SALT LAKE CITY — Career and technical student organizations (CTSOs) that help students build real-world skills could lose their dedicated state funding. Lawmakers say the money hasn't disappeared, but how it's distributed has changed, leaving students and teachers worried about what happens next.
Inside Jordan Academy for Technology Careers, students are creating business plans and planning their futures.
"Being a DECA advisor for me is a life-changing thing," Randall Kammerman, a DECA advisor at Jordan Academy for Technology Careers, said.
Kammerman says those life-changing programs help students build leadership and workforce skills. But after legislative changes, their future could look different. "It's an investment in our future workforce that gets killed," Kammerman said. "When these students graduate high school, they already have the skills they need to jump into the workforce."
Student-led organizations like HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) encourage future health professionals to become leaders in their field. DECA (Distributive Education Clubs for America) helps students prepare for careers in marketing, finance, and hospitality.
Earlier this year, lawmakers reworked how Utah funds career and technical education, cutting about $4 million in special set-asides, including around $2 million that used to go straight to clubs like DECA and HOSA. The money will now go to a broader CTE budget. This means local school districts decide if they'll keep supporting CTSO programs.
"It's devastating, it's devastating to the students, to the community and to the state of Utah," said Kami Elison, a DECA advisor at Uintah High School. "I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just hope we can stop it.”
Students at Uintah High School are collecting 1,000 signatures and taking them to the Public Education Appropriation Subcommittee at the Utah State Capitol later this afternoon.
“We’re just shocked, we don’t know why they would ever want to take these clubs away from these students," Jaevry Elison, an Uintah High School student in DECA said.
Rep. Matt MacPherson, who's on the subcommittee, stated in an email that about $1 million remains for statewide administration of CTE student programs, but lawmakers are reviewing how that money is to be used going forward.
"I'm not doing this for me; I'm doing this for my little siblings, I'm doing this for everyone in the future," Eliza Averett, a DECA student vice president at Uintah High School, said. "I'm doing this for the future of Utah."
