Approvals and Applications for a CTE Pathway: Toolkit

About this toolkit and the two approvals every pathway needs

This toolkit covers the paperwork you file before students sit in a new CTE program: what you submit, to whom, and how long each office takes. It is written once for every pathway. Nurse aide and electrical serve as the worked examples because they show the two common shapes of the approval problem.

Most pathways need two separate approvals, and they come from different offices.

1. State CTE program approval. Your state education agency approves the program as a CTE program. This approval is what makes the program eligible for state CTE funding and lets it count as a Perkins V program of study. It does not license anyone or authorize students to do regulated work.
2. Occupational or credential approval. A second body decides whether your program can lead to the credential. For nurse aide, this is the state nurse aide regulator, and it is required in all seven states reviewed. For electrical, there is no single regulator; instead you deal with a credential provider (usually NCCER), the apprenticeship registrar if students will be paid apprentices, and state child labor filings for worksite placements.

The two approvals run on different calendars. The CTE side often closes in spring for the following fall. The occupational side has its own review clock, with site visits in several states. Plan them as parallel tracks with one owner for each, and do not count the program as ready until both are done.

What you will find below:

• CTE program approval by state, with the office, system, requirements and deadlines.
• What the nurse aide regulator asks for in each state.
• The approvals and registrations that apply to an electrical program.
• A drawn timeline built only from published processing times.
• An approval tracker you can copy.

Items are labeled Confirmed, Confirm with the agency, or Changing. Last checked October 2, 2026.

CTE program approval by state

Every state asks for roughly the same evidence: labor market need, an advisory committee, a certified teacher, standards-aligned curriculum, adequate equipment and a postsecondary link. What differs is the system you file in, the deadline, and how tightly funding is tied to approval.

Getting a credential onto the state list

If the credential your program leads to is not on the state’s approved list, it may not count for funding or accountability. Check the list first, and if you need to add a credential, plan around these windows.

Worked example: the nurse aide program application

In all seven states, a high school nurse aide program needs approval from the state nurse aide regulator in addition to CTE program approval. The packets look alike across states. Each asks for a named RN instructor the regulator approves, a curriculum that meets the state’s hours, a lab with equipment, written policies, clinical site approval or a written clinical agreement, and in most states a site visit before approval.

To build your packet, start with the state row below, then gather the pieces from the other toolkits: the instructor from Staffing, the clinical agreement from Clinical and Work-Based Learning Partnerships, the lab from Facilities and Equipment, and the curriculum from Curriculum.

Worked example: the electrical program’s approvals and registrations

An electrical program needs state CTE program approval like any other. No state licensing board approves a high school electrical program, so the second layer is a set of smaller relationships and filings. Which ones apply depends on whether your students stay in the school lab, go to unpaid worksite learning, or work as paid apprentices.

The credential provider (NCCER)

Most high school electrical programs teach to NCCER Electrical. NCCER offers schools three routes:

• Be sponsored by an existing NCCER-accredited college, association or contractor.
• Operate under your state education agency, if your state agency holds NCCER accreditation.
• Use NCCER’s High School Builder program if you are starting construction CTE.

Your instructor completes NCCER’s Instructor Certification Training Program (ICTP), which is virtual. North Carolina lists the cost as $385 through a DPI-partnered master trainer or $199 through NCCER directly, and requires the program to hold NCCER accreditation to serve as a test site. NCCER does not publish accreditation fees or timelines, so ask its workforce development team early. Confirm with the agency: fees, timelines, and whether your state education agency holds accreditation you can operate under.

Registered apprenticeship, if students will be paid apprentices

Federal standards set a minimum apprentice age of 16. Who registers your program depends on the state.

State child labor filings for worksite placements

No federal hazardous occupations order bars minors from electrical work as such. The limits come from state law and from task-specific federal orders (lifts, roofs, trenches). The Partnerships toolkit covers these in full; here is what you file.

