This story has been updated.
In a city where only half of high school graduates go to college and even fewer earn degrees, it should be no surprise that enrollment in career and technical education programs are is increasing in San Antonio schools.
Despite a 20.6% decline in enrollment across Harlandale Independent School District’s senior class, nearly one-third of its students will graduate with viable industry-based certifications (IBCs) this year, a 10% increase compared to 2024.
On the post secondary side, voters approved a $1 billion bond for Alamo Colleges District to, among other things, expand and add career and technical education (CTE) programs like automotive technology and nursing.
At the state level, Texas public schools saw a spike in CTE enrollment by 5.4% across grades six through 12 between 2022 and 2023.
“It’s exciting to see all of this growth,” said Dalia Flores Contreras, the chief executive officer of City Education Partners, a San Antonio-based education research and advocacy group. “Today’s learners want practical skills. They want credentials. They want to graduate with a clear return on that investment, and CTE classes really deliver both earning power and upward mobility.”
More than student demand, Flores Contreras attributed the growth in CTE to the shortage of skilled workers local employers have access to, resulting in partnerships between companies like Toyota or CPS and K-12 schools to build workforce pipelines, and a wider perspective shift on the state of education in the nation.
“Before, it was ‘college for all,’” Flores Contreras said. “Now we’re moving to a broader view of success that also includes skills, credentials and real work experience.”
Industry-based education across San Antonio school districts
Last year, 224 Harlandale ISD seniors graduated with an industry-based certification, and this year, about 262 students — 34% of its senior class — will cross the stage with at least one of the 35 such certifications offered by the district.
The rate of Harlandale ISD’s certifications for the 2024-25 school year surpassed the regional and state rates from 2024, which saw 26% of seniors in the San Antonio region and 33% of seniors across Texas graduate with an IBC.
Overall, 68% of Harlandale ISD high schoolers were enrolled in a career technical education for the 2024-25 school year, a figure that’s grown in the past few years. The districts offers 24 programs of study students can take advantage of and include cosmetology, carpentry and cybersecurity.
“This is a huge accomplishment. This means students have a very vast variety of options they can choose in terms of career exploration and opportunities,” Meghan Guerrero, CTE coordinator for the district, said at a May 19 board meeting.
By 2028, San Antonio’s tech sector is expected to grow by 12%, creating thousands of openings in the cybersecurity and artificial intelligence fields. Advanced manufacturing jobs are also expected to grow by 15% by 2028, and JCB’s new plant and Toyota’s $500 million expansion are predicted to add hundreds of local jobs.
Similarly, Guerrero expects Harlandale ISD’s CTE programs to remain steady, if not grow, in enrollment.
“One of the first things we did as a department is we streamlined our programs of study,” which is how the district’s programs were able to grow, Guerrero said.
Harlandale ISD also pays for student testing and retesting for these certifications, and helps students with legal services and requirements, such as getting state identification and fingerprinting, a requirement for some programs.
San Antonio Independent School District saw over 25% of its students access career and technical education pathways, an increase from 20% three years ago, and delivered more than 2,000 certifications for the 2022-23 school year.
Over at East Central Independent School District, 55 students recently earned AWS 9.1 Industry-based certifications in welding, a 293% increase from last year.
SAISD and ECISD are both home to CAST Schools Network, an education nonprofit that partners with school districts to offer specialized academies focused on industry credentials and career oriented learning.
North East Independent School District opened a cybersecurity magnet school program in 2021 to address labor shortages in a fast-growing career field. In February, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a Texas Cyber Command would be headquartered in San Antonio as a way to help fend off attacks from hostile foreign nations.
San Antonio also hosts Alamo Academies, Toyota TECS, TX FAME and FAST Boot Camp, all career and technical education programs that can result in students obtaining college credit, job placement and certifications.
Having such programs and opportunities to earn certifications can also allow school districts to pull down additional money from the state through College, Career and Military Readiness bonuses and CTE allotments.
The benefit for disadvantaged students
In 2022, Texas awarded $213 million in College, Career and Military Readiness outcome bonuses, providing up to $5,000 per economically disadvantaged student earning a certification to public schools. The state also invested $3.1 billion in high school career and technical programs, allocating nearly $1,800 per student enrolled.
Districts receive between 10% to 47% more funding per student enrolled in approved career and technical education courses than for regular students.
In Texas, more than half of students enrolled in such programs are economically disadvantaged and nearly 13% are English learners, which means English is not their first language, according to Advance CTE, a national nonprofit whose goal is to expand these programs across each state.
Expanding career and technical programs leads to “equity in action,” Flores Contreras said.
Students can gain access to high paying jobs and debt-free credentialing instead of having to pause their education because they can’t afford it, a common occurrence for college students in San Antonio, a city in which 18% of the population lives in poverty.
“Some people just want to be able to have, you know, enough to buy a house, raise a family, afford a mortgage,” Flores Contreras said. “The better we can bridge the K-12 system to the local economy, the better shot kids have at doing that.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of CAST Schools Network and to clarify their role as an education non-profit that partners with school districts to offer career oriented education.
