Secretary of Education Visits BIA/OC’s BITA Program

Contact: Sarah Bruckner 949-553-9500

ANAHEIM, CA – The Secretary of Education, Scott Himelstein visited and toured the Building Industry Technology Academy (BITA) program at Katella High School in Anaheim today. BITA is a four-year program (Freshman through Senior year) that teaches high school students in-depth construction knowledge and skills training in all facets of the residential construction industry. It provides unique hands-on assignments, mentoring, professional presentations and field trips to active construction sites.

This comprehensive program is a model for private-public partnerships working to better educate local students. Developed by the Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange County Chapter (BIA/OC) in the summer of 2003, they completed a $250,000 remodel donated by members of the BIA/OC and turned the underutilized facility at Katella High School into a premiere construction program. With help from the education leaders at North Orange County Regional Occupation Program and the Anaheim Union High School District, the coalition has expanded the program to Western High School in Anaheim and Valencia High School in Placentia.

Secretary Himelstein said, “Both the Governor and I think that developing partnerships between schools and local businesses is an excellent way to prepare students for the competitive nature of the workforce they will face after high school.  By building these public-private partnerships between key industries and career technical programs students will have increased access to apprenticeships, internships and on-the-job training”.

This visit is prompted by the recent state-wide focus of increasing K-12 vocational education as a greater part of the standard curriculum. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced in his recent State of the State address that “$32 million in new funding for CTE instruction and programs. This funding, part of the Proposition 98 settlement, will: Expand student exposure to career options by building public-private partnerships between key industries and CTE programs to expand apprenticeships, internships and training” http://gov.ca.gov/sots/education.html. 

The Secretary continued, “the Governor has reversed the trend of under-funding career technical education in California.  The increase in funding for these essential programs will enable us to enhance curriculum and increase teacher recruitment and training so that we can improve career technical programs that prepare students for the 21st century economy.”

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The Orange County Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIA/OC) is a non-profit trade association representing more than 970 companies employing over 114,000 people affiliated with the home building industry.  The BIA/OC mission is to promote proactive participation in the development of economic and community issues in Orange County.  The BIA/OC is affiliated with the California BIA and the National Association of Home Builders.