In an area where strawberry and broccoli fields share space with grazing land for cows and horses, it’s natural that agricultural learning takes place in lockstep with high school education and athletics. Out of Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s 7,500 students, more than 1,500 participate in Future Farmers of America (FFA) and take classes from the agricultural departments at three of the district’s high schools.
For the last five years, students at Pioneer Valley High School haven’t had a school farm, FFA adviser and ag teacher Hector Guerra said. He added that Ernest Righetti High School’s agricultural program could soon lose the land it uses as a school farm because of a land sale. Guerra also wonders how long Santa Maria High School will be able to hang on to the farmland its students use.
In short, neither the high schools nor the district owns a farm students can use to complete their projects; thus far, high school programs have relied on the generosity of local farmers and private property owners. But access to land isn’t always consistent and can sometimes disappear completely.
Soon, though, things could change.
The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board of Education approved the purchase of a 25-acre plot of land at its March 12 meeting that could put the district’s ag program in the same square as the Central Valley high school districts. Guerra said school farms are common in places like the San Joaquin Valley, and Santa Maria educators have been looking for a spot to put a farm for at least 10 years.
“We’ve been looking for it since I got here,” Guerra said. “If we had a place for [students] to have their animals, have their crops, whatever they may have, that’s the benefit.”
The spot the district found is as centrally located between the three high schools as it can be, Guerra added. The property is north of the Elks Rodeo grounds and east of U.S. Highway 101. International Foursquare Gospel, a religious corporation, currently owns the land, and it’s used for crop farming, which would make transitioning the property to school agricultural program needs fairly easy.
While that’s the near-term outlook for the plot, district Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum John Davis said that’s not the only plan for it.
“In the short term, that will be the quickest because it’s already farmland,” Davis said. “And while that’s going on, we would be working on getting a multi-use facility going, this sort of career and technical classroom.”
He said that over the last year and a half, the district has been focusing on finding ways to broaden access to career and technical programs that can give students the vocational training they need to step onto a specific path directly after high school.
“Give them some experience, some real-world experience they can use to pursue some degree program,” Davis said, “or even so they can go to work directly out of high school … because not everyone goes to college.”
Short-term development plans focus on a centralized farm for agricultural students to go about their business, including raising animals and produce for county fair competitions, FFA, and other projects. Student and staff activities will involve crop farming, livestock rearing, and horticulture. Fencing, pens, shelters, a pole barn, storage sheds, portable restrooms, and landscaping are also part of that plan.
As agricultural education gets up and going on the property, the district will work on bringing other vocational programs to the site. This includes construction of structures or facilities to house the Career Technical Education Center and Capstone Career Pathway courses. Specialized classrooms, support rooms, labs, offices, meeting areas, storage, paved roadways, and parking will also be considered.
The land purchase will cost the district $3.6 million and be paid for by C-2004 Bond funds, which are also known as general obligation bond dollars. But before any movement can be made on development plans, the property will spend nine to 12 months in escrow. Escrow is a process some property sales go through before a sale is final; funds are held by a third party, either until financial obligations are met or all conditions of the sale are met.
Davis said during the escrow period, a series of assessments that include soil, environmental, and safety studies will also be completed to make sure the property meets the requirements for being a public school site.
FFA adviser Guerra said the district’s move to funnel money into agricultural education doesn’t seem like something that’s happening at the state and local government levels. Gov. Jerry Brown proposed complete elimination of the Agricultural Education Incentive Grant in the 2014-2015 state budget. The program helps fund agricultural education in public schools by providing matching funds for districts that meet state-approved program standards. The money can help FFA programs pay for things such as Righetti FFA’s recent trip to King City on March 21 and 22 to participate in a speech competition.
“It took me by surprise when they told me about the plot and showed me the land,” Guerra said. “We’ve been trying for a while, and with the way that the state is with its budget, it’s surprising that [the district] would invest in us like this … but I know agriculture is important to this area.”
In a press release sent out by the district, Superintendent Mark Richardson said the school board and the community made it a priority to support agriculture and other specialized education needs.
“This project could not have been possible without the generosity of many community members and business partners over the years who have supported our programs through donations of time, money, and other resources,” Richardson said in the press release. “This generosity, coupled with the hard work of our ag teachers and students, have laid the foundation in the future of agriculture and career education in the Santa Maria Valley.”
Contact Staff Writer Camillia Lanham at clanham@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 20-27, 2014.