Carroll County asks board to place Perkins local-match on consent agenda after CTE achievement report

Doctor Jessica Ainsworth, student achievement presenter, and Cindy Clanton, career and technical education presenter, briefed the board on June 16 about Career and Technical Education (CTE) accomplishments and a request to place a local match for Perkins funding on the consent agenda for the board's June 19 meeting.

The discussion matters because the Perkins program provides federal funding for career and technical education, and the district is requesting local matching funds to enhance, not replace, equipment used in CTE programs. Ainsworth said the local match has already been allocated in the budget presented to the board and asked that the match be placed on the consent agenda for approval.

Ainsworth highlighted student achievements: she said, "This year, very proud to report that we had 5 12 seniors graduate this year career ready with a industry certification under their belt ... That's almost 50% of our high school graduating class." She also reported that 18 students earned state FFA degrees, a CTI group at CCA South won first in state in engineering, the Forestry Field Day team at Central Middle School won first in state for the first time, and a team of HOSA healthcare students was scheduled to travel to Nashville for national competition the following week. Clanton and Ainsworth said recent facility improvements helped expand program capacity, including two new labs at North College and Career and renovated and added labs in law/public safety and early childhood programs.

Ainsworth and Clanton asked the board to vote to place the Perkins local-match item on the consent agenda for Thursday; they said staff would be available to answer questions at that meeting. No formal board vote on the Perkins local match was taken at the June 16 meeting; it was a request to place the item on the consent agenda and the local match was described as already budgeted.