Superintendents and ESD leaders urge state funding for regional CTE hubs and career centers

Education leaders and ESD officials told the House Higher Education committee on April 3 that Oregon needs a stable, state‑funded backbone for career and technical education (CTE) regional coordination and that the bill’s language should preserve an explicit charge to plan for regional career centers.

Lede: House Bill 3552 would create regional CTE hubs and provide backbone funding to coordinate programs across districts, community colleges, industry and workforce partners. Testimony urged retaining language that would also advance regional career centers where regionally pooled infrastructure is required for advanced, hands‑on programs.

Nut graf: Witnesses argued a backbone funded by the state, rather than piecemeal federal or local funds, would allow Education Service Districts (ESDs) and regional partners to pool resources, convene industry and build shared facilities or programs that rural and smaller districts cannot sustain on their own.

Mark Redman, superintendent at Malheur ESD, supported the dash‑2 amendment that proposes $3.6 million for regional coordination staff across ESDs and said statewide investment is required to scale CTE programs. Dr. Joe Morlock of Willamette ESD emphasized that the bill must keep the language to plan and develop regional career centers, not just hubs: "We cannot afford to strip the bill of its foundational charge, the development of a framework, for regional career centers," he said, warning that without that commitment smaller and rural students will remain cut off from advanced career programs.

Testimony described the difference between a regional hub that coordinates and a regional career center that hosts shared infrastructure and industry‑grade equipment. Witnesses cited Washington’s investment in regional skill centers as a contrast and argued that Oregon’s current funding is a fraction of that level. Committee members asked how hub funding would be used (staffing, articulation, teacher certification, industry convening) and whether the bill would fund visioning versus implementation; witnesses said the amendment funds coordination and that language to pursue regional career centers should remain to guide future implementation.

Ending: Supporters asked the committee to retain the bill’s language on regional career centers and fund backbone positions now so hubs can convene cross‑sector partners and plan shared infrastructure. No vote occurred during the hearing.