Unfortunately, there is more evidence that the “audacity of hope” is a bust and “fierce urgency of now” is just rhetorical flourish without meaning. I say that as one of the millions who stood on the U.S. Capitol lawn proudly cheering with teary eyes at the inauguration of our 44th President.

The Obama administration has proposed a 20 percent reduction in its fiscal 2012 budget for career and technical education. Just as we were beginning to make significant headway in raising the stature of vocation education for the 21st Century we cut the proverbial legs out from underneath the effort.

Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan speaking in April before the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium said that the career technical education advocates must demonstrate the results from their programs by making a compelling case for federal funds. Duncan told the crowd that more cuts would be coming in Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act in the 2012 fiscal year. He sympathized with the Directors about the pending cuts knowing it will be difficult for them to swallow. He said it was a difficult choice to make.

I don’t get it. We can find hundreds of billions of dollars to wage war against nations, arguably with little threat to us. We resuscitated life with billions in cash infusions from the Fed when the “too big to fail” financial institutions bilked Americans and our economy was near collapse. When Ford, GM and Chrysler were in jeopardy of bankruptcy we bailed them out with billions. For all intents and purposes it appears those controversial decision made by the same administration were made with the intention of protecting our national interests.

What about our children? Is it not the education of our children that will produce the biggest result in economic gain and our democracy’s survival?

If we as a nation invest in career and technical education programs we are spending wisely for our future. The net gain in tax revenue could be in the billions from a workforce that has skills consistent with the needs in the industrial world today. In many industries employers have been clamoring for schools to increase programs that provide technical skills for entry-level workers.

No longer are these jobs sweatshop-like, rather they require the individual to have knowledge-based skills, including literacy, communication and numerical skills. It is a win-win for the individual with the skills and the employer that needs a skilled workforce.

The U.S. Department of Education reports that nearly 75 percent of all students graduate America’s high schools. Not surprisingly students that complete a more career-focused curriculum in high school graduation rate jumps to 90 percent of the total as reported by the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. There is also strong evidence that career technical education graduates go on to enroll in courses in community colleges and beyond. 

We must raise the educational bar for all students in high school by requiring A-G requirements in order for graduates to be eligible to attend any school in the UC or CSU system. Concurrent with this practice we should thoughtfully increase career-focused academies in our high schools that integrate academics into 21st century vocational pathways.

“America will not be able to resolve the crisis of unemployment, or the problem of losing the international race for more college graduates, by ignoring the large proportion of learners who achieve at high levels in applied learning settings”, said Dr. Gail Mellow, President, LaGuardia Community College. I agree with Dr. Mellow and disagree vehemently with the course the Obama administration has recently taken to reduce by 20 percent the funds for CTE in 2012.