The Mineola High School Career and Technical Education program continues to grow.

About 40 new students have joined this year.

Assistant Superintendent David Sauer reviewed the program’s progress at last week’s school board meeting.

To accommodate that growth, he said the district will need to look at expanded auto shop facilities and moving the half-day heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and welding teachers to full days.

The auto tech program has to turn students away, he said, because there is not space to accommodate more.

That facility is probably original to the campus, which was built in the early 1970s.

All of the programs utilize state-of-the-art equipment, Sauer said, thanks to some grants the district has received.

The HVAC and welding programs have been able to function with half-time teachers, but with students moving into the junior and senior years of the program, those positions will need to be full-time, Sauer said.

He reviewed all the other facilities which include two barns for housing small and large animals: the ag building and attached shop, which includes some of the welding program; the new welding shop; the HVAC shop which is in the former maintenance building; and the annex building which houses health sciences, including a new lab and the education and training program.

Sauer reviewed the nine program areas offered to students: information technology, animal science, agribusiness, welding, HVAC, industrial systems, auto tech, education and training and health sciences.

He said the animal science program is leading up to certifications as veterinary assistants and veterinary techs in the near future.

Such certifications are part of the benefit of CTE programming.

All high school students are required to have a credit indicating college, career and military readiness (CCMR), and one way is through industry certifications. Sauer said that 70 to 80 percent of recent graduates earned such certifications.

CCMR factors into the district’s accountability rating from the state.

A CTE program must also reassess every two years to determine that its programs are aligned with area workforce needs.

Mineola’s programs are aimed to the workforce needs in East Texas, he said.

CTE programs receive funding from three areas, Sauer explained. The bulk comes from the state, which pays districts extra money for students in CTE programs.

Districts earn state dollars for average daily attendance, and it would be well over $1 million for Mineola with full attendance, he said.

The program has about 465 students enrolled, Sauer said, which includes some students counted twice due to the number of courses they are taking.

Another $20,000 comes from federal funds, and the rest is from the five area districts that send students to Mineola for programs they don’t offer.

Only Grand Saline sent eight students this year, as the other districts did not feel comfortable sending students due to issues from COVID-19, Sauer said.

Fourth-year CTE students are required to obtain work-based learning and internships, and the district is building relationships with community businesses.

For example, Sauer said, MISD is reaching out to auto dealerships for the auto tech students.

MISD will need to market its CTE program and let people in the community know what is going on, he concluded.