Latest news with #Career&TechnicalEducation
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
First Flight schools secure top placements at the NC Renewable Energy Challenge
KILL DEVIL HILLS, Nc. (WAVY) – Students from First Flight Middle School and First Flight High School displayed their knowledge of engineering and renewable energy by earning top honors at the North Carolina Renewable Energy Challenge held at the Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese. The NC Renewable Energy Challenge is a competition where students compete to build and design the most efficient alternative energy device. First Flight students secured the top placements in their respective divisions. Water Turbine Contest – High School Division 1st place: Alex Sharp (First Flight High) 2nd place: Autumn Sailor, Aidan Tabolt, and Harry Lipchak (First Flight High team) Wind Turbine Contest – 4th-8th Grade Division 1st place: Adriana Daniels, Enzo Piacenza, Diego Reyes-Avila, and Heidi Wisecarver (First Flight Middle team) Wind Turbine Contest – High School Division 1st place: Autumn Sailor, Aidan Tabolt, and Harry Lipchak (First Flight High team) In addition to the wind and water turbine contests, students participated in four mini-challenges and interviews for extra points. First Flight student competitors earned a total of $900 in prize money and are invited to represent the state at the 2025 KidWind Challenge Worlds in Phoenix, Arizona in May. 'These students have put in an incredible amount of effort, and their results speak for themselves,' said Dr. Duke Wallin, First Flight High School's career development coordinator (CTE) and co-coach. 'Winning at both the middle and high school levels reflects the strength of our STEM and Career & Technical Education programs here in Dare County, and we are incredibly proud of their accomplishments.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: President Trump's Dismantling of the Education Dept. Is Welcome News for States
The directive from President Donald Trump and Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the federal Department of Education and return power to the states is welcome news for many of us leading education policy at the state and local levels. Like other efforts by this administration, a full-scale scrutiny of public programs is exactly what's needed to reform the federal bureaucracy, reduce government and deliver results. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter With a roughly $270 billion budget, the U.S. Department of Education is the sixth-highest funded federal agency. Despite the billions being poured into the department, educational progress of our students nationally has continued to decline or stagnate. Returning funding and control to the states, rather than propping up a bloated bureaucracy at taxpayer expense, will empower states to better serve our students. Though the department has spent trillions of dollars since its establishment in the 1980s, only a fraction of education funding comes from the federal government. State and local funding sources make up more than 85% of education support in the U.S. Here in Indiana, where I'm speaker of the state House of Representatives, nearly half of our state budget goes directly to supporting our students. The federal funds we do receive play a role, but too often, those dollars come with layers of red tape and federal mandates that waste time, money and resources. A far better solution would be to distribute funds as block grants to the states, eliminating wasteful government and freeing up more dollars for states to allocate as they see fit. Related The February announcement reversing Biden-era regulatory burdens around Career & Technical Education (CTE) funding is just one example that underscores this point. The Education Department estimates that the new regulations, issued in December 2024, added thousands of hours in additional reporting compliance requirements on states, high schools and community colleges. This wastes dollars and time that should be spent educating our kids. There's a reason education has been left largely to the states. Local communities and school leaders are best positioned to innovate and respond to student needs. In Indiana, we've spent the past two decades reforming our education system to prioritize students and focus on outcomes. We've adjusted our school funding formula so that dollars follow the student, and we've advanced one of the largest and most successful school choice programs in the nation to ensure that every student has access to a school that works for them. Related When Indiana students were suffering from pandemic-related learning losses, we took quick action to reverse the trend. To support students with special needs, we created an education scholarship account program giving families the option to seek a learning environment tailored to them. Rest assured, states can do a much better job of meeting the diverse needs of our kids than a room full of bureaucrats hundreds of miles away. We're proving it with the results. Indiana recently jumped to sixth in the nation for fourth and eighth grade reading, according to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) rankings. We also rank in the top 10 for fourth grade math. Indiana's progress isn't because of Washington, it's because Indiana leaders trusted parents, teachers and local schools to make the right decisions for their students. States should be empowered to improve education locally instead of padding a dysfunctional and ineffective federal agency. President Trump and Secretary McMahon are right to take on the federal education establishment because education belongs in the hands of state and local leaders, not Washington bureaucrats. It should be shaped by the parents, teachers and communities who know them best and can deliver the greatest impact.
