Career and Technical education (CTE) in California is receiving increased attention and interest by policy makers , educators and business as they look for ways to keep learning relevant for students and prepare them for college and career. An estimated 2.5 billion dollars was available to California public schools, charter schools and community colleges in 2007 for CTE. In the past two years state funding for CTE has increased by 18%. However, there is widespread agreement that access to those funds can be a daunting process as CTE is funded through a maze of programs and funding streams with multiple applications and program requirements. In addition, there currently is no central clearinghouse that provides easily accessible information about California CTE programs and how funding flows to them.

Funded by a grant from the Girard Foundation, the Center For Education Policy and Law at the University of San Diego has created this online CTE funding map designed to provide a "user friendly" navigation tool to research available funding and program requirements for CTE in California. We hope this tool will enable those interested to access CTE funding information in a much more thorough and efficient manner.

You can also access the accompanying study titled "A Study of Career and Technical Education Funding in California and San Diego County" at www.sandiego.edu/cepal.

Scott Himelstein, Director
Center For Education Policy and Law
University of San Diego