Tom Burden, Tri Star Career Tech graduate, founder and inventor of the Grypmat as well as successful Shark Tank entrepreneur,  supports CTE students through generous donations of Grypmats for students use in the programs. 

The invention of the Grypmat led Tom to appear on Shark Tank in 2017 and make a deal with Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, and Richard Branson. He is also a former Air Force Mechanic, Tri-Star Career Compact alumnus, and was the 2019 Ohio ACTE Annual Conference Keynote Speaker.

Tom continues to give back to the career-tech community in so many ways - not just by donating Grypmats for students and educators to use, but by being an advocate for career-tech fields. The community is grateful for all of his contributions and continued commitment to career-tech education!

Students at Belmont-Harrison Career Center using a Grypmat donated by Tom Burden

Ohio Department of Higher Ed Chancellor Randy Gardner and ODE Superintendent Paolo DeMaria jointly released "FAFSA 21" in spring 2021 in order to help boost FAFSA completion rates. Just over one million dollars was awarded among 25 recipients, including college access groups, educational service centers, and colleges and universities, in order to support this year's graduating students in completing their FAFSA. As the FAFSA 21 funding concludes, the awardees have shared some of the best practices they have discovered over the last few months:

• Mobile vans that travel to families
• Using community events & setting up FAFSA filing stations, including laptops
• Leveraging the use of libraries
• Sending individual emails from counselors
• Using data to guide outreach
• Combining FAFSA support with incentives such as free tax filing

FAFSA 22

The Chancellor and Superintendent are pleased to announce the new FAFSA 22 Funding Opportunity. Through this opportunity, $1.8 million dollars from Governor’s Emergency Education Relief funds will be made available to college-and-credential-attainment-focused nonprofits and Educational Service Center organizations to increase FAFSA completion rates during the 2021-22 school year. Applications are due no later than August 20, 2021. Please find additional information HERE.

FAFSA IS FOR YOU

A new website exists for Ohio students and families seeking FAFSA information; please feel free to share. Soon, counselors and others working on FAFSA completion will also find a downloadable toolkit of marketing materials that are free to use, including social media images and printable posters. That toolkit is under construction and will be available shortly, but the website is live now! Please visit our new website HERE. 

The Ohio Department of Education has a new school counselor page on our website that provides information and resources on topics including standards, evaluation, licensure and other resources to support your work. Please visit the new page HERE. 

Student presenters recognized and celebrated both the 2020 and 2021 Educator Award Winners at this year’s Annual Conference. 

The Ohio ACTE Educator Award Winners were nominated by their peers and chosen by the Ohio ACTE Awards Committee. 

Award Winners:

• 2020 Administrator of the Year: Dennis Franks –  Pickaway Ross CTC
• 2021 Administrator of the Year: Roger Wright –  Four Cities Compact
• 2020 Teacher of the Year: Derek Fitzer - South-Western City Schools Career Academy
• 2021 Teacher of the Year: Vince Ragnoni – EHOVE Career Center
• 2020 Outstanding New Career-Tech Teacher: Rebecca McCowan – Great Oaks Career Campuses
• 2021 Outstanding New Career-Tech Teacher: Gregg Severt – Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
• 2020 Outstanding Educator in Community Service: Sara Plozay – Upper Valley Career Center
• 2021 Outstanding Educators in Community Service: Tea McCaulla & Donna Patrick – Pickaway-Ross CTC
• 2020 Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year: Joy Shepherd – Apollo Career Center
• 2021 Post-Secondary Teacher of the Year: Jeff DeLong – Washington County Career Center
• 2020 Outstanding School Board Members: Julie Wagner-Feasel – Delaware Area Career Center & Paul Stefanko – Auburn Career Center
• 2021 Outstanding School Board Member: Bill Ferguson – Great Oaks Career Campuses
• 2020 Ambassador Award: Susan Schwalbauch – Pickaway ESC
• 2021 Ambassador Award: Missy Robbins – Great Oaks Career Campuses
• 2020 Career Guidance Award: Corinne Magensky – Four Cities Compact

Beverly Squirrel and Sandy Elliott from Wayne County Career Center served as the Student Coaches, working with the student presenters to perfect their speeches and deliver a great awards ceremony! The students did an excellent job of sharing their own career-tech journeys and celebrating the award winners’ accomplishments. The student presenters included:

• Brianna Fitzgerald representing FCCLA from Jackson Center High School
• Ava Hollenbeck representing BPA from Berea City Schools
• Liberty Moyer representing DECA from Carey High School
• Anvi Patel representing HOSA from Butler Tech
• Bethany Starlin representing FFA, now attending The Ohio State University
• Quinci Voisard representing Skills USA from Upper Valley Career Center

Everyone involved in the Awards Ceremony made it a special event for the winners, and congratulations again to all of the educators and Ohio career-tech supporters. Read more about all the winners here.  A full annual conference recap can be found here.

The 2021 Ohio ACTE Innovation & Impact Annual Conference provided an opportunity to hear important ODE updates, share information and begin planning for the upcoming school year.

This year’s conference looked a little different than previous years, but it was still a great opportunity to interact with colleagues, gain new insights into career-tech education, and come up with new and innovative ideas as a group. Ohio ACTE received a lot of feedback from attendees and will continue to take suggestions to make future conferences an even better professional development experience.

             

2020-2021 Ohio ACTE President Ryan McCoart served as emcee for the Opening Ceremony & Awards Presentation; Monday’s opening session featuring our keynote speaker, Scott D. Henry; Tuesday’s lunch session with Josh Davies, Chief Executive Officer, Center for Work Ethic; and Wednesday’s session with State Superintendent Paolo DeMaria and Mark Perna, CEO of TFS Results.

