State education officials told legislators that Vermont’s career and technical education (CTE) system serves thousands of students but faces structural and equity questions that an outside consultant’s forthcoming report will address.

Ruth Durkee, state director of Career Technical Education at the Agency of Education, said 5,262 students participated in CTE in the 2022–23 school year and 3,016 met the federal definition of “program concentrator.” She said 96.77% of concentrators graduated in four years and that program‑quality metrics included 58.31% of concentrators earning at least one postsecondary industry‑recognized credential, 39.88% earning college credits through CTE, and 44.49% participating in work‑based learning.

Why it matters: CTE is a key pathway into careers and postsecondary opportunities; the agency and an external contractor, APA Consulting, are reviewing funding, governance and delivery models to improve access, consistency and staffing across regions.

Durkee outlined issues APA is studying and that the agency and CTE centers have discussed: aligning CTE programs to high‑school graduation requirements to reduce variation caused by multiple sending districts; rethinking transportation and service regions to improve access; exploring virtual or hybrid CTE delivery for programs that do not require hands‑on labs; strengthening shared curricular resources and program scope and sequence to increase statewide consistency; improving staffing models and teacher licensure pathways for educators who enter from industry; and building stronger academic integration and student supports in centers.

Durkee said Vermont currently operates 17 regional CTE centers and one remote comprehensive high school (Canaan) that provides approved CTE programs. She also said the state’s governance is heterogeneous — four governance models and two independent schools supplying public CTE — which APA flagged as contributing to inefficiency and inequity.

On flexible pathways, Brian Hartman of the Agency of Education’s personalized learning team summarized dual enrollment, early college and FastForward options. He said dual‑enrollment agreements cover every Vermont high school and that in FY24 about 2,353 juniors and seniors participated and took roughly 2,910 college courses. Hartman said early college (a full‑year college option for 12th graders) had 402 participants in the prior year and started FY25 with 451 students. He told the committee that approximately 26.5% of juniors and seniors statewide participated in some college‑level coursework in FY24.

Officials said APA’s draft report will outline what changes require legislative authority versus what the agency could implement administratively. Durkee said APA’s forthcoming recommendations will include concrete next steps on governance, transportation, program consistency, staffing and potential new delivery models.

Ending: Legislators were told APA’s report would be circulated to committees when complete and that agency staff and CTE directors will continue work on teacher recruitment, program consistency and expanded student access.