(George Skelton, Capitol Journal, March 9, 2009) From Sacramento -- The Legislature has a lot on its plate: water, healthcare, state survival.... So when the Senate leader identifies his top priority, ears perk up. At least mine do. The Senate president pro tem -- "pro tem" for short -- normally has the power to make things happen. Especially when he's allied with the minority leader, as he seems to be in this case. Freshman Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) called a Capitol news conference last week to declare that his "No. 1 priority" -- the "most important" agenda item for California -- is to revamp public schools with sufficient vocational education to prepare young people for the "new economy." Except, educators don't call it "voc ed" anymore. It's now "career tech education." To say the news conference was sparsely attended would be generous. You could count the reporters on one hand. This subject is very wonky. Moreover, the Capitol news corps has been shrinking because of financial hard times. The news conference subject was the decline but potential rebound of career tech. "We are zapping ourselves of economic vitality by not assuring that thousands of young people are educated and trained for the workforce," Steinberg said. In 1987, nearly 74% of California high school students had taken some voc ed course, according to the California Manufacturing and Technology Assn. By last year, that percentage had dropped to around 29%. (Read the entire article.)