Sacramento Scene Vaccine Mandate for California Students Announced Department of Education National Convention Results News & Views Lessons from the RAT Pack Seeing Yourself in CATA and FFA Applied Educational Systems: 5 Parts of Perkins V Every Teacher Should Know

Vaccine Mandate for California Students Announced By: Matt Patton, CATA Executive Director At the beginning of October, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a COVID vaccine mandate for California students 12 years of age and up. The Governor’s office also stated that teachers and school staff would be held to the same vaccination standard and timeline under the new requirement. Currently, teachers and staff can provide proof of vaccination or submit a weekly COVID test (Gutierrez, 2021).  Read More National Convention Results By: Charles Parker, California Department of Education, State FFA Advisor WOW! It was fantastic to see students experiencing, for many, their first in-person conference. National FFA and the city of Indianapolis should be commended on the success of hosting the 94th Annual National Convention and Expo. The 2021 event was well attended, with 60,700 registered participants. A BIG thank you to the CDE Staff for their leadership and support. Read More Lessons from the RAT Pack By: Matt Patton, CATA Executive Director I recently crashed a, self-named, RAT (Retired Ag Teachers) Pack breakfast. In October, the group met for breakfast in an out-of-the-way diner in central California. Mid-morning at a large table in the back of the restaurant sat nine stalwarts of our profession, all legendary figures of CATA. The group meets every month or so to reconnect. As far as anyone knows, there is no official membership list and no formal invitations. They are simply a group of retirees with a shared passion for ag education summoned by word of mouth.  Read More

Seeing Yourself in CATA and FFA By: Brian Kim, CATA Southern Region President Like many other high school agriculture teachers in the state, I knew I wanted to be an agriculture teacher through my participation and involvement within my own chapter. I would have considered myself the gung-ho FFA kid who wanted to participate in every leadership conference, run for office, and show livestock. The FFA, as it does for so many young students, provided me with a home, a place to thrive, and somewhere that I had a sense of belonging. There was a huge part of my FFA experience missing though: my parents.

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Applied Educational Systems: 5 Parts of Perkins V Every Teacher Should Know Perkins Funding is a staple of financial support for career and technical education (CTE). Perkins V, officially titled The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, presents the first major increase to that funding since 2006. Effective July 1, 2019, this much-needed overhaul of funding starts at the national level and trickles down to states based on a number of different factors. In effect, that means Perkins V works the same way as any other Perkins funding bill. So what makes Perkins V different? It breaks down to five big factors...

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