Director Timothy Harder recommends new CTE articulations, industry certificates for fall 2026

Timothy Harder, the district’s director of facilities and technology, told the West Bend School District Curriculum Committee on July 7 that the district is proposing a set of minor adjustments to career and technical education courses to increase student access to industry credentials.

Harder said the recommendations—which come from program advisory committees and Moraine Park Technical College—include adding Mastercam AB articulation for metals/automation courses, adding Adobe Express certification, an oil‑change technician credential for introductory automotive, SP2 (safety, pollution and prevention), OSHA 10/30 safety training, and a Miller welding open‑book certificate. In business and IT, staff proposed a professional communication credential and an accounting foundation certificate for Accounting II.

"Each of these recommendations comes forward from an advisory committee along with feedback from Moraine Park Technical College," Harder said. He described the changes as "minor in scope of a full curricular change" and intended to guarantee that students can earn articulated credit more regularly; for example, Mastercam AB articulation would allow articulated credit every school year instead of every other year.

On funding, Harder said many certification fees can be paid from state Act 59 career‑tech incentive funds. "It is a per student allocation that earns a certificate," he said, adding that the program has a capped allocation: "I can earn up to 1,000 dollars per kid but on average we get about $600 per kid a year who earns a certificate when they graduate." Harder said excess incentive money is reinvested into district CTE programming.

Harder also described additions in early childhood and health sciences pathways to align with recent Moraine Park and state changes: a course name change to reflect new health, safety and nutrition skills, mandatory reporting training, abusive head trauma training and SIDS training for early childhood students, and a one‑credit basic lab skills articulation for the health sciences sequence that can feed into phlebotomy or nursing pathways.

The committee asked clarifying questions about cost and whether students would need to change schedules; Harder said many credentials will be embedded in existing introductory and mid‑level courses so students would not need extra classes in most cases.

Next steps: the committee heard the presentation and staff indicated they will bring recommendations forward to the full board for consent. No formal board action was taken at the committee meeting.