• North Carolina. Minors cannot work as an electrician or helper unless they are a registered apprentice, an FLSA student-learner, or under an NCDOL-approved Supervised Practice agreement (ages 16 and 17). NCDOL must approve that agreement before the student starts; submit it about 60 days ahead. A youth employment certificate is required for all minors. Confirmed (approval before start); 60 days is a planning lead time.
• Virginia. A written work-training agreement signed by the employer and school coordinator, with a copy filed with DOLI. Confirmed.
• Pennsylvania. Minors are barred from electrical work except apprentices, student-learners and graduates of an approved vocational program in the occupation. Every minor needs a work permit. Confirmed.
• Michigan. From October 2, 2026, youth work permits are issued through LEO’s online Youth Employment Permit Portal, and employers register before hiring a minor. Work under a written school-employer agreement is exempt from the state act, though federal rules still apply. Changing: the portal is new.
• Hawaii. Certificate of Age (eCL-3) online through DLIR. Student-learner exemptions require a DOE-approved cooperative vocational program. Confirmed.
• Arizona and Missouri. No state filing found for 16- and 17-year-olds; federal student-learner rules govern. Confirmed.

The credential list

Missouri and North Carolina list NCCER Electrical on their current credential lists. Arizona ties CTED funding to programs that lead to a certification or license where one exists. Confirm with the agency that NCCER Electrical is on the current list in Michigan, Virginia and Pennsylvania before you build the program around it.

The approval timeline: work backward from the first class

The timeline below uses only published deadlines and processing times. Where a state publishes no clock, plan as if it were at least as long as the longest published one.

Run the two approvals in parallel and start about a year out

Show the steps as text

• Track 1: State CTE program approval
• Build the case: Needs assessment, advisory committee, labor market data
• File CTE approval: MO: Sept 1 to May 1 PA: spring CATS file MI: window by memo
• CTE approval granted: Unlocks state CTE funding and Perkins program of study status
• Track 2: Nurse aide regulator approval
• Instructor and site: RN instructor the regulator approves; clinical agreement
• File nurse aide app: 4 to 5 months before the first class VA, AZ: 90 days minimum
• Regulator review: MO, HI: up to 90 days AZ: 120 days MI: about 90 to 150
• First students: only after both approvals are in hand
• Published clocks only. NC and PA publish no initial review time for nurse aide programs.

In states with a published floor, the nurse aide regulator step alone takes at least 90 days (Virginia and Arizona lead times; Missouri and Hawaii decision limits). It runs to 120 days in Arizona and roughly 90 to 150 days in Michigan once you add the 30-day processing window, the 60-day survey window and the 60-day report window. The CTE approval cycle sits on top of that, and in Missouri and Pennsylvania it closes in spring for the following fall.

A workable plan:

1. About a year before the first class, build the case for CTE approval: needs assessment, advisory committee, labor market data, curriculum plan.
2. In the spring before launch, file CTE program approval. Missouri accepts applications September 1 to May 1. Pennsylvania has recently set a May 31 new-program deadline in CATS. Michigan posts its window by OCTE memo.
3. At least 4 to 5 months before the first class, file the nurse aide regulator application, with the instructor named and the clinical site agreed.
4. Keep recruiting quiet until approval arrives. Arizona bars advertising and fee collection before approval.

If your nurse aide course sits in the second year of a health science sequence, the regulator application can follow a year after the CTE approval. The four-to-five-month lead time still applies to the first nurse aide class.

The electrical program’s timeline

Template: approval tracker

Copy this table into your planning file. Add one row for each approval, registration or filing your pathway needs, using the state tables above to fill the office, form and clock. Give every row a single owner. Fill the “Filed” and “Decision” columns with dates, not checkmarks, so you can see how long each office actually took.

Questions to ask each office before you file

• What is the current form or system, and has it changed since it was last posted?
• Is there a filing window this year, and when does it close?
• How long does a complete application take to review, and what counts as complete?
• Is there a site visit, and what does the reviewer check?
• What fee applies to a public school or CTE center?
• What can we do before approval (recruiting, enrollment, advertising), and what must wait?
• How long does approval last, and what triggers a change report?

