ASUO Communications Director Curtis Haley credits his presidential scholarship and collegiate success to the skills he developed in Distributive Education Clubs of America, a high school competitive marketing club. So when Haley learned the 2009-11 Oregon legislative budget called for the elimination of the Student Leadership Development Center, which manages DECA and other career-focused clubs, he was determined to do
something about it.
“I was shocked when I went to open up the state budget and saw that the Student Leadership Development Center’s budget had been zeroed out,” said Haley, a former DECA national president. “It is a tough budget year, and I understand that, but I also know how valuable these programs are. I would have to say that the programs’ benefits far outweigh their costs.”

The SLDC’s eliminations would result in a loss of $2.2 million in support for Career and Technical Student Organizations and affect all the ones that exist in high schools across Oregon, including DECA, Future Business Leaders of America, Health Occupations Students of America, and SkillsUSA.
The expected cuts, like all state budget proposals, are open for debate until the legislative session closes around July 1.
The cuts would mean every CTSO would lose its state executive director, who is the chief organizer of each program. More than 10,000 Oregon students are involved in CTSOs who would be affected by the cuts.
Niki Clausen, the state director of SkillsUSA, said dissolving each CTSO’s director would make it impossible for the programs to function at their current levels.
“The directors are all being cut, which means that each organization’s board is going to have to take responsibility for them, and I don’t know how sustainable that is,” she said.
Without executive directors, Clausen said it is unlikely students will be able to compete this fall at regionals in group projects and speeches. And without the preliminary competitions, students are not eligible for state or nationals, where they have the opportunity to access $200,000 in college scholarships.
Haley has encouraged students involved with DECA and other CTSOs to contact their legislators and give personal testimony about how they were helped in high school by the programs. He also created a Facebook group to save the center. In two weeks, the group has grown from one to 1,000 members.
“We came a long way in two weeks,” he said. “A lot of people care about this.”
Clausen said the cuts would be devastating to students who have gained valuable work experience from the programs and discovered their professional interests from CTSOs.
“In the past, CTSO students have had opportunities early on that have helped them to figure out what they want to do with their lives. It was my experience in SkillsUSA that led me to want to be a teacher and nurture students to find their paths,” Clausen said.
However, some CTSOs, including Future Business Leaders of America, are more optimistic.
“FBLA is going to have to be run with bare bones funding, but we have a contingency plan that will keep us afloat,” said Casey Farm, executive director of FBLA.
[email protected]