New law mandates expanded access to CTE centers for high school students

A new state law requires all of the state’s high school Career and Technical Education Centers to update their regional agreements by Jan. 1 to give more access to students in all participating schools.

Dr. Ann Forrest, ConVal superintendent, presented an amended draft of ConVal’s Region 14 CTE agreement to the School Board on Dec. 3. The board voted on the final draft of the agreement on Tuesday, Dec. 16.

“The new agreement focuses on schools developing what is referred to as a CTE access program. The intent is to allow CTE students from sending districts to enroll full time or part time in the receiving district,” Forrest said.

She said the law is part of a larger effort by the Legislature to establish open enrollment for all New Hampshire schools.

Jennifer Kiley, director of the Region 14 CTE, said ConVal’s agreement with Mascenic and Conant already meets most of the requirements outlined in the new law.

“This will not a big change for us or for our students. We will have to tweak our agreement a bit, but we are already meeting most of the requirements outlined in the new law,” Kiley said.

Forrest said the biggest change under the new law is that students coming to ConVal from Mascenic and Conant will be permitted to enroll in non-CTE classes while they are in the building.

“The biggest change is that if students who come for CTE want to stay at ConVal to finish their school day, they can do that,” Forrest said.

The current CTE agreement specifies that in Region 14, 75% of the spots in any CTE class are reserved for ConVal students.

“The recommendation from legal is to leave the agreement the way it is now and to focus on the fair and equitable application process,” Forrest said.

Kiley says the current application process is used to determine the best fit for students coming into the CTE program.

“We use the application to be sure we place the students in classes that are the best fit for them,” Kiley said. “For example, a student may put on their application that they are interested in healthcare, but then speaking further with them, maybe they don’t like the sight of blood and they are more interested in another aspect of healthcare. We use that information to put them in the program that is a best match for them.”

Kiley said taking CTE classes and fitting in other classes can be challenging for students because the schools operate on different schedules, with Conant and ConVal on a two-semester block schedule while Mascenic has a seven-period, full-year class schedule.

Sending districts are required to provide transportation to CTE students.

The new RSA also paves the way for students not enrolled in public school to take classes at the CTE closest to their home, even if they live in a different school district.

“This is obviously not going to be in our regional agreement, but everyone should be aware that the new RSA allows the state Department of Education to pay tuition for students who would like to attend the CTE closest to their place of residence even if they do not live in that CTE region,” Forrest said.

The law also allows students who live in Region 14 to take classes at other CTE centers if Region 14 does not offer the classes they seek.

According to Kiley, Region 14 already accommodates students who want to take classes at other CTE’s.

“Depending on the semester, we are sending students to Milford and to Keene for various CTE programs,” Kiley said. “We are always looking to do the best thing for our students and provide the best opportunities we can for them.”