On Friday, May 31st, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and Governor Gavin Newsom announced the recipients of the Golden State Pathways Program grant awards to 302 local educational agencies (LEAs) - including the Conejo Valley Unified School District. The Golden State Pathways Program is a new competitive grant program to improve college and career readiness in California high schools. The goal of the program is to improve opportunities for students and prepare them for the workforce of tomorrow.
CVUSD is one of just three grant recipients in the County of Ventura, and is the LEA to receive the most grants and the largest total of grant funds in the county.
In total CVUSD will receive more than $1.5 million dollars to plan and implement additional academic and CTE Career Pathways for high school students. The District submitted and was funded a total of four grants through the Golden State Pathways Program, one planning grant and three implementation grants:
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The planning grant includes $200,000 to plan and grow (through June 2025) an eSports program at Newbury Park High School and Westlake High School.
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The implementation grants total approximately $1.3 million for Newbury Park High School, Thousand Oaks High School and Westlake High School to implement and expand CTE Career Pathways through June 2028, in the following areas:
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Newbury Park High: Expansion of Informational Computer Technology Pathway
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Thousand Oaks High: New Biotechnology Pathway
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Westlake High: New Computer Programming/Network System Engineering Pathway
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The CVUSD, and our comprehensive high school sites are excited to receive this new funding, which will support unique academic offerings that will give scholars hands-on learning and foundational knowledge for future career opportunities. To learn more about the unique CTE Career Pathways available in the CVUSD, please visit: https://conejocte.org/
The Golden State Pathways Program is the result of funding included in the 2022 Budget Act passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Newsom.
The program was established to do all of the following:
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Promote pathways in high-wage, high-skill, high-growth areas, including (but not limited to) technology, health care, education (including early education and child development), and climate-related fields.
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Encourage collaboration between LEAs, institutions of higher education, local and regional employers, and other relevant community interest holders to develop or expand the availability of innovative college and career pathways that simultaneously align with an LEA’s local or regional labor market needs.
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Enable more pupils to access postsecondary education opportunities and workforce training opportunities or to obtain gainful employment in an industry that simultaneously aligns with local, regional, or state labor market needs.
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Support the continued development of a skilled and educated workforce with an emphasis on addressing areas of acute statewide need, such as developing a diverse workforce to meet the need for professional and learning support positions in child care settings; preschools; and schools maintaining prekindergarten, kindergarten, or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive.
