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Brevard schools ask delegation for support to expand career-technical programs and maintain foundation matching grants
Summary
Brevard Public Schools and its education foundation asked the delegation for funding to expand Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, open a firefighting program at Cocoa High School, and preserve the state school-district education foundation matching grant program.
Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell told the Brevard County legislative delegation the district seeks state support for two specific K‑12 investments and thanked delegates for prior efforts that preserved weighted funding for AP/IB and Cambridge courses.
Rendell asked the delegation to support: (1) funding to expand the district’s Career and Technical Education Center to add auto and diesel mechanic programs and a state-of-the-art innovation space for the technical college; and (2) support to establish a firefighting program at Cocoa High School modeled on the existing program at Palm Bay High School.
Why it matters: Rendell emphasized Brevard’s broad CTE portfolio — 49 technical programs and almost 5,500 industry-recognized vocational certificates issued last year — as a direct pipeline to local high-wage jobs in aerospace, manufacturing and public safety.
Education Foundation matching grant request: Janice Kershaw and Nina Moser of the Brevard Schools Foundation urged lawmakers to continue level funding of $7 million for the statewide School District Education Foundation matching grant program, which the foundation said leverages private donations dollar-for-dollar and funds classroom innovations such as hands-on learning, destination space field trips and STEM pathways.
Takeaway: Delegates heard that K‑12 investments aimed at career pathways and the foundation matching grant program multiply private support, prepare students for local workforce needs and were described as a strong return on state investment.
