Board hears CTE expansion roadmap as staff seeks placeholder funding for new facility

Renee Honecker, speaking to the Orange County School Board, laid out a multi‑year roadmap to expand career and technical education (CTE) offerings and to staff and equip a new CTE facility.

Honecker said Orange County High School currently offers 60 individual CTE courses across all 17 state career clusters and described recent credentialing: "During the 2024‑25 school year, 456 of our students earned state licensures, industry certifications, and workplace readiness credentials, 529 credentials in total," she said. She identified high pass rates for several technical examinations and listed planned program additions including culinary arts, automotive and diesel bays, metalworking, expanded carpentry, HVAC, electrical, plumbing and masonry, plus expanded health sciences offerings.

Honecker described the steps ahead: building design and inventorying existing equipment for reuse, labor‑market research and state approval of courses, branding and marketing to students and employers, and recruiting teachers and industry partners for internships and work‑based learning. She emphasized community and foundation support: local partners and the education foundation have already helped students attain welding certifications.

Doctor Hornick and staff framed a related budget action the board approved that evening: a FY2026 supplemental appropriation request of a $23,000,000 placeholder to fund the OCHS CTE Center project. Hornick told the board that approximately $2,200,000 of that placeholder is expected to come from the School Construction Assistance Program grant the county received, but he stressed the dollar figure is provisional until a comprehensive agreement and final bids are complete.

Board members asked about middle‑school CTE exposure and how internships and employer partnerships would be coordinated; Honecker said the division already has exploratory CTE in middle schools and a community liaison who has tripled internship placements in two years. She said marketing and early hiring planning will start now so programs are ready when the facility opens.

The board approved the supplemental appropriation request to enable county reimbursement processes and further planning; staff said they will return with a comprehensive agreement and vendor quotes before final contract awards.

The board’s vote was an authorization to proceed with planning and funding coordination, not a commitment to final construction contracts or a final price for the building.