Many journalism programs are struggling to stay afloat in schools across the country and teachers are fighting to preserve the journalism programs in their schools. With the help of federal grants and partnerships through the Journalism Education Association, journalism programs have the opportunity to flourish in schools.

“Journalism is, like many other courses, perceived to not be a core class in a school’s curriculum, so like arts, foreign language, business, it’s always fighting for resources when education funding is stretched thin,” JEA Executive Director Kelly Furnas said.

Furnas said part of the preservation efforts come from making sure decision-makers see the value in a solid journalism program. While journalism aligns perfectly with states’ language arts standards, Furnas also said student media has a positive impact on schools beyond the students in the journalism class by providing higher literacy rates and community engagement.

Schools can apply for federal funding through Perkins Grants or Career and Technical Education programs, or CTE, for journalism programs. While the CTE program benefits the future of scholastic journalism, Furnas said it is hard to overstate the complexities of how career and technical education programs work around the country.

“Although Perkins Grants provide federal funding, that funding is then allocated by individual states, who then depend on local districts and schools to administer the CTE programs,” he said. “Some schools have zero involvement with CTE. Others rely on CTE funding to operate entire departments.”

Furnas said in some states and school districts, participation in a Career and Technical Student Organization is an integral component to having a CTE program.

“The U.S. Department of Education recognizes 11 CTSOs, although not all are recognized by every state, and some states recognize CTSOs the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t,” he said.

Unfortunately, there is not a CTSO specifically for journalism, but JEA saw a lot of overlap with the programming and educational philosophy of Business Professionals of America. Furnas said JEA reached out to BPA about a potential partnership and was thrilled about the synergy between the two organizations.

“Now, for journalism programs seeking a CTSO, we’re helping broker that membership,” Furnas said. “We’re providing more journalism-specific programming at BPA’s events, and BPA is offering more leadership and entrepreneurship training our our events.”

Furnas said this partnership is not meant to disrupt journalism programs who have already aligned with another CTSO, or who don’t fit into the CTE arena.

“Since so many CTE decisions are handled at the local level, our mantra has certainly been for individual programs to do whatever works best for them,” he said. “But for teachers looking for a CTSO or seeking that career tech component for their program, we hope this relationship makes that box a little easier to check.”