Riverside Unified highlights CTE growth as parents press for broader access

Ron Western, the district’s Career Technical Education coordinator, told the Riverside Unified School District board on Jan. 15 that the district’s CTE program now reaches “38 por 100 de nuestros estudiantes participan en programas de CTE,” and that completion rates for certain high-need groups have risen by roughly seven percentage points.

Western outlined a five-year strategic plan to align local courses with state sector standards, expand certification and accreditation opportunities and modernize CTE facilities. He told the board new welding and culinary labs are under construction and that the district is pursuing grants and Perkins funds to fill equipment and training gaps. Western noted a recent $2,000,000 grant request was not funded and said staff will resubmit and pursue alternative financing to pilot new pathways for 2027.

Board members asked for more school-by-school enrollment and wait-list figures, particularly to assess access for English learners and students with disabilities. In the presentation Western referred to recent progress points and said the district will return with more disaggregated data at the Feb. 12 board meeting.

During public comment, parents and community members urged the district to reduce concentration of specialized CTE pathways at a few campuses and expand access across more high schools. One parent, identified as Sandy during the public-comment period, said her child was denied a transfer into a biomedical pathway and asked the district to consider placing SEM/CTE resources in additional schools so students can access programs closer to home.

Board members and staff responded that the district is exploring multiple delivery models — after-school, weekend/hybrid labs and community-college partnerships — to broaden access without duplicating low-enrollment programs. Trustees asked staff to provide longitudinal enrollment trends (including pre-COVID comparisons) and a per-school breakdown of CTE participation to guide decisions about where to expand offerings.

The board did not take an immediate policy vote on program expansion but scheduled further discussion of the CTE five-year plan at the Feb. 12 meeting.