By: Hugh Mooney, Regional Supervisor, California Department of Education
In September, we had a state-wide Zoom meeting to discuss the changes to the Agriculture Incentive Grant that will move us from an input driven funding model to an output driven funding model. Through work done by the committee and the state staff, the new funding model is based on more than forty different factors. In addition to becoming an output-based funding model, it is my belief that we will once again have a funding mechanism that will provide incentives for program improvement.
As we prepare for the next state-wide Zoom discussion, our committee thought it would be best to focus on specific portions of the plan. For the next Zoom we will focus on the Basic Grant Criteria and the Criteria for Classroom instruction (Part B). Subsequent Zoom meetings will focus on the Criteria for FFA, SAE and Outstanding Program. The committee is working to develop some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) that we will share before the next Zoom. If you have questions you would like addressed, please forward them to a committee member or your Regional Supervisor.
As we transition to greater involvement with AET on components of our website, reports will become available that will allow you to quantify your program’s progress in meeting quality criteria. There are many reports that AET is developing for us to make progress toward implementing this Output Based Funding Model for the 2022-2023 school year. This continues to be a work in progress. The committee realizes that many of you want to sit down and calculate how much funding your program will qualify for. We do not have the tools to determine that at this time. Next spring those tools likely will be available to all. One thing that we hope people will realize is that we expect no program to qualify for full funding in all areas.
Committee members
Cali Griffin, Superior Region – cgriffin@spjusd.com
Lauren Peterson, South Coast Region – lpeterson@smcjuhsd.org
Dick Piersma, Central Region – dwpiersma@att.net
Randy Mendes, North Coast Region – rmendes@sthelenaunified.org
Doug Sehnert, Southern Region – dsehnert@fuhsd.net
Clay Freeman, San Joaquin Region – clay_freeman@kernhigh.org
The next statewide Zoom meeting to review the future changes to the Agriculture Incentive Grant will be Monday, October 12 at 3:00 p.m. The invitation to the Zoom will come to you from your Regional Supervisor. We hope to send you FAQ’s at that time. If you have specific questions, please share them with a committee member, your regional supervisor, or contact me directly.
Topic: Statewide AIG Zoom #2
Time: Oct 12, 2020 03:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 856 8949 9371
Passcode: UtmB7t
For more information about the California Agricultural Teachers’ Association, visit http://calagteachers.org/
