Supporting Your Ag Program | Administrator’s Guide to Agricultural Science & FFA

📦 Instant digital download • Word files • Licensed for classroom/personal use, not for resale

Most administrators want to support their Ag program. Very few of them have ever run one.

They see the travel requests, the sub days, the trailer in the parking lot, and the extended contract, but they rarely see the system behind it. When an administrator doesn't understand the system, every request looks like a one-off, and one-off requests are easy to say no to.

Supporting Your Ag Program is a 25-page administrator's guide to Agricultural Science and FFA, written so you can hand it to your principal, AP, or CTE director before travel and stock show season, not after a problem.

It explains how an Ag program actually works from the administrator's side of the desk: why the job runs past the bell, when the year gets heavy, what CDEs and LDEs are, how livestock projects and the school barn work, where the money comes from, and what extended duty days are for. Every section ends with practical questions and checklists administrators can use in a real meeting.

I wrote this from both chairs. I spent seven years as an Ag teacher and FFA advisor coaching state-qualifying teams and running a swine program, and I now serve as a CTE Director in Texas. This is the guide I wish my principals had, and the one I now wish every new administrator would read.

What's Inside

• Teacher Cover Note with when and how to share the guide, plus a copy-and-edit message to your administrator
• Ag Program Snapshot, a one-page summary you fill out and your principal keeps
• Why Ag Runs Differently, the three-component model (classroom/lab, FFA, SAE) and the most common misreads
• The Ag Year from the Administrator's Desk, a month-by-month calendar showing what's happening and what the teacher needs from admin
• CDEs and LDEs Explained, from district to state, and how administrators can help
• Livestock and SAE Projects, the school barn, show project timeline, and a 14-question livestock question bank
• Travel and Supervision, trip types, a 14-item Travel Approval Checklist, vehicles and trailers, eligibility and absences
• Extended Duty, what the days cover, what good documentation looks like, and questions for evaluating it
• Following the Money, funding streams, fundraisers, booster clubs, stock show money, and an administrator money checklist
• Facilities and Safety Walkthroughs for the lab, shop, welding/CNC area, greenhouse, and barn
• Observing an Ag Teacher, a T-TESS lens for lab, shop, and barn instruction, plus look-fors and feedback prompts
• Supporting and Keeping Ag Teachers, burnout signals, what actually helps, and first-year teacher support
• Annual Administrator–Ag Teacher Check-In, a 45-minute agenda and notes page
• Glossary and Acronym Quick Reference: SAE, CDE, LDE, AET, POA, validation, and more

How to Use It

• Give it to a new principal or AP in the first weeks of school
• Pair it with your calendar at a beginning-of-year meeting
• Use Sections 5 and 7 before travel and fundraising season
• CTE directors: use it to onboard campus administrators or alongside your CTE program review
• Mentors and new Ag teachers: use it to understand the administrator's side of the job

Format: Editable Word document (DOCX) plus a print-ready PDF. Every section is customizable, and shaded Local Note boxes show exactly where to add your district's travel timelines, facility details, and procedures.

Texas-focused, useful anywhere. The guide references Texas FFA, T-TESS, and Texas rules, but the program model, calendar, and checklists apply to strong FFA programs in any state.

This is a professional resource for administrators and teachers, not student curriculum, so it does not include TEKS alignment.

Buyer Note / Disclaimer

This independently created resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by the National FFA Organization, the Texas FFA Association, or TEA. No official FFA emblems are used. Contest rules, convention dates, and state regulations change, so always verify against current handbooks and district policy.