Incoming Ohio ACTE President Bill DiMascio with Superintendent Paolo De Maria and 2020-2021 Ohio ACTE President Ryan McCoart

Leah Amstutz, Director of the CTE Office at the Ohio Department of Education, and her colleagues at ODE also provided us with an update from ODE to start the conference Monday afternoon and throughout the rest of the conference.

2021’s conference welcomed keynote speaker, Scott D. Henry.

Scott is a  Construction Superintendent, TikTok superstar and winner of the Season 2 competition Tough as Nails on CBS. His keynote talk was on the power of positivity and how important it is to remain positive to overcome obstacles.

It's time to head back to school!

Ohio Department of Educations Resources:  Click Here

Each year, the OACTE-PACE Division honors individuals with the Bill Ruth Award and the Pacesetter Award at the Ohio ACTE Annual Conference.

The Bill Ruth Award winner for 2021 is Lauren Massie, Adult Director of C-TEC of Licking County.  Lauren has shown her advocacy for adult education by fighting at the local and state levels as well as creating new partnerships that not only benefit her local district but others regionally. Lauren provides mentoring to her team that prepares them for leadership roles, is responsible for hundreds of customized training programs and has served as an OTC representative on numerous statewide committees. 

The Bill Ruth Award honors adult administrators who exemplify the same characteristics as Bill Ruth himself-hard work, innovation, action, a “fighting” spirit and a passion for adult education.

Award Winners Lauren Massie and Kyle Fulton

Ohio ACTE-PACE Division Pacesetter Award recipients demonstrated exceptional leadership and/or innovative program achievements through service to Ohio ACTE.

There were two Pacesetter Award winners this year. The first award recipient is Kyle Fulton, Manufacturing Coordinator of C-TEC of Licking County.  Kyle has developed numerous training programs, revamped the pre-employment training program for advanced manufacturing and has redesigned the full time machining and CNC program to include automation and robotics integration. Kyle works with manufacturers across central Ohio to access their needs and create solutions that benefit both the employer and employee.  Kyle exemplifies this award and is a leader in his field. Congratulations Kyle!

The second Pacesetter Award recipient is Richard George, Director of Adult Education at Tri-Rivers Career Center.  Richard is always willing to offer assistance and share his wealth of knowledge to those who can benefit.  Richard has participated in many ways for the PACE Division of Ohio ACTE.. 

The following career-tech leaders will serve on the  2021-2022 Ohio ACTE Executive Board, beginning Sept. 1.

Christine Gardner, Jamey Palma, Bill DiMascio, Jon Graft, Ryan McCoart and Christine Boucher (Left to right)

• President: Bill DiMascio, West Shore Career-Technical District/Lakewood City Schools, Coordinator of CTE
• President-Elect: Jon Graft, Butler Tech, Superintendent/CEO
• Past-President: Ryan McCoart, Instructional Supervisor at Upper Valley Career Center
• Treasurer: Jamey Palma, Director for the Massillon City schools comprehensive CTPD
• Secretary: Christine Boucher,  Eastland-Fairfield Career and Technical Schools, Business Partnership Coordinator

Read more about the officers here.

On June 25, 2021, the Ohio General Assembly passed its biennial operating budget bill (HB 110), which Governor DeWine signed (complete with a veto message) shortly thereafter on June 30.  The budget includes numerous provisions beneficial to career-technical education, including the Fair School Funding Plan—which recognizes the high value of CTE through its revised, localized base cost approach.  It also contains high levels of funding for high school and adult industry recognized credentials and Ohio Technical Centers (OTCs).    Shortly after passage, the legislature recessed for the summer and will not return until the (September) Fall legislative session.  Included below is a snapshot summary of CTE-specific provisions; Ohio ACTE counsel and the Department of Education will provide more information on the budget during the Ohio ACTE annual (July 26-28) Summer Conference. 

Fair School Funding Plan:

• Adopts the FSFP and establishes a six-year phase-in; after this period, schools are to receive full funding under the new framework.   HB 110 specifically allocates funding for the Plan’s first two years, but allows the legislature to determine any adjustments necessary at the conclusion of the biennium (during the next budget cycle), for purposes of funding the following four years.
• Includes a revised, localized base cost approach that will vary from district to district.  The base cost per career-tech student is inherently higher under the Plan than that of a traditional student, with a statewide (CTE) average of appx. $8,300.  The Plan also maintains existing (“categorical”) career-tech weighted funding levels, but converts the (tiered) amounts to percentages of the base cost to allow for growth if/when the base cost increases.
• Maintains $1.1B in Wellness and Success funding, but re-directs those dollars to the Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid Fund for distribution.  
• Eliminates Caps/Guarantees after fully phased-in, but still contains a transitional guarantee for certain districts over the next biennium.
• Maintains career exploration dollars and requires those dollars to flow through the CTPD for distribution to associate school districts.

Funding for Industry Recognized Credentials:

• Includes $41M in funding for high school industry recognized credentials (IWIP, Test Reimbursement)
• Includes $58M for TechCred, which can in part be used to fund Individual Micro-credential Assistance Program (IMAP)

Funding for Short Term Certificates:

• Allocates $7M over the biennium for tuition assistance to OTC or Community College students enrolled in Short Term Certificate Programs

OTC Funding Increase:

• Increases the OTC line item by appx $2M over the biennium ($21.3M in FY 22 and $21.8M in FY 23)

Expansion of Adult Diploma Program:

• Expands eligibility for ADP by reducing minimum age from 22 to 20, and allowing ODHE to transfer additional dollars into the program if demand exceeds funding levels.

- by Will Vorys, Dickinson Wright, LLC, Ohio ACTE Legislative Counsel