When vocational education high schools first gained solid footing in Ohio four or five decades ago, too often they were viewed as the Rodney Dangerfields of public education. Simply put, they got little to no respect.

Many maligned them as stomping grounds for those who would not or could not meet the rigorous standards of the college-prep academic path. Such snobbish snipes were not only inaccurate and unfair, they are downright misguided.

Today’s network of seven dozen career and technical centers in Ohio — including the Valley’s Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, Trumbull Career and Technical Center, Columbiana Career and Technical Center and the Choffin Career and Technical Center — have come of age. They increasingly place a premium on training bright young students in highly skilled, technical, marketable and highly sought-out trades. As a result, interest in attendance has skyrocketed.

In Mahoning County, for example, MCCTC Superintendent John Zehentbauer said the school is flooded with applications. The school has 600 new applicants but space for only about 430 in its 21 programs. In Trumbull County, TCTC Superintendent Jason Gray said enrollment has gone through the roof as well.

Given those clear trends, we were pleased earlier this year when Gov. Mike DeWine proposed a major boost for career and tech education in his 2024-2025 biennial budget proposal. At first glance, the increases look staggering, but they really only respond to the meteoric rise in interest and need for cutting-edge career education in our state.

One aspect of DeWine’s proposal would spend $102.2 million on special key CTE (career technical education) programs in fiscal year 2024, 264 percent more than the $28 million spent on them in fiscal 2022.

Of special note in the two-year proposal is the additional earmarking of $100 million of the total over two years for equipment for CTE schools and $200 million for new construction and expansion of them.

The Ohio General Assembly should give serious consideration and ultimate approval to the governor’s recommendation long before its June 30 deadline. State senators and House members should take note of the feedback the governor, first lady and lieutenant governor received on their fact-finding tour of CTE centers over the past year.

“When Fran and I and the lieutenant Governor were visiting these career centers, we would talk to the teachers and the superintendents about the different programs they offer. We would ask about the number of students enrolled, and so often, the teachers would tell us that more kids want to take the courses, but there are waitlists because there simply aren’t enough open spots,” DeWine said in his State of the State address this year. “In other cases, they told us they don’t have the most modern, up-to-date equipment needed to teach certain courses.”

In addition to the funding boosts that Mahoning Valley CTE needs clearly justify, the governor’s budget recommendation also includes three valuable objectives to better ensure such spending is fiscally responsible.

First, an analysis of credentials Ohio employers demand and those that students actually earn are significantly out of whack. Only 20 percent of credentials earned by the Class of 2020 in Ohio were considered “in demand,” according to a study conducted by Lightcast, a labor analytics organization and published by the Thomas Fordham Institute. Sixty-eight percent of the state’s credentials lack “meaningful labor market demand,” the study concluded. That’s why the governor’s objective to substantially increase “in-demand” programs be a cornerstone of the funding boost.

The budget recommendation also calls for more work-based learning in which students gain credits for on-the-job training pursued in tandem with their school curriculum. It also calls for schools to develop more locally focused partnerships.

Both of these goals clearly have merit as well. In the Valley, the partnership between the Youngstown State University Excellence Training Center and the four CTE schools in the Valley already is bringing terrific opportunities for the growing cadre of high schoolers pursuing education in the lucrative field of advanced manufacturing.

Career-focused education also makes particularly good sense locally and in Ohio. From the $100 billion Intel Chip plant under construction near Columbus to the Ultium Cells, Foxconn and other companies sparking our “Voltage Valley,” skilled-trades job opportunities are plentiful and on a trajectory of growth.

And, let’s face it. Not everyone desires to pursue four years of largely classroom-focused learning in college or university.

Their vocational or technical skills are needed just as much — if not more in many cases — to keep our economy humming.

Frankly, if we want to continue to be a world leader in manufacturing and new technology, we must ensure our workforce is ready and able.

That requires solid investment in youth and in the education they receive. And that’s why DeWine’s proposed investment in career and technical education over the next two years in Ohio warrants sweeping bipartisan support in our state Legislature.

editorial@vindy.com