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• This week, recipients of the Governor's Grants for Career & Technical Education were announced, and twelve school districts across South Dakota will be receiving a combined total of over $8.5 million through the program.  From our area the Aberdeen School District was awarded $2 million for a new Career and Technical Education facility.  This facility will be used by students from Aberdeen and the surrounding area and will also be utilized by NSU to help prepare CTE instructors. 
• The grants were made available through the South Dakota Future Fund, which was created by Gov. George S. Mickelson to invest in South Dakota's workforce and build the economy. They are available on a one-time basis, so grant projects must be self-sustaining.  These grants will be used to develop new and improve existing CTE programs. These grants, along with allowing CTE courses to be substituted or taken in conjunction with foreign language courses to meet SD Opportunity Scholarship requirements, are a step in the right direction.  Our students are our future, and CTE classes will help them graduate ready for college, a career, and life.
• The benefits of Career & Technical Education programs are clear. Nationwide, the average high school graduation rate for students concentrating in CTE programs is 90.18 percent compared to an average national freshman graduation rate of 74.9 percent.  Furthermore, CTE is great for workforce development. Experts project 47 million job openings in the decade ending 2018. About one-third will require an associate's degree or certificate, and nearly all will require real-world skills that can be mastered through CTE, be it an agricultural education, FACS, business, construc

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