CareerTech asks legislature for workforce training boost, $1.3M FBA increase and new middle‑school exposure programs

CareerTech Director Haykin told the Senate Subcommittee on Education Appropriations that the agency is running on a $175 million base appropriation and is seeking new investments to expand workforce training, maintain staff benefits and spread career exposure programs into earlier grades.

Haykin said the current appropriation includes an $11 million increase for the flexible benefit allowance (FBA) and nearly $10 million for training. He told senators the agency is asking for a package that totals roughly $68,450,000 in new funding, which would raise the CareerTech allocation to about $244,000,000. "This is our largest request for this year," Haykin said, framing workforce training as the priority.

Why the money: Haykin said targeted investments produced measurable results — a $1,000,000 investment in Class A CDL training doubled service capacity and produced about 900 CDL drivers. He also cited growth in technology‑center full‑time enrollment from a stagnant period in the early 2020s to nearly 35,000 full‑time students now. Haykin said K‑12 career‑education participation (in comprehensive schools) reached approximately 44 percent of 9th–12th graders in the state.

Benefits and costs: Senators pressed Haykin on the flexible benefit allowance. Lisa Batchelder, CareerTech’s chief financial officer, told the committee that Health Choice High provides the reimbursement rates and that the reimbursement amount is dictated by statute. When a senator said teachers had not seen a corresponding improvement in care despite an $87,000,000 increase in FBA for some agencies, Haykin and Batchelder replied that the agency reimburses according to the statutory Health Choice High rate and that local districts may procure alternate group insurance but the state reimbursement remains formulaic.

Waiting list, realistic service, and apprenticeships: Haykin said the system’s wait list grew back to more than 10,000 but estimated about 6,500 applicants are realistically serviceable once enrollment barriers are accounted for. He argued that a $31,650,000 workforce training investment would substantially reduce service barriers and that $1,500,000 of the request would sustain apprenticeship programs started with prior ARPA dollars.

Program expansion and incentives: The agency proposed a $10,000,000 one‑time expansion incentive to help unserved or under‑served communities stand up technology center services quickly (the Beaver County example was cited). Haykin framed the incentive as a short, start‑up grant to jumpstart local votes and program starts rather than an ongoing subsidy: "Once it was granted, then we could give them the dollars per community that would be allocated to be used to start their service, not to supplement what they would do," he said.

Scope and accountability: Haykin described formula changes designed to better align state aid with local program growth and noted the new formula has a clawback if a newly funded program fails to meet capacity or placement benchmarks. He also described embedding programs into local schools and leveraging ad valorem growth to sustain long‑term operations.

What happens next: Haykin told the committee the CareerTech request is likely to be discussed again in follow‑up subcommittee meetings and that staff would provide more granular formula and program data as members request it. The agency did not ask for immediate votes at this hearing.

Speakers quoted in this article appear in the subcommittee record and were identified during the hearing.