Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle Parker together visited Dobbins High in push for career and technical education

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker visited Dobbins High School Tuesday to show their support for career and technical education programs as continued funding for these programs hinges on a resolution to the state’s ongoing budget crisis.

“We want to see more schools across Pennsylvania doing what Dobbins is doing,” Shapiro said at a roundtable at the school with Parker; Neera Tanden, CEO of the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., think tank; School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington; American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten; and others.

Savannah Black, a senior at Dobbins, teared up as she talked about the opportunities the program gave her to make films and work on a podcast.

“Most kids, they don’t express themselves with their voice,” she said. “You have to see the products of their work. And that’s me. I don’t like to talk, but if you see my work, there’s a message through it. ”

Shapiro has been negotiating with a divided legislature as schools wait on millions of dollars during a budget impasse that has lasted through the summer. His budget proposal, which he announced in February, includes a $5.5 million increase for CTE programs.

The governor has championed career-oriented alternatives to college by backing initiatives such as a business partnership that supports apprenticeship programs at the Navy Yard.

Philadelphia school district officials have also recently doubled down on career training. In June, the district announced that it would cover credential costs for CTE teachers with $500,000 from the city’s general fund after the number of teachers teaching in the district without full certification doubled.

“There is no one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter way to train or learn the skills to be put on a path to self-sufficiency, because that’s ultimately what we want to do here,” Parker said.

Watlington called Shapiro and Parker “an education governor and an education mayor” who have supported the historically underfunded district during “these lean, austere budget times.” He pointed to Parker’s move to increase schools’ allocation of property taxes and Shapiro’s increases for the district on the state level, which came last year amid a court ruling that found that the state doesn’t adequately fund all its districts, though the second $500 million proposed payment could be at risk in Harrisburg.

Inside the Dobbins High fourth-floor graphics lab, Shapiro, Watlington, and Parker chatted with students and learned about the technology they work with.

“Why do you have all this extra stuff on the camera?” Shapiro asked a student photographer.

Another student said the design part of their graphics work was easy; the pressure they face was the most stressful part.

“The superintendent and I never get stressed,” Shapiro joked. “We have easy jobs.”

To that, Parker said one of her relaxation techniques is dancing. “I can still do all the dances I could do in the 1990s, and I do them when no one is watching,” the mayor said.