Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Career Technical Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves Perkins CTE local plan; staff propose $272,000 budget and announce donated food truck
Summary
Board approved the local Perkins V plan to support career and technical education with a proposed $272,000 program budget. Presentation included line items for equipment, professional development, student travel and a newly announced donated $250,000 food truck for the culinary program.
The board voted to approve the Lynchburg City Schools Perkins V local plan and associated expenditure priorities, a federally authorized program that funds career and technical education (CTE). The district’s CTE director presented a summary of program performance and a proposed spending plan that staff wrote to the Perkins submission deadline.
“We get results,” the CTE director said, noting the graduation rate for CTE completers runs notably high; he said the program’s completer graduation rate was “right around 96 percent.” The director walked board members through the application’s schedules and emphasized work-based learning, dual-enrollment expansion through CVCC, and nontraditional recruitment strategies.
Budget and programming highlights
- Staff proposed total Perkins-funded local plan expenditures of about $272,000 (state allocation to be finalized after the state posts grant totals). Major categories included $171,000 for equipment, $25,000 for professional development, $18,000 for student competition travel and $11,000 for a CTE summer camp.
- The presentation described how Perkins funds and local fundraising support students attending statewide and national career-technical student organization competitions (SkillsUSA, HOSA, FCCLA, DECA). The director reported a recent large registration cost example: sending 40 health-science students for competition registration and hotel approached $12,500.
- The director also told the board that Intuit (TurboTax) has selected Lynchburg as a recipient of a donated, customized food truck valued at $250,000 for the district’s culinary program. The donor will work with students on design and marketing and will deliver the wrapped truck in time for next school year if approvals proceed.
Board action and vote
After discussion about the line items and how CTE fundraising supports student travel and food costs at competitions, a motion to approve the Perkins local plan passed by roll call. The recorded vote showed one board member voting no; the rest voted yes.
Quotes and context
- On funding uncertainty and deadlines: the director said state allocations are usually not released until May or later and that the April 30 Perkins submission deadline requires the district to submit a plan before final state totals are known.
- On the donated food truck: “They have selected Lynchburg City to donate a $250,000 customized food truck for our culinary program to use,” the CTE director said. Board members responded with appreciation and said the truck could be used for classroom experience, community events and middle-school outreach.
Ending
Board members approved the plan and asked staff to bring follow-up materials on recruitment of nontraditional students, the Perkins performance data used in the annual report, and the logistics associated with accepting and deploying the donated food truck.
