CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

DC Digest: July 25-August 7

Congress has left Washington for the annual August congressional recess, following Senate completion of a rare weekend session to negotiate and advance a budget reconciliation package with climate change and health care proposals. Lawmakers also focused on passing veterans’ health care legislation and final passage of the CHIPS Act during the past two weeks. The House may return from recess as soon as August 12 to vote on the Senate’s budget reconciliation package, but both chambers will then be in recess until after Labor Day. For now, Members of Congress are focused on holding events in their states and districts, which provides an excellent opportunity for you to engage with your representatives about supporting CTE! As we await the return of lawmakers to Washington, here are some news and notes:

• Bobby Scott Tours Virginia Workforce Development Program: On August 3, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) toured the Peninsula Workforce Development Center on the campus of Virginia Peninsula Community College (VPCC) to meet with employers and job seekers and announce the award of $11 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Good Jobs Challenge. Read more about the visit here.
  
  
• President Biden Signs CHIPS Act into Law: On August 2, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act) into law, allocating $280 billion in funding and tax incentives to boost domestic production and innovation in the semiconductor industry and broader science and technology-related industries. Read more about the bill here.

• Senate Releases FY23 Appropriations Bills: The Senate Committee on Appropriations has released its first drafts of its fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations proposals, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill. Although the bill gives a more modest increase to education funding overall than the House bill and the President’s request, it proposes a $60M increase for the Perkins Basic State Grant.

• House Education and Labor Committee Holds Child Nutrition Bill Markup: On July 27, the House Committee on Education and Labor advanced the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act on a 27-20 vote. The bill would reauthorize and update federal child nutrition programs by investing in school meal programs, modernizing the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), addressing food insecurity during the summer, improving school meal capacity and sustainability and strengthening the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

• Department of Commerce Announces Good Jobs Challenge Winners: On August 3, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced grant awards to 32 workforce training partnerships across the country as part of the $500 million Good Jobs Challenge funded by the American Rescue Plan. The Good Jobs Challenge seeks to increase the supply of trained workers and help workers secure jobs in 15 key industries that are essential to U.S. supply chains, global competitiveness and regional development. You can read the complete list of award winners here.

• Nasser Paydar Confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education: On August 4, Dr. Nasser Paydar was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education at the Department of Education. Dr. Paydar is the former chancellor emeritus of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Read more from Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona here.

• National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Releases Data on Student Recovery: The Department of Education’s NCES has released new data about school responses to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2021-22 school year and supports available to students. Read more about the data here.

• Department of Education Hosts Career Pathways Summit: On August 4, the Department of Education held a webinar to discuss current dual enrollment state policy and practice, the future of dual enrollment and the role of federal policy.

• Secretary of Commerce Raimondo, Secretary of Labor Walsh Launch Job Quality Toolkit: The Department of Commerce has launched the Job Quality Toolkit, which provides strategies and actions to help small-and-medium-sized organizations recruit and retain a high-performing workforce. The Toolkit’s strategies are organized around eight drivers, or essential elements, of a good job: Recruitment & Hiring; Benefits; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility (DEIA); Empowerment & Representation; Job Security & Working Conditions; Organizational Culture; Pay; and Skills & Career Advancement. Read more about the toolkit here.

• Department of Education Releases Draft Higher Ed Rules: On July 28, the Department of Education published draft regulations to implement several changes to federal financial aid programs, including the “90/10” rule and rules for prison education programs. The draft regulations can be viewed in the federal register and public comments are due on August 26, 2022.

Rep. Bobby Scott Tours Virginia Workforce Development Program

On August 3, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) toured the Peninsula Workforce Development Center on the campus of Virginia Peninsula Community College (VPCC) to meet with employers and job seekers and announce the award of $11 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Good Jobs Challenge. 

The funding will allow the Hampton Roads Workforce Council to expand training offerings and recruit more students from underserved communities, including at least 750 Virginians to new maritime employment opportunities. 

“For years, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council has been a leader in helping workers gain the basic skills they need for new jobs. Now, through this $11 million investment, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council will be able to move beyond the currently available entry-level programs and provide students with the advanced skills they need to gain higher-paying, long-term careers,” said Rep. Scott. 

You can view Tweets from Rep. Scott’s visit here, and see the full list of winners from the Good Jobs Challenge here.

President Biden Signs CHIPS Act into Law

On August 2, President Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act) into law, allocating $280 billion in funding and tax incentives to boost domestic production and innovation in the semiconductor industry and broader science and technology-related industries. This bipartisan bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 64-33, aims to make the United States more competitive with China in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) while addressing national security related to these emerging technologies. Passage of the bill was a result of months of negotiation after the House passed the America COMPETES Act (COMPETES) in February and the Senate passed the United States Innovation and Competitiveness Act (USICA) last summer.  

Despite the original COMPETES bill containing language similar to the JOBS Act to expand the Pell grant to short-term certificate programs, lawmakers stripped the CHIPS Act of any provisions directly related to the Department of Education. It does, however, provide $81 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to address STEM education, workforce development and research. Additionally, it authorizes $2.23 for Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) centers to provide workforce development and other services for small to medium sized advanced manufacturers, and $200 million for a CHIPS for America Workforce and Education Fund to promote growth of the semiconductor workforce. 

ACTE is continuing to analyze the provisions in the bill and will update you with any details that may directly impact CTE programs and learners. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Zach Curtis (zcurtis@acteonline.org). 

Senate Releases FY23 Appropriations Bills

On July 28, the Senate Committee on Appropriations released its first drafts of its fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations proposals, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill. Although the bill gives a more modest increase to education funding overall than the House bill and the President’s request, it proposes a $60M increase for the Perkins Basic State Grant. While ACTE continues to advocate for a more robust $200M increase that will better meet the needs of programs and learners, this proposal would provide critically needed funding after a year of severe inflation and continued pandemic recovery.  

Overall, the Senate bill would give the Department of Education an 11% increase in FY23. Similar to the House bill, it proposes:  

• 15% increase to ESSA Title I formula grants to local education agencies, 
• $500 increase to the maximum Pell grant award 
• 5% increase to