CTE leaders urge integrating career-technical governance into statewide K–12 reform; committee reports amendment favorably

Members of the Committee on Commerce & Economic Development heard more than two hours of testimony on March 19 from career and technical education officials who urged the panel not to advance a standalone governance bill and to coordinate CTE changes with broader PK–12 reform.

Chelsea Myers, executive director of the Vermont Superintendents Association, told the committee that CTE should be “integrated within” broader education transformation and not treated in isolation. She said reform must preserve community connections and support provided by host and sending PK–12 systems and recommended the creation of a working group on instructional and district scale to guide district consolidation and evaluate boundaries, cost savings and student opportunities by December 2025.

The testimony emphasized three recurring concerns: maintaining local community ties and industry partnerships, ensuring equitable access across regions, and aligning financing and administrative tools with any new governance structure. “CTE governance should not be decoupled but integrated within this charge,” Myers said.

Nicole McTavish, superintendent and director of the Patricia A. Hannaford Regional Technical School District (known locally as the Hannaford Career Center), described how her center serves roughly 347 students and “educates 1 in 3 high school kids” in Addison County while operating on a $5,790,000 budget within a countywide public-education total of about $123,000,000. McTavish said the center’s next-year tuition rate is about $34,900 per student, notably higher than a $25,000 per-student figure that has been discussed as a possible foundation amount for CTE funding.

McTavish said two main factors drive the higher tuition:…