89th Texas FFA State Convention Recap
All things considered, the 89th Texas FFA State Convention was a tremendous success. While it wasn’t without challenges, we appreciate all that you and your students did to ensure that our hallmark event was a success. Let’s take a look at the great things which happened during our time in Corpus Christi:
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12,468 members, advisors, guests and supporters were in attendance.
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More than 1,000 backpacks filled with supplies were donated to Corpus Christi ISD’s Homeless Education Service.
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1,296 volunteers cleaned 15 miles of beachfront thanks to the coordinating efforts of the Weimar FFA chapter.
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2,164 Lone Star FFA Degrees were awarded.
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144 Scholarship recipients were recognized.
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More than 350 students and chapters walked the stage as award finalists and/or winners.
In addition to those incredible statistics, delegates convened to conduct the business of the association. They considered and passed three amendments to the state constitution (listed below), as well as elected ten state FFA officers to lead our association into the coming year! Photos and information on the 2017-2018 state FFA officers can be found at https://www.texasffa.org/state-officers.
AMENDMENT 1 - PASSED
ARTICLE V. MEMBERSHIP
Section C: Active Membership - To be eligible for active membership in a chartered FFA chapter, a student must be enrolled in a secondary Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources program. The Texas FFA Association/Texas Association of Future Farmers of America considers “secondary Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources programs” to be grades 7-12.
To retain membership, a student must:
1. Be enrolled in at least one Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources course during the school year and/or follow a planned course of study; either course must include a supervised agricultural experience program, the objective of which is preparation for an agricultural career.
AMENDMENT 2 - PASSED
ARTICLE X. ELECTION, SUCCESSION, REPLACEMENT AND DISCHARGE OF STATE OFFICERS
Section A: The elected officers of the Texas FFA Association/Texas Association of Future Farmers of America shall be selected and nominated by each of the Area Associations. Each of these officers has an opportunity to demonstrate FFA, agriculture education, parliamentary procedure and agricultural industry knowledge via a written exam, present their qualifications to an evaluation committee, and appear before the state convention body delegates and deliver a campaign speech.
A president shall be elected from the state officers by a combination of interview score, 60 percent, and a score derived from the vote of the delegates present, 40 percent. The state elections committee shall…
Section E: Each Area Association may elect one state officer each year. The state officer shall be elected by a combination of interview score, 60 percent, and a score derived from the vote of the delegates present, 40 percent and in accordance to policies adopted by the State FFA Board of Directors.
AMENDMENT 3 - PASSED
ARTICLE X. ELECTION, SUCCESSION, REPLACEMENT AND DISCHARGE OF STATE OFFICERS
Section F: The state officers shall hold the State FFA Degree at the time of their election at the state convention and must be active members for the duration of their term in office. A candidate may be eligible to run for state office through the second convention after their graduation from high school.
SAE and Swine Validation Coordinator
If you’ve spent time on the VATAT Careers page in the last few days, you will have noticed that the Texas FFA Association is looking to hire an SAE and Swine Validation Coordinator. This position will help to oversee statewide swine validation efforts as well as help the association provide more resources to FFA chapters to increase SAE implementation at the local level. This position will also assume duties related to SAE-based awards (proficiencies, stars, degrees, etc.). If you, or someone you know is interested the full posting can be viewed at https://www.vatat.org/vatatcareers.aspx.
A cover letter and resume should be received by the close of business on Friday, August 18, 2017 to be considered for this position.
Delinquent Roster Accounts
In accordance to the State Policy Handbook Section 4.4(f), “chapters must pay all unpaid balances related to membership, competitive event, convention, conference registrations or pay any other charges related to Texas FFA Events for a given fiscal year by August 1. Chapters with unpaid balances of any amount shall be declared delinquent. Chapters declared delinquent shall be barred from incurring additional charges via the roster, event registration and competitive event registration systems. As of August 15, all delinquent accounts shall incur a penalty fee of $25.00 or 10% whichever is greater.”
Pursuant to policy, at the conclusion of business yesterday (August 1st) all chapters with a balance in the Texas FFA roster system or with JudgingCard were blocked. Chapters will have until August 15th to rectify their delinquent accounts before they incur a penalty fee. This policy was enacted in 2011 to ensure that all accounts were paid prior to the end of the association’s fiscal year, which ends August 31st.