Assemblyman Frazier Co-authors Bill to Fund Career Technical Education in Schools

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Jim Frazier, D-Discovery Bay, has become a coauthor of legislation to invest $1.5 billion in Career Technical Education (CTE) at California’s K-12 public schools.

AB 1743, introduced by the chair of the Assembly Education Committee, would allocate $500 million per year for three years starting with the 2018-19 fiscal year to support and expand vocational training programs to prepare high school students to enter the workforce directly or transition smoothly into post-secondary education. The bill will get its first policy hearing, before the Assembly Education Committee, on Wednesday March 21 at 1:30 p.m. in Room 4202 at the Capitol.

“Not all high school students are going to go to college,” said Frazier, who cited himself as an example of a student who benefited from CTE – previously known as vocational education – during an a recent hearing on Career Technical Education at the Capitol. “I took shop classes in high school, which taught me basic skills I used to land an entry level job in construction and prove my worth to my employer. I enrolled in a union apprenticeship program and became a master carpenter. Then I became a contractor and built a very successful home construction business.”

CTE programs at local public K-12 schools develop partnerships with businesses and postsecondary schools, providing pathways to employment right out of high school or to higher education at community colleges and universities.

“We need multiple pathways to success,” Frazier added. “We have to make sure we don’t fail students who are not going to college. CTE programs increase the opportunity for these kids to be successful after they leave high school.”

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Assemblymember Frazier represents the 11^th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Birds Landing, Brentwood, Byron, Collinsville, Discovery Bay, Fairfield, Isleton, Knightsen, Locke, Oakley, Pittsburg (partial), Rio Vista, Suisun City, Travis AFB, Vacaville and Walnut Grove.