Tri-Valley FFA members help elementary school students with a planting project during National FFA Week. (Carrie Muehling/WJBC)

By Carrie Muehling

DOWNS – Illinois schools with agriculture education and FFA programs might be wishing Gov. Bruce Rauner had paid more attention to National FFA Week activities this week.

As area chapters are celebrating career opportunities and leadership training in agriculture, the governor’s budget proposal would zero out the agricultural education line item, which provides $1.8 million annually to support these kinds of programs.

“We need to invest our money in the future of this state, and it may sound cliché, but that’s investing in young people. And if we can do that in a way that challenges them, provides them opportunity to find their passions, and encourages them to continue on in school and to become productive members of society that are excited about what they are doing, it seems to me where that can naturally fit,” said Dr. David Mouser, superintendent of Tri-Valley Schools.

Mouser is a former Illinois FFA State President who credits the organization with many of the leadership skills he uses in making decisions today. He said the return on investment when it comes to this funding is significant.

“Some of the numbers that are kicked out even from the students that have the Supervised Agriculture Experience Programs – these students are providing internships, they’re putting money back into their local economies, they’re putting money back into the state. And those dollar figures can be researched and figured out, but it’s in the tens of thousands of dollars that these kids are generating because of the experience they’ve had in FFA, not to mention down the road what these kids are able to do for their home states and their communities and that kind of thing,” said Mouser.