Funding Rocp's

¶ … 2006 report showed that Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROCP) were effective in a number of ways; primarily assisting students who might not otherwise feel the desire to continue their education. The report showed the "importance of underlying competencies such as motivation, self-awareness, eagerness to learn and the ability to reflect upon, monitor and guide ones' learning and practice" (Curry, Johnson, Mathias, 2006, p. 22).

That ROCP's are conducive to enhanced educational endeavors can be considered a foregone conclusion in some regards, but that does not mean that the great state of California has, or can make available, the funds necessary to continue these effective programs. In fact, last year funding for educational programs in California were slashed by 20% across the board, including the ROCP's which some experts believe are the most effective programs in the state.

Funding for the ROCP's is deemed important by many of the school districts in California as one report recently determined that "most school districts are working hard to maintain the ROCP classes despite the current budget crisis" (Scott, Birdsall, 2009, p. 29). Another factor for funding that has to be considered is the number of students affected; the California Board of Education website states "approximately 470,000 students enroll in ROCP's each year" (ROCP, 2013). That's a lot of students taking advantage of the benefits of the ROCP's.

California seems to recognize the advantages of this program though because (again according to the website) "ROCP's provide rigorous and high quality programs which contribute to student's academic and career achievement which, in turn, support the economic development of the state" (ROCP, 2013). Another study showed that "high school graduates who completed career-technical Regional Occupational courses while still in high school earned higher wages in general than similar high school graduates who did not take these courses " (Adler, 2007, p. 35). Funding the ROCP's therefore seems to make a lot of sense.

There are a number of outstanding ROCP's in California and they are normally structured in one of three ways; 1) school districts participating in a county office of education operated ROCP, 2) school districts participating under a joint powers agreement, and 3) a single school district" (ROCP, 2013). There are also small school ROCP's (under 350 students) and regular ROCP's (over 350 students). Funding for the small school ROCP's takes precedence over the larger school ROCP's.

Funding is provided by California's annual budget, and according to the California Board of Education website, funding "is a fixed amount that is fully allocated to all ROCP's based on a revenue limit unique to each ROCP and a limit on the number of a.d.a units that can be funded in each ROCP. One of the concerns for funding ROCP's is that they are a part of the overall budget process in California, and lately those funds have become more and more difficult to obtain.

Additionally, the structures of the various ROCP's give the advantage to the smaller schools over the larger schools, as the smaller schools get first priority. Since smaller schools are normally more rural, the thinking goes that they will need more assistance because the business/educational partnerships that are available in more urban areas are not available to the more rural areas. There does not seem to be much difference.