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Career and Technical Education Initiatives

FY'20 Grant Opportunities

Career Pathways Implementation RFP

Career Pathways Implementation RFP Cover Sheet Appendix A

Career Pathways Implementation RFP Appendix B

Career Pathways Implementation Budget Template

Career Pathways Implementation Budget Summary

Federal Grants

Perkins State Plan

The Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (Perkins IV) requirements offer a supportive framework for strengthening CTE in Vermont. The grant focuses resources on these initiatives: utilizing the career clusters framework, developing secondary/post-secondary programs of study that include instruction in all aspects of an industry, implementing size, scope, and quality criteria, measuring student skill attainment through technical skill assessments, focusing program development on high skill/high wage/high demand career fields, and providing comprehensive professional development to CTE teachers.

Perkins State Plan

Perkins Core Indicators

Under Perkins IV, states are required to report annually on 13 core indicators of performance. States are also required to report disaggregated data on the performance of students in special population categories described in the law, as well as gender, race, and ethnicity. 

Math-in-CTE

As part of a strategy for improving academic attainment in mathematics, Vermont CTE teachers are partnering with school mathematics instructors: working in communities of practice around a specific occupational to identify the embedded mathematics concepts in the CTE curriculum; mapping the curriculum; developing and delivering “math enhanced” lessons. Teachers who participate in this process may elect to receive undergraduate or graduate credit through a unique partnership with Castleton University. More information about the Math-in-CTE model is available through the National Research Center for CTE at Southern Regional Education Board.

State Grants

Innovation - The Agency of Education annually makes nearly $300,000 in federal and state funds available to regional CTE centers for program innovation. The intent of the program is to encourage regional CTE centers to modify existing programs or develop new programs to better meet the needs of business and industry and to help programs be more responsive to student interest. The grants are awarded through a competitive process each spring.

Equipment - Vermont’s Legislature annually makes available $500,000 to fund equipment replacement in the regional CTE centers. The equipment grant program is a reimbursement model. Each regional CTE center must make an application for the grant. The applicant shall expend these grant funds for the purchase of technical education equipment.

Equipment purchased with these funds must:

  1. Be industry-specific machinery essential for student technical skill development in a state approved CTE program
  2. Have an expected lifespan of at least 5 years
  3. have a per unit cost of at least $5,000

State and Federal funding for Career Technical Education (Program Innovation, Perkins, State Equipment) may only be expended by the regional center/comprehensive high school to which they were granted for the benefit of CTE students in state-approved eligible CTE programs. Equipment and materials purchased with CTE-related funds shall reside in the regional center/comprehensive high school with the intended use by CTE students.

  • Transportation Assistance (16 VSA §1563) - As a means of encouraging Vermont students to enroll in CTE programs, the Legislature provides transportation assistance to school districts that provide transportation to and from CTE centers. Payments are made on or before December 10 and June 10. Reimbursement forms and documentation are required in order for payments to be processed.
  • Salary Assistance (16 VSA §1565) - The State Board, through a formula, reimburses a school district operating CTE centers for a portion of its cost in paying the salary of the following persons:
  • the director of a career technical education
  • guidance coordinator
  • co-op coordinator
  • assistant director for adult education
  • assistant director of career technical education

Construction Planning Guide and Standards for Technical Education Centers

The Construction Planning Guide is designed to help school boards, administrators and governing boards through the process of planning and pursuing a technical education construction project. It is to be used in conjunction with applicable construction standards governing technical center construction and State Board of Education Rules for Capital Construction. It is not intended to be used in isolation or to supersede any other agency rules for school construction. Specific rules of state agencies that apply to school construction are beyond the scope of this document.