Center in Parlier.
The VINE will comple-
ment other innovation re-
source “clusters” around the
state, including the Fres-
no-based
BlueTechValley
Regional Innovation Cluster,
Western Growers’ Innovation
and Technology Lab in Sali-
nas and UC-Merced’s Ven-
tureLab, officials said.
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