This is an opinion piece. We value the diverse opinions of our readers and we welcome robust, wide-ranging thoughts and ideas on subjects relevant to Mendocino County. The following opinion is not representative of The Mendocino Voice, its publisher, editor or staff. Opinion pieces can be sent to info@mendovoice.com.
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.
Perhaps a bit of attention needs to be spent addressing the sociopolitical issues that will need to be addressed by any BoS candidate in any District? The mishandling of the cannabis program has left the economy of this county (or at least the Northern and Interior portions) in a shambles and while I believe education will be a primary component to the long term rebuilding of the economy, any and all BoS candidates need to address the current economic issues impacting the county right now. For example, the fiscal condition of the county will be impacted for the worse as the many former cannabis properties are resold for pennies on the dollar. The tax revenues generated by the overvaluation of hundreds of properties that now have (in some cases) millions in capital improvements that are now derelict (blight) and unused, will see a steep drop in collected land tax and business property tax revenue and be a thorn in the side of this greedy county bureaucracy. We need BoS candidates that are not afraid to discuss these issues. The current lot of reps, some of whom are unaware of the real issues in District 3 (for example) because they have proximity to Ukaiah where our taxes are funneled or the coast where there are rich retirees and and property values and businesses are bolstered by the robust tourist industry and the influx of capital from the wealthy elites that aren’t supporting the interior of the county. All in all the BoS has cost this county billions in potential taxes through its mishandling of the cannabis program, which is now practically dead. The mishandling that I speak of is the years of over taxation, the massive over reach of Building and Planning to force cultivators into building expensive infrastructure at a scale that couldn’t compete with the central valley, a refusal to use the tools that were provided to control the proliferation of commercial scale, unregulated cannabis, just to name a few. Besides that, did they fight to support people who where being raked over the coals by insurance companies to get bogus fire insurance for houses outside incorporated cities? I agree with the author that we should support programs like this, but just where are people going to be able to use these skills in this county if most the citizens are on welfare? What is the plan to encourage economic revival in this County (outside of one of the ritzy districts or incorporated towns)? Being from Covelo and trying to run a small business here might as well be trying to walk to the moon. The BoS has let us down in every way imaginable and all BoS reps deserve some credit for this reality. All BoS reps need to do a better job addressing the real challenges that were created by past boards. I’m not hearing enough about the real problems I see on the daily.