Posted: 10.31.2011

School districts around Wisconsin had to decide last week whether to hold classes or not after the Wisconsin Education Association Council cancelled the annual teacher's convention normally held.  It's just one sign of how the tight state budget's impacting classrooms and families.  So what about an update on agriculture education programs in the state?

In an interview with Pam Jahnke, David Kruse, Elkhorn agriculture instructor and current president of the Wisconsin Agriculture Educators Association, says it's been a good news-bad news year so far.  "The nice part is the information we're getting isn't as drastic as we were concerned about right away,"  Kruse says.  Through a survey he circulated with agriculture educators he's learned that 14 programs in the state have experienced some form of cutbacks - either in teacher time reduction in class or a reduction in their 12 month contract required for an FFA program.  What surprised Kruse is the increase in agriculture education offerings across the state.

"We actually had 14 programs that experienced an increase,"  he says.  "I was personally a little surprised to see the increases.  We had programs that may have gone from part-time positions to three quarter time or even fulltime programs"|

Kruse said there was one program that was lost in Wisconsin.  He's learned that the Lincoln-Alma Center agriculture education program was closed in part due to budget shortages, but also closed due to limited student participation.

Kruse says Wisconsin's still unsure how this year's academic changes have impacted FFA membership.  He notes those numbers will be available later this year, but is also optimistic that involvement will stay unchanged.  "Judging by the programs and competition's we've already seen,"  Kruse continues, "We don't see much of a change."

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