The Doom of Career and Technical Education · 20 October 2026
The current FutureReady proposal will doom Career and Technical Education (CTE) in the state of Washington, and as a result will cripple both higher education and the workforce in general.
The proposed FutureReady recommendation cuts the current credit of CTE from high school graduation requirements. Perhaps the policy makers are thinking that the Financial Education course will be a CTE course, but it is not mandated as such. Even if it was mandated to be a CTE course, there should still be a full CTE credit beyond this as a requirement.
CTE classes are an important part of every high school student’s education. A friend of mine used to say tongue in cheek that CTE classes are the courses that the other classes are there to support. The grain of truth in his statement is that CTE courses put into practice the foundational material and skills that the academic classes teach. CTE teachers show the students how to apply the other courses to the world of work and give relevance to what students learn in their other high school courses.
I have been the beneficiary of CTE classes in my own education. I took an Architectural Drafting class in high school, which helped me in my college drafting course when I went to the University of Washington to become an engineer.
I have since left the engineering profession to become a CTE educator. I have been a CTE educator for over 30 years and have seen firsthand how not only my students but all CTE students have benefited from CTE classes and, more importantly, CTE teachers.
The CTE students who invest their time in CTE courses and in student leadership through Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) are the ones who are entering and completing college programs, both two-year and four-year programs. They are the ones completing certificate and apprenticeship programs. They are the ones entering the workforce prepared to do the jobs they are studying and training for. They are the ones becoming productive members of society and helping others to do the same. And they are the ones who will be hurt by the current recommendations of FutureReady if these recommendations are legislated and at least a full credit of CTE courses is not required for high school graduation.
But the damage will be wider spread than to just to those who currently take CTE courses. Indeed, the damage will be greater to those who do not already know the value of CTE courses. For those who are not required to take any CTE courses will not see the relevance of those academic courses they are required to take. The CTE course offerings will dwindle because students are not required to take them, which will mean that even those who want to take these courses will not be able to do so. Some of the students who only go to school to be in those CTE courses will stop attending. And so both higher education and the workforce will be bereft of even more quality candidates than they have today.
Am I overstating the effect of the eliminating the CTE course requirement? Perhaps. But I am not so sure. For it seems to me that CTE is the hidden gem of public education. The only ones who want to get rid of it are those who do not know any better or those who are jealous of its success.
So why has it seemed that the CTE world has been silent on FutureReady? I think it is because the proposal has changed before anybody noticed. The Draft Graduation Framework of July 22, 2026 is not the same as it was in earlier drafts, where CTE was still a graduation requirement instead of an additional nebulous requirement (as it currently stands). No supporter of CTE would look at the current proposal as a benefit to any student.
FutureReady is not ready to be enacted the way it currently stands. A full credit of CTE must continue to be a high school graduation requirement. Students, institutions of higher learning, and the workforce continue to need it to be so.
© 2026 Michael T. Miyoshi
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