La Cañada High wins state grants to help guide students’ career pathways
La Cañada High School has been awarded $443,000 in state matching grants — a figure that could rise to $997,000 in the next two years — to build and advance career pathways for students, Principal Ian McFeat told school board members Tuesday.
McFeat explained how the high school was poised to take advantage of an incentive grant program created by the California Department of Education’s Career and College Transition division during the 2015-16 budget cycle to help education agencies build or further Career Technical Education (CTE) programs designed to help prepare students for college and the workplace.
This school year, La Cañada High School introduced a comprehensive elective-based pathways program for students in grades 7 through 12 interested in a number of professional fields, ranging from engineering and culinary arts to sports medicine and video and TV production.
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The timing couldn’t have been more opportune — in March, the Department of Education announced it would offer $900 million in incentive grants over a three-year period to schools and districts offering sequenced courses that allow students to more successfully transition to college and careers.
“The idea is to encourage new CTE programs and, at the same time, bolster up and maintain the programs we already have,” McFeat said.
School districts are required to provide their own matching funds for all grant money received, he added, in order to ensure programs have the investment and long-term support of school districts.
In the first year, the state offers $1 for every $1 La Cañada Unified spends on qualifying programs. The following year, LCUSD will get $1 in matching funds for every $1.50 it invests in programs, and in the third year, it will have to spend $2 of its own money for every $1 awarded by the state.
LCUSD’s initial grant was for $237,263, but due to a high amount of unclaimed grant money, state officials circled back to existing grant recipients and offered more. This year alone, the district has a capacity of earning $419,235 of the $443,422 offered if it can finance that commitment.
McFeat said the money could be spent in a number of ways. It could fund CTE teachers, administrators and classified staff, or be used toward class supplies and professional development. So far, $272,669 in grant money has been used to pay for equipment, supplies and infrastructure upgrades for all pathways at the high school.
Officials say the district will likely only be able to fund enough programs to receive $419,235 of the total amount being offered by the state in the first year. Second-year grant figures come in at around $339,000, while another $200,000 could be offered in the program’s third year.
Because the state’s commitment declines and then presumably ends after three years, McFeat said it would be prudent for the district to spend money on one-time costs, such as equipment purchases and infrastructure upgrades, rather than ongoing personnel costs.
“The goal is to not make your programs dependent on these funds, but to build your infrastructure so when they go away you’re not in bad shape,” Board President David Sagal clarified.
Elective pathways at LCHS are sequenced, to allow students to take an introductory class and an intermediate-level class, followed by a capstone class that would likely involve an applied-skills project like an internship or collaboration with a local business or agency.
Board member Ellen Multari asked if the sequencing would discourage students from taking random elective classes purely out of interest or curiosity. Supt. Wendy Sinnette said she didn’t think that would happen.
“I think it’s going to be a [case of] learning as we go and trying to keep a cohort that will carry through the pathways so they can demonstrate fidelity to the pathways,” she said.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
