Page 167 - MFB State Annual Meeting 2018 -- RESOLUTIONS BOOK

6 training and development of leaders to work in careers
7 related to Michigan’s agricultural industry.
8 Michigan Farm Bureau commends the Michigan
9 Department of Education Office of Career and Technical
10 Education on its support and recognition of food and
11 agriculture as a greater than $100 billion industry in the
12 state through the adoption of the Agriculture, Food and
13 Natural Resources Cluster. This cluster will enable the
14 future leaders of agriculture to obtain foundational
15 knowledge that will help shape their careers and
16 ultimately promote the sustainability of the agriculture
17 industry.
18 We strongly encourage agriscience and natural
19 resources courses fulfill the criteria and be recognized
20 as a science credit by all high schools, colleges and
21 universities in Michigan.
22 Regional Educational School District administrators,
23 as well as local district superintendents, principals and
24 counselors, should be provided information on
25 curriculum requirements of agriscience careers so they
26 can encourage student participation.
27 AFNRE and FFA chapters in the state of Michigan
28 have been supported for years by the local school
29 district, added-cost funding administered by the
30 Michigan Department of Education (MDE), federal
31 Perkins dollars, and FFA Foundation funds, including
32 the Glassbrook FFA Endowment. These appropriations
33 are essential for public school districts to retain AFNRE
34 and the FFA as program priorities, and as an incentive
35 to expand these programs into other school districts.
36 Added-cost funding available to AFNRE programs
37 has continued to decline. We encourage the MDE to
38 adequately fund these programs so as to provide
39 educational and career opportunities in agriculture and
40 natural resources at the high school level.
41 We support the reporting of all information regarding
42 graduates, or completers, from all agriscience and
43 natural resources programs within the state. This
44 information should help increase the amount of added-
45 cost funding for each student currently enrolled in the
46 program. We also encourage all agriscience and natural
47 resources instructors to engage in an active role in the
48 information gathering and reporting process.
49 Community support is vital to the survival of high
50 school AFNRE programs and FFA Chapters. We
51 encourage county Farm Bureaus and members to assist
52 and become involved with their local FFA chapters.
53 We encourage MFB and county Farm Bureaus to assist
54 in state and local FFA activities. We support FFA alumni
55 associations and their efforts to strengthen agriscience and
56 natural resource education across the state and nation.
State Policies – Page 81