Andrea Johnson/MDN U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Mitchell Zais speaks with Minot High School-Magic City Campus health careers teacher Mary Keller on Friday morning during his tour of the school’s career and technical center.

U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Mitchell “Mick” Zais told administrators and staff at Minot High School-Magic City Campus on Friday that he understands the value of offering different education options for different kinds of students.

Zais held the rank of Brigadier General when he retired after a long career in military service. He went on to serve as president of Newberry College and later was elected South Carolina Superintendent of Education. But his own son decided that he preferred military service to academia and later decided he wanted a career working with computers instead of a four-year undergraduate degree. Zais said his son now has a successful career because his skills are in such high demand.

Zais toured the career and technical center at Minot High School-Magic City Campus on Friday morning as part of his Back To School tour. In a health careers class, he saw students who were watching a video on providing nursing care. The students will later be going out into the community to different work places in the medical field to get more hands-on education.

Zais also toured IT, aviation, auto technology, welding, and horticulture classes at the high school on Friday.

Zais also spoke about the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s proposed Education Freedom Scholarships proposal, which has been introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

The proposal would create a $5 billion annual federal tax credit for voluntary donations to state-based scholarship programs.

Zais said states would be able to design their own programs and program criteria based on the needs in each state.

North Dakota, for example, could put some of the funding into career and technical education programs like those offered at Magic City Campus. Other possible uses might be to fund dual credit classes or special education programs.

Zais visited Legacy High School in Bismarck on Thursday and also met with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler.