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Bassett Unified wins $800,000 Strong Workforce grant; district outlines CTE expansion into middle schools
Summary
District CTE lead Julie Harrison told the school board the Strong Workforce Round 7 award of $800,000 and other state and federal grants will fund pathways, equipment and counseling to expand career technical education from high school into middle grades and support Nueva Vista and adult education courses.
Bassett Unified School District officials told the school board on March 25 that state and federal grants will fund an expansion of career technical education (CTE) pathways and supports for students from middle school through adult education.
Doctor Julie Harrison, presenting the district’s CTE update, said the district asked for $1 million from the state’s Strong Workforce grant Round 7 and secured $800,000. “We asked for a million dollars, and they gave us 800,000,” Harrison said, adding the award covers the current school year through 2027 and is written to support grades 6–12, the comprehensive high school and the continuation school Nueva Vista.
The district plans to use the Strong Workforce funds to expand middle-school career exploration, add sections where demand is high, purchase industry-standard equipment, fund extra hourly support and sustain CTE counseling to keep students on pathways. Harrison said the grant also will allow Nueva Vista students to continue accessing adult-education offerings and pursue industry certifications, including OSHA-10 and trade-specific credentials.
Harrison described other grants that together support the district’s CTE program: a Golden State Pathway planning award of $220,000 to help lay groundwork for an engineering focus and child-development pathway; a California Partnership Academy award of about $50,000 to support a medical pathway “school-within-a-school” model, including travel for competitions; and the federal Perkins grant at about $43,000 a year, typically spent on one large piece of equipment and professional development because of strict federal tracking rules.
Harrison said the district already uses adult-education facilities to provide hands-on trade instruction to high-school students and highlighted recent examples—students working on HVAC and medical-assisting simulations. She also described a recent SoCal trades tour on campus that brought more than 35 career-technical employers and training representatives to speak with students.
A board member asked for more detail about how a planned middle-school component would look, including curriculum, learning objectives and the course catalog. Harrison said counselors have broadened their work to include CTE counseling and that the district will provide additional detail to the board and stakeholders as the planning proceeds.
The presentation emphasized that CTE pathway completers statewide typically graduate at higher rates and that industry partnerships and continued grant-writing will be necessary to sustain equipment-intensive programs.
Looking ahead, Harrison said the district will continue pursuing grants and building community partnerships with local unions and trades to create internship and career-entry opportunities for students. She noted the Strong Workforce funds run through 2027 and that the district will use a mix of state grants and local funds to support the pathways.
Ending: The district’s CTE team will continue to present planning details to the board as grant-funded projects move from planning to classroom implementation. The board heard that students will compete at Cal State LA in April and that the Strong Workforce award provides multi-year funding to expand exploration into middle school and maintain adult-education links for high-school and continuation-school students.
