HOW ARIZONA PREPARES YOUNG PEOPLE FOR CAREERS AND HOW A MARVELOUS PROGRAM IS THREATENED

    I've lived in Arizona since 1957 and as one might imagine, I've seen a lot of changes, particularly in Tucson, the "seat" of Pima County.  I've watched our storied "cow town" grow from 180,000 to a population exceeding one-million.  I will not explore the reasons why my town is again struggling on an economic plateau, or the amazing transformation taking place in our original downtown, once the only "shopping center," or even before the time that Spain established a presidio, or fort, here, in August 22, 1775—or how Arizona is poised for another economic expansion—for two good reasons: Great weather in a superlative place to retire. 

    However, our legislature and governor have done something that will not be helpful in securing new industry.  What I speak of here, is critically necessary in providing a highly trained labor pool for industry, not to mention the future of thousands of students in the State enrolled in something called Joint Technical Education Districts.

    I'll bet practically every reader remembers when high school age girls took "Home Economics" classes and young men took "Shop" or studied to become "Future Farmers."  For good reasons, those kinds of courses are still available, but in the last decade, those pursuing technical education and training in a vast array of careers, were afforded a quantum leap in opportunities via  legislation in my State of Arizona and in Pima County under the aegis of Pima Joint Technical Education District. 

     Throughout Arizona, enabling legislation encouraged  the birth of these special technical education districts, by providing an avenue for financing by the State. Here in Pima County, High School Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors and others up to age 22 (some are enrolled in our Junior Colleges), are taught such courses as Architecture Design, Automobile and Aviation technologies,  Business Services, Computer programming, Construction Technologies (one young woman is competing nationally in an electrician's building-wiring competition), and more career and technical classes that we are able to mention in this commentary. (See link in blue below).

    Classes are taught at several campuses and at satellite locations in all public high schools in Pima County, as well as in a couple of high schools in smaller communities outside of Pima County.

    I need to pause to emphasize that JTED is not "instead" of conventional curriculum—it's "in addition" to high school subjects, and here's a good statistic to quote: A 98-percent high school graduation rate. The graduation rate for all of Arizona's high school students currently stands at 76-per cent. A JTED program is very often a giant turn-on for students who literally fall in love with a new career path, and the result is that they dedicate themselves to excelling in all of their classes, the JTED course and all other subjects, as well.

    I was encouraged to help spread this story after reading a front page article by Luis F. Currasco in the June 6, 2015 edition of the Arizona Daily Star.  A link to the story can be found by taking this link to the JTED website:  http://www.pimajted.com   Please scroll down to NEWS and click on the link to: "JTED boss: Budget cuts are 'death knell.'"

    In the interview, Pima JTED Superintendent Alan L. Storm, Ph.D, describes how the upcoming Arizona State 2016 budget passed by our legislature and signed by Governor Ducey will cut funding for JTED programs by 50 percent.

    In my opinion, that is positively ruinous.

    It's going to take an army of voters to turn this issue around. 

       -Phil Richardson, Observer of the human condition and storyteller    

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