Ohio’s Schools Need A Career-Focused Transformation. This State Budget Can Be The Start.

Ohio Excels
40 minutes ago
4 min read

Lisa A. Gray

President, Ohio Excels

Our representatives in the Statehouse have a long list of priorities to consider as they put together the 2026-27 state budget — that’s undeniable. But ultimately, none of those competing needs can be more fundamental than fostering a healthy economy with opportunity for all Ohioans to thrive. It’s the foundation for anything else we hope to achieve in our state.

And there’s a critical opportunity-building tool that Ohio so far has failed to be put to full use: career-connected learning. That’s classroom instruction and work-related learning designed to inform and prepare kids of all ages for the lucrative careers that await them at the end of their education journeys.

Career-connected learning is about helping every student build a clear path from the classroom to a meaningful career. It includes a range of experiences—career exposure, planning, and hands-on opportunities—that help students understand their options and make informed choices about their futures.

Career-technical education (CTE) plays a critical role in this continuum, offering structured pathways that combine academic knowledge with technical skills. Students in CTE programs are more likely to graduate—96% compared with the statewide average of 88%. These programs can lead directly to high-wage, high-demand jobs or serve as a strong foundation for postsecondary education – or both.

However, CTE is just one piece of the puzzle. In Ohio, only about 18% of high school students are enrolled in CTE pathways. To truly prepare all students for success, we must expand access to career-connected learning for every student—regardless of whether they choose college, workforce training, or another route.

Unfortunately, too many Ohioans finish high school without having taken a single career-connected course. Research by Ohio Excels, a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of business leaders concerned about educational outcomes, shows that among the high-school class of 2018 the most recent data available, 43% either didn’t graduate or didn’t go on to any post-high-school education. This lack of direction and preparation stands in stark contrast to what families want as polling conducted by Ohio Excels found that 86% of parents believe it’s important for their child to have a clear plan mapping out a pathway to a career after high school or college.

That’s more than 61,000 young people annually who begin their adult lives at a severe employment disadvantage, considering that by 2031, two-thirds of all jobs will require some education or training beyond high school. This gap doesn’t hurt just the people unable to take advantage of good available jobs; it hurts employers who can’t find the qualified workforce they need, and that undermines Ohio’s economy, hurting everyone.

Solutions already exist, and they have the support of groups across a wide spectrum, including some who aren’t always partners. A number of them are joining Ohio Excels in calling for a stronger system of career-connected education in Ohio. They include the Alliance for High Quality Education, Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education, Ohio Farm Bureau, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Learn to Earn Dayton, Greater Cleveland Career Consortium and ExcelinEd. Watch and read more here.

The coalition has laid out a road map for making Ohio’s education system more relevant to today’s students, by putting those students — along with the skills, connections and experience they need to thrive beyond high school — at the center. We urge lawmakers to read it and keep it in mind while deciding how to fund Ohio’s future. Recommendations include:

Require career education and coaching for middle-schoolers, which will aid in guiding them through high school and on their pathway to careers, but allow flexibility on how it is delivered;
Ensure transparency and strengthen investments in programming by supporting the Education & Workforce Data Insight Board, which will guide the development of user-friendly reporting of student outcomes;
Expand access to high-quality work-based learning opportunities, in part by funding incentives for employers to participate;
Ensure that state policies promote and incentivize students to earn industry credentials that are in demand by employers;
Expand opportunities and enrollment in high-quality CTE and phase out a waiver that currently allows schools to opt out of CTE for 7th and 8th graders.

In addition to the coalition’s recommendations, we would ask for the reinstatement of the Career Awareness and Exploration funds to continue fostering career development initiatives at the local level.

In today’s fast-changing and increasingly skill-dependent economy, failing to equip our schools to give students what they need to succeed is not an option — not if we want Ohio to be a place where our children and their children can prosper and raise healthy families.

Ohio Excels believes we can transform our K-12 system to meet these needs through the state budget. We urge our legislators to make a strong start now.

Ohio Excels is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization created in 2018 by state business leaders to improve educational outcomes and ensure K-12 schools prepare students for success in higher education, the military, and the workforce. For more information on Ohio Excels, visit https://www.ohioexcels.org/.