While waitlists have decreased after state investments helped 20,000 more students enroll in career-tech education programs, significant geographic disparities remain across Ohio.
Updated: Feb. 10, 2026, 12:05 p.m.This map, part of a recent presentation by Gov. Mike DeWine at an annual career-tech education meeting, shows career-technical education participation across Ohio, with places in darker green having higher participation.
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Participation in career-technical education is spotty across the state, which Gov. Mike DeWine said may be related to access. Speaking recently to an annual career-technical education seminar in downtown Columbus, DeWine pointed to a shaded map that showed higher percentages of students participating in career-tech programs in Southeastern and parts of central-Western and Northwestern Ohio. The Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati metropolitan regions were mostly unshaded in the map, created by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.Demand for career-tech education continues to rise. Many programs across the state have waitlists, although the lists have gone down, DeWine said. The legislature has awarded $300 million in funding in recent years to help 116 schools establish or expand their programs by building new or enhanced facilities and purchasing state-of-the-art equipment. This has allowed an additional 20,000 students across the state to participate in career-tech courses, reducing program waitlists,The report said in the 2023-2024 school year, there were 91,015 Ohio students in a career-tech workforce development pathway, which means a path toward a career upon completion.“I know no reason why career-tech should be dramatically different from one region to another, but you see there’s a huge, huge difference,” he said. “You have holes all over the state of Ohio. You have a whole bunch in Northeast Ohio.” DeWine said that most Ohio students chose which high school they’re attending when they’re in the eighth grade. Students should be allowed to pivot in later grades and attend schools with career-tech classes. Some students in career-tech education are preparing to enter the workforce after high school graduation. But DeWine said many continue to four-year universities. Encouraging someone to go into career-tech isn’t necessarily locking them into a specific career for life, he said. “There’s this lingering feeling that you go on one track or you go on another,” DeWine said. “You go to college on this track, this is not true anymore. It can be sequential.”DeWine said he’s talked to students in career-technical education who said they disliked regular courses, or “I hated school before I came here,” he said. Laura Hancock is an award-winning politics and policy reporter in Columbus for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. She primarily covers K-12 schools, higher education and child care. She also occasionally...
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