Write the answer, the name of the person who gave it, and the date in the Notes column. Rules shift, and a dated answer from a named person is what protects your timeline when they do.

Quick reference by pathway

One row per pathway. Each pathway guide has the full state-by-state detail; rows are added as new guides are completed.

Review status and sources

Last checked October 2, 2026. On October 3, 2026, the North Carolina Supervised Practice timing and the Arizona CTED funding and satellite rules were corrected from statute and agency pages. These items are open for reviewers:

1. Virginia nurse aide application. The Board of Nursing’s current form and approval process documents could not be opened. Confirm fees, attachments and whether a written clinical agreement is required.
2. Virginia new CTE program application. Confirm the “Application for New CTE Program/Course” (rev. November 1, 2024), its deadline, and whether VDOE approval is separate from the local plan.
3. Pennsylvania NATCEP application. The application and forms PDE-3128G and PDE-3128C could not be read. Confirm contents, fees and review time. Confirm the 2026-27 CATS dates and the credential-add process.
4. North Carolina Nurse Aide I. Confirm review time, fees and approval period with DHSR’s Center for Aide Regulation and Education.
5. Arizona. Confirm the AZBN fee and whether the surety bond and long-term care affidavit apply to public schools and CTEDs.
6. Michigan. Confirm the 2026-27 New Program Application window, whether a new program generates 61a(1) in its first year, and what LARA’s pre-permit survey checks.
7. NCCER. Confirm accreditation fees and timelines, and whether any of these state education agencies hold accreditation schools can operate under.
8. Hawaii. Confirm how a new program of study is approved at the school level and whether HIDOE keeps a credential list.
9. Missouri. Confirm in DESE guidance that program approval is the condition for state CTE aid and Perkins.
10. Pennsylvania apprenticeship minimum age.
11. Electrical credential lists. Confirm NCCER Electrical and OSHA-10 on the current Michigan, Virginia and Pennsylvania lists.
12. Virginia apprenticeship naming. Confirm how DPOR treats apprenticeships registered with Virginia Works, since its rule still refers to DOLI.

Sources

CTE program approval

• MDE OCTE Administrator Manual 2025-26 and Section 61a(1) Added Cost Guide 2026
• 8VAC20-120, Regulations Governing Career and Technical Education
• NC DPI CTE Fiscal and Policy Guide (January 2025)
• ADE CTE Programs and Standards, Elements of an Approved CTE Program, A.R.S. 15-393
• A.R.S. 15-393 and NCDOL youth employment rules (both checked Oct. 3, 2026)
• 22 Pa. Code 339.4, PDE Program Approval
• DESE form MO 500-2457
• Hawaiʻi State CTE Plan (May 2025)

Credential lists

• MDE, Reporting Credentials and Competencies
• VDOE CTE Industry Credentialing
• NC DPI CTE Credentials and Reporting
• ADE CTE Industry Credentials
• DESE TSA and IRC page

Nurse aide regulators

• LARA, Nurse Aide Trainers and Training Programs
• 18VAC90-26, Nurse Aide Education Programs
• NC DHSR, Nurse Aide I Training Program Application (HCPR-4510)
• AZBN, Application Checklist for Nursing Assistant Programs (2024)
• PDE, Instructor’s Corner
• DHSS form MO 580-2469 and 19 CSR 30-84.010
• Med-QUEST, State Certified Nurse Aide Training Program requirements and Certified NATCEP list (July 2025)

Electrical

• NCCER, High Schools
• NC CTE CMS, NCCER credential information
• 29 CFR 29.5
• Virginia Works, Registered Apprenticeship FAQ
• NCCCS Youth Apprenticeships
• PA L&I, Register an Apprenticeship Program
• 13 NCAC 12 .0406
• LEO, Youth Employment Permit Portal (October 1, 2026)