A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION,  Supporting adequate funding for vocational-technical education programs in South Dakota.

     WHEREAS,  the 1995 Legislature enacted a new method of distributing general state aid to school districts and this new method changed support for secondary education programs; and

     WHEREAS,  secondary vocational-technical education programs are a critical link to community and state workforce development goals; and

     WHEREAS,  a well-educated and skilled workforce is vital to the economic development of local communities and the state of South Dakota; and

     WHEREAS,  fiscal challenges can cause individual school districts to reduce or eliminate funding for certain vocational-technical programs due to the high costs sometimes associated with the special equipment and facilities they require; and

     WHEREAS,  a significant number of high school graduates go directly into articulated postsecondary education or employment opportunities:

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,  by the Senate of the Seventy-seventh Legislature

of the State of South Dakota, the House of Representatives concurring therein, that the South Dakota Legislature supports the adequate funding of approved secondary vocational-technical education programs.