A recent proposal by President Bush could slash billions of dollars from career and technical education programs, which are used to offer high school students a variety of courses ranging from clothing design and computer programing to marketing to prepare them for the rising technological demands of the workplace.

North Carolina could lose about $35 million in federal money, according to the president's budget proposal. Federal money for career and technical education courses pay for some teacher salaries, professional development and equipment like computers and sewing machines to run the courses.

According to the proposal, money from CTE would be shifted to bolster the federal mandates of the No Child Left Behind law, a favorite initiative of the president.

"If we don't get the [funding] ... there would be no way to replace those dollars immediately," said Tom Jones, executive director of the North Carolina Association of Career and Technical Education.

Recognizing the need to maintain strong state support for the program, educators and students of CTE programs are meeting this morning to talk with legislators. As they pitch the importance of the program to legislators, educators and students are arming themselves with projects from the classes and statistics from various courses included in the CTE curriculum.

Over the past 10 to 20 years, CTE educators have revamped the courses offered students, tailoring the offerings to the modern workplace that demands a higher degree of technical savvy. Educators are even ditching the old term "vocational educational" once used to describe the courses. In the old days, students learned how to bake a cake or how to repair a car engine.

But today's CTE classes are more sophisticated with technology being incorporated in almost every course. Courses covering basic engineering or computer skills are no longer just attracting the students who aren't planning to go to college after high school. Many of school district's college-bound students also enroll in CTE courses. Some of the courses offer honors credit.

Educators say as the demands of the workforce have changed, so have the courses offered under the CTE umbrella. Roughly 70 percent of all high school students wind up taking at least one CTE course before graduation. North Carolina offers more than 140 CTE classes. In Wake County, the state's largest school district, more than 64,000 students are taking a CTE class during the 2007-08 school year.

Educators argue these courses give students hands-on experiences and entice students to see the practical relevance of academic classes like math and English.

"It gives students a chance to see all their options,"said Maxine Wall, who teaches clothing construction and design at Athens Drive High School.

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