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Across Shasta’s healthcare sector, Modoc’s agricultural economy, Siskiyou’s forestry operations, Humboldt’s fisheries, Mendocino’s trades, Trinity’s natural resource management, and Del Norte’s port communities, a common challenge exists: employers need skilled workers, and young people need pathways to meaningful careers at home.
Career Technical Education (CTE) connects those needs and the latest data show it’s working.
In 2023-2024, high school CTE concentrators achieved a 97.3 percent graduation rate, which is higher than overall graduation rates. In 2025, over 11 million students were enrolled in CTE programs. That is a 10 percent increase from 2023.
CTE programs are not alternative electives but core pathways to building employable skills. Nearly all public school districts across the nation offer some form of CTE to high school students, which correlates with higher engagement and improved outcomes.
These programs prepare students for careers in healthcare, agriculture, construction, forestry, clean energy, manufacturing and technology industries that form the economic backbone of rural Northern California. Yet many of our rural schools still lack the facilities, modern equipment and sustained funding needed to deliver robust CTE pathways.
Rural employers often struggle to find trained workers right here at home, forcing them to recruit from far outside the region or remain understaffed.
Federal workforce policy must shift toward flexible, regionally driven investments that support rural CTE partnerships between schools, community colleges, tribes and employers. By doing so, we can fill millions of unfilled jobs across the country while giving rural youth clear career trajectories without forcing them to leave home.
If we want to strengthen rural economies and keep our young people—and their skills— rooted in our communities, CTE must be a national priority.
Colby Smart is an independent candidate for California’s 2nd Congressional District
Yes. Too often these CTE subjects are regarded as “lesser” in quality and importance. But they are so needed.