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Florida DOE outlines record CTE enrollment, new audit targets and 2026 phase-out policy
Summary
Chancellor Kevin O'Farrell told the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee that postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) in Florida has reached record enrollment and that the Department's CTE audit now includes metrics and targets that could require programs that fail to meet them to submit teach‑out plans beginning in 2026.
Chancellor Kevin O'Farrell, chancellor of Career and Adult Education for the Florida Department of Education, told the Senate Education Postsecondary Committee that Florida's postsecondary career and technical education (CTE) enrollment is at a record high and that the department has adopted audit metrics to measure program performance.
O'Farrell said the state is “really hitting a record enrollment of nearly 480,000 students involved in CTE,” with about 271,000 students in Florida College System institutions and about 209,000 in district technical colleges and centers. He told the committee the state recorded about 76,806 CTE credentials earned in the most recent reporting period.
The department now applies three postsecondary audit metrics, O'Farrell said: a retention/success threshold (primary target 50%); a completers‑continuing‑education or employment threshold (70%); and a demand alignment metric assessed either by the Master's Credentials List (MCL) or a program's Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA). O'Farrell said alternate three‑year averages can be used where applicable.
O'Farrell told senators that, after applying metrics 1 and 2, 11 programs did not meet the retention/success threshold and 11 programs did not meet the completers/employment threshold. “Beginning in 2026,” he said, those programs would need to submit teach‑out and phase‑out plans if they do not meet the audit thresholds.
The chancellor described exemptions the audit allows: programs with fewer than 10 students, programs lacking three years of reporting data, or programs slated for deletion are not run through the audit. He said institutions will be notified and given an opportunity to supply supplemental employment or completion data before any phase‑out requirement is imposed.
On credential quality, O'Farrell outlined the state's multi‑agency review process involving the Department of Education, the Department of Commerce and CareerSource Florida for items placed on the MCL. He said credentials can be placed on probation for misalignment, with an opportunity to cure; unresolved probationary flags can lead to removal from the MCL.
During Q&A, Senator Berman asked how businesses are engaged in CTE. O'Farrell pointed to technical advisory committees at college and district levels, local workforce contacts and coordinated outreach through the department and partners such as CareerSource Florida and the Florida Chamber Foundation. He also described the department's searchable apprenticeship and program listings on GetThereFlorida.com.
The department emphasized that the audit is intended to ensure program quality and alignment with labor‑market demand, and that institutions will have time and processes to respond before any program is phased out.
