KAYSVILLE, Utah — Chloe Bouwhuis carefully stuck her classmate Sarah Layton with a needle.
"We're practicing to be medical assistants," Bouwhuis explained as she worked to draw blood.
The two are seniors attending the Catalyst Center, a career and technical education (CTE) school in the Davis School District.
"I love it because it’s so hands on," Layton told FOX 13 News.
The school offers courses for students in a number of fields that allows them to graduate and get into the workforce. Some students are even working on projects for companies now.
"We have everything from audio and video production to cybersecurity to drones, culinary arts, business marketing, construction," said Dr. Tyler Poll, who oversees the center.
Programs like the Catalyst Center are about to see a big boost in the Utah State Legislature thanks to a bill being personally run by House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper. He is proposing to spend $65 million a year to offer grants to school districts to enhance their CTE offerings.
"CTE has kind of been left behind for the last couple decades, and I don't necessarily think on purpose, but I just think there hasn't been enough resources focused on Career, Technical Education," the Speaker told FOX 13 News in an interview. "We're seeing the effects of that in today's economy. We need a skilled workforce."
The Speaker said there are significant shortages for nurses and some trades. Companies are desperate for engineers.
"I talked to two computer science kids that were getting ready to graduate within a month, and they'd already accepted jobs at local companies, making $80,000 a year," Speaker Schultz said. "Walking out of high school."
The Speaker's bill, which will be unveiled in the Utah State Legislature this week, comes as the legislative leaders are pushing an overhaul of Utah's higher education system. Asked if his CTE bill would take resources from colleges and universities, the Speaker said he didn't think so.
"I think it actually builds upon that, and I think it actually makes it better," he said. "Because kids can go out of high school and go get a job. At the same time, they can go to school to get their degrees."
The higher education overhaul started as a bill that threatened to make deep cuts to all of Utah's public colleges and universities. The Speaker has characterized it as a "reallocation" and universities have already started some restructuring. The legislature has pushed to cut the time it takes to get a degree.
But some fear that liberal arts programs will still see the chopping block.
The Speaker insisted to FOX 13 News that liberal arts programs remain important — but he questioned if all of Utah's universities needed to offer the same thing. The bill being advanced does have a three-year draw down period if programs do get cut.
"The liberal arts play an important role in our society, and we're not trying to take any options away. Those options will still be there," Speaker Schultz said. " But instead of four or five universities offering the same program... and only graduating one to one to three kids out of that program per year. That's not very efficient with today's technology and online classes and everything."
