We believe it is imperative to address and correct the issue that essential CTE foundational courses are slated to be eliminated from CTE funding for the 2020-2021 school year. 

The courses that will not be funded next year are all Family and Consumer Sciences Courses.  These courses are essential to the well-being of Indiana's career pathways and to the resilience of Indiana's students. The courses include:

-Nutrition and Wellness
-Child Development
-Interpersonal Relationships
-Consumer Economics
-Adult Roles and Responsibilities
 
These courses impact over 50,000 students a year.  Many local school leaders have only recently become aware of the intent to eliminate funding for these courses. With the constraints of school budgets, we are very concerned that removing the funding from these course could mean elimination of these critical courses in some schools.  Additionally, we're concerned that this is yet another way that the funding essential to support comprehensive high schools is being reduced and re-allocated.

We feel this is detrimental to students and to the value and strength of CTE programs.  These foundational courses provide students with essential employability skills; career exploration along with career standards are a critical component of all these courses; and, the career skills gained not only help students become successful citizens and community members, they also save costs for employers. Additionally, the skills taught in these courses are becoming even more critical as they are a huge component of social/emotional health, wellness, and strong family foundations.  These skills all help CTE by providing a baseline for students to social and emotional development along with skills and dispositions needed to be successful employees. And finally, these courses are the introductory courses for pathways in several of Indiana's high-demand high-wage career pathways including:

-Education and Training
-Human Services
-Hospitality
-Health Sciences

Finally these courses provide critical knowledge in areas impacting the state of Indiana and identified as high-priority by policy makers at all levels.

Most critical is Indiana's high infant and maternal mortality rate.  Child development directly addresses this issue and should be required rather than having its funding eliminated.