Beyond the Classroom: The Growing Momentum for Career and Technical Education in Minnesota

This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s 2026 Capitol Reporting Workshop for Minnesota youth, with financial support from the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.

Every day, as the clock strikes 11:30 a.m., the traditional high school experience ends for Dah Htoo. While his peers at Johnson Senior High School on the east side of St. Paul head to their final period of literature or history, Htoo departs campus. He drives six miles north to the Finishing Trades Institute (FTI) of the Upper Midwest, a facility that feels worlds away from the sterile, fluorescent-lit hallways of his high school.

Upon arriving at FTI, Htoo’s demeanor shifts. He isn’t just a student; he is an apprentice-in-training, eager to engage with the physical realities of the workforce. Htoo, a senior, is a participant in the Finishing Trades program, an initiative that allows students to earn high school credit while gaining hands-on experience in industrial skills.

“Right now, we’re doing drywalling,” Htoo said, describing the meticulous, labor-intensive process. “We do the process exactly how someone would do it if they were working professionally in the trades. It’s about precision and endurance.”

Htoo’s path represents a growing movement in Minnesota education: a shift away from the "college-for-all" mandate that has dominated American schooling for decades, moving instead toward a model that prioritizes immediate, tangible career readiness.

A Chance Encounter and a Change of Direction

For Htoo, the realization that his future did not have to be tethered to a four-year university degree was not a long-planned epiphany, but the result of a serendipitous intervention. Like many students who struggle to find engagement in a purely academic environment, Htoo had become disenchanted with the standard curriculum. At one point, he felt aimless, unaware that vocational training was a viable option within the public school system.

The turning point came in the form of Mary Voigt, the Career Pathway coordinator at Johnson Senior High. Voigt, who has made it her mission to bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world application, caught Htoo in the hallway while he was skipping class. Rather than reprimanding him with standard disciplinary measures, she saw an opportunity. She was preparing to lead a group of students on a field trip to the Finishing Trades Institute and invited him to join. That single invitation altered Htoo’s trajectory.

The Evolution of Career and Technical Education (CTE)

The program Htoo participates in is part of the nationwide Career and Technical Education (CTE) system. Historically dismissed by some as "vocational training" or "shop class," modern CTE is a robust, data-driven framework designed to provide students with industry-recognized credentials.

At Johnson High, the curriculum spans a diverse array of sectors, including health sciences, engineering, education, and business. For educators like Voigt, the goal is to shift the perception of high school from a series of "hoops to jump through" to a deliberate pathway toward adult autonomy.

“It became really clear right before the pandemic that families whose kids were attending Johnson didn’t see any value in the traditional school model,” Voigt explained. “I started to ask myself: Why would they care about school? What are we actually offering them? If we aren’t providing a bridge to their future, we are failing them.”

Legislative Action: Funding the Future

The success stories of students like Htoo have caught the attention of Minnesota lawmakers. Recognizing that CTE programs require specialized equipment, facilities, and partnerships with local businesses, there is a bipartisan push to bolster state funding.

A current bill under consideration in committee seeks to increase the state’s financial commitment to these programs. Authored by Rep. Bianca Virnig, a DFLer representing the Twin Cities suburbs, the legislation aims to raise the state’s reimbursement rate for CTE programs from 35% to 50%. The bill carries a significant price tag—requiring the Commissioner of Education to raise $46.5 million in each fiscal year through tax structures—but proponents argue the investment is necessary to prevent students from falling through the cracks.

“The goal is to get those young people to make it through the week, the month, the year—to give them the life skills they need to live into adulthood,” Rep. Virnig said during a committee hearing.

The bill also introduces a layer of accountability, requiring school districts to submit comprehensive annual reports to the Minnesota Department of Education. This move is intended to ensure that state funds are being utilized effectively to drive student outcomes, rather than being absorbed into general district budgets.

The Complexity of the “Living Wage” Debate

While the legislative momentum is strong, not everyone is convinced that CTE is a panacea. Troy Haugen, the director of Career and College Readiness at Minnesota CTE, emphasizes that the primary objective of these programs is to funnel students into “high wage and high demand” fields. However, recent data has complicated this narrative.

A 2024 study by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) presented sobering findings: on average, none of the fields offered by current CTE programs generate a "living wage"—as defined by the state—for workers within five years of their graduation. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the living wage in the Twin Cities metro area is approximately $48,500 per year. Currently, only students who participate in international business CTE programs are trending toward earnings above that threshold.

This data point suggests that while CTE provides valuable experience, the pathway to true economic independence may be more complex than simply completing a high school program. It highlights a need for further integration between secondary education and post-secondary technical certifications or apprenticeships, which often lead to higher pay scales than entry-level trade work alone.

Graduation Rates and the Hidden Benefits of CTE

Despite the wage data, proponents of CTE point to another critical metric: student retention. A 2025 study from the Minnesota Department of Education found that 92% of students enrolled in two or more CTE programs graduate from high school—an 8% improvement over the statewide average.

For educators, this statistic is the most compelling argument for the program. If CTE serves as the "hook" that keeps students in school, the long-term societal benefits of higher graduation rates—lower rates of unemployment, reduced reliance on social services, and increased civic engagement—far outweigh the initial costs of the programs.

Yet, a persistent challenge remains: awareness. Even in schools with robust CTE offerings, students often remain in the dark about their options.

“I know that there are a lot of opportunities you can get with the school,” said Anna Warren, a student at Highland Park Senior High School. “But oftentimes, they’re not very well publicized. You have to be the one to go looking for them, and if you don’t know they exist, you aren’t going to look.”

Bridging the Information Gap

Back at Johnson Senior High, Mary Voigt is working to bridge this information gap through aggressive, consistent outreach. She utilizes an "ad-a-week" strategy, sending out announcements and holding workshops designed to keep Career Pathways at the forefront of students’ minds.

“I try to do an ad once a week,” Voigt said. “I just want to draw attention to something about career pathways. I think kids know who I am, and they know what Career Pathways is. It’s been pretty successful.”

Her efforts have directly benefited students like Dah Htoo. For Htoo, the value of the Finishing Trades program isn’t found in a textbook; it is found in the autonomy of learning a craft.

“I didn’t want to just sit in an office and type all day,” Htoo said. “I want to do something productive and hands-on.”

With graduation approaching, Htoo is no longer the disengaged student who needed to be pulled out of a hallway. He is a focused young adult with a plan, hoping to pursue a full-time career in construction or welding.

Implications for the Future of Work

The debate surrounding CTE in Minnesota is ultimately a debate about the purpose of public education in the 21st century. As the state grapples with labor shortages in essential trades—from construction to healthcare—the alignment of high school curricula with regional workforce needs is becoming a matter of economic survival.

Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy has signaled support for the funding bill in principle, though she maintains a cautious stance, noting that "the devil is in the details." The legislature’s challenge will be to balance the immediate need for program expansion with the long-term necessity of ensuring that these pathways provide students with sustainable, living-wage careers.

For students like Htoo, the programs are already delivering on their most basic promise: giving them a reason to show up. As the state moves toward a potential expansion of CTE funding, the focus will likely shift from simply getting students through the door to ensuring that the door leads to a prosperous and stable future.

In the hallways of schools across Minnesota, the message is slowly changing. The path to success is no longer a singular, narrow road leading to a four-year degree, but a broad network of opportunities—and for many, it starts with a pair of work boots and a commitment to learning a trade.