Removing Barriers

The amendment motion states that, if approved by the delegates at the 98th National FFA Convention & Expo, the change will occur with the 2027-28 membership year.

To support new chapter/program development, all new chapters chartered or re-chartered after the initial nationwide implementation of 100% membership would start and remain at the Tier A fee for three years before adjusting to the appropriate SBAE enrollment rate.

While there are a growing number of middle school-only FFA chapters that would qualify for the $250 national flat rate, there are a significant number of middle school and high school combined programs across the organization. After first checking with your state association for guidance and existing state policy on this topic, combined programs may have the option of remaining combined or separating into two chapters to benefit from the lower middle school-only rate.Under the direction of the state association, combined (middle and high school) programs can include participating middle school members on the roster but are not required to include all enrolled students except for when they are a middle school-only flat fee chapter. Middle school members included on the chapter roster will be included in the overall enrollment count for the program.

It is projected that each secondary FFA member will still receive a magazine delivered to their home. Middle School FFA chapters will receive classroom sets of magazines in addition to digital delivery options. This approach will keep printing and shipping costs manageable with the program affiliation model while still delivering a quality educational resource for students and teachers

National FFA will work with state associations in the development of the online roster system to include a local school administrator e-signature to verify program enrollment prior to membership roster submission. The local ag teacher will input an appropriate name, email address, and title. Suggested titles/roles include school superintendent, building principal or vice principal, CTE director, school registrar, or scheduling counselor. Certifying individuals will be subject to state staff review and ag teachers may be requested to identify a different name/title/role.

The FFA Code of Ethics is not changing and applying it is still in effect. It should be assumed that all students enter SBAE with a clean slate and by default are FFA members in your chapter. Should a student do something that is a violation of the FFA Code of Ethics or commit a violation of your school’s activity policy, the student could potentially be a candidate for suspension from FFA activities. Ag teachers can contact their state staff to have a student suspended from FFA mid-year. Ag teachers should also confirm suspension with school administration to ensure that local policy has been followed and due process is honored in the loss of that student’s rights. In general, students in SBAE should be automatically listed on the FFA roster and only removed after committing an infraction that has been verified by the ag teacher and school administration. The only situation where a student would pre-emptively not be listed on the FFA roster is when the student enters a SBAE class while they have been barred [...]

Yes, ag teachers can continue to assess fees, conduct fundraisers, collect payments from students, etc. in the name of funding chapter operations so long as membership in FFA is not blocked for any student that cannot or chooses not to pay this type of fee. Ag teachers can place parameters and requirements around fee payment and a student’s ability to travel on FFA trips, show at a fair, participate above the local level, etc. so long as basic membership in FFA is not jeopardized.

States and local chapters will have flexibility in implementing the chapter fee-based system. However, in order to fully remove the barrier of dues to FFA membership for all agricultural education students, states and local chapters will not be able to charge an individual student a per-student fee for membership.

Article V, Section B, number 3 of the National FFA Constitution does state, “To become a student member and retain membership, a student must: Pay all current state and national dues or program affiliation fee by the date determined by the chapter.” An amendment will be proposed to the national delegates to modify the wording of this section to make clear that fees must be paid by the chapter or state, not each student individually.

National FFA is committed to transparency in how we are calculating and assessing membership fees. In keeping with long-standing practice, the National FFA Organization bills each state for all membership fees. States then have the right to add their own fees to the national fee as fees are collected from chapters