History Bill Passage

In May, 2025, Gov. Reynolds signed SF278, which allowed "high school robotics" to have the designation as a CTSO starting July 1, 2025.

Resources for FTC teams

The State of Iowa and FIRST have both assembled resources for teams who want to have their FTC team as a CTSO.

State of Iowa Resources

• Career & Technical Student Organizations (CTSO): A guide for secondary schools
  • CIP Codes Alignment, page 7
  • Starting a CTSO, page 8
  • Common questions, page 9
  • Allowable & unallowable expenses, page 11
  • Perkins V funding questions, page 12
• CTSO Minimum Standards
  • Each recognized Iowa CTSO follows Quality CTSO Standards.  The minimum standards below can be used as a basic framework for each CTSO. 
  • In order for a FIRST team to be a CTSO, a coach needs to have the CTE endorsement.
• Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment

Career Cluster Alignment

Students develop Career-Ready practices while applying FIRST's Core Values on their team and how they identify themselves as contributors within a workplace environment. The job roles available to team members span the following Career Clusters aligned to the Common Career Technical Core Clusters:

• Business Management & Administration
• Manufacturing
• Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
• Marketing
• Informational Technology

Contact Rebecca Whitaker to learn more about the mapping.

Annual Meeting

Join us for the 2026 FIRST as a CTSO Annual meeting on April 20, 2026. View more information, including registration.