Gov. Greg Gianforte made a stop at Billings’ Park High School this week, touring woodshops, auto bays and a greenhouse as part of a broader push to position career and technical education as a cornerstone of the state’s economic strategy.
The visit underscored a governance philosophy Gianforte has pursued since taking office: that closing Montana’s workforce gap requires meeting students where they are, not where traditional four-year degree pathways assume they will go.
Park High’s CTE program offers students tracks in agriculture education, business and media, and career development, with partnerships with local employers that allow juniors and seniors to job-shadow in fields ranging from healthcare to entrepreneurship. One student is working toward a Certified Nursing Assistant credential. Another is building a business plan for a food truck.
“Everybody wins when we provide our kids with the tools they need to thrive,” Gianforte said during the visit.
The numbers behind the initiative suggest the approach is gaining traction. In 2023, more than 3,300 Montana high school students earned college credit through CTE programs — a record for the state. Apprenticeship enrollment has climbed to over 2,700 through Montana’s Registered Apprenticeship Program, a 25% increase Gianforte’s office attributes in part to a regulatory change that adjusted the journeyman-to-apprentice supervision ratio from 2:1 to 1:2, effectively doubling the number of apprentices a single journeyman can train at one time.
In 2021, Gianforte authorized every school district in the state to establish individualized, work-based learning paths — a policy shift designed to give local districts flexibility to tailor programs to the specific labor demands of their regional economies.
The workforce stakes are tangible. Montana, like many rural states, faces persistent shortages in skilled trades, healthcare and agriculture — sectors that depend heavily on workers who typically do not require a four-year degree but do require structured, hands-on training. CTE programs have re-emerged nationally as a pragmatic response to that mismatch, drawing support from employers, governors and federal policymakers across party lines.
For Gianforte, a former tech entrepreneur who founded RightNow Technologies before entering politics, the push reflects a broader view that economic competitiveness is built from the ground up — in classrooms, shops and job sites, not just university lecture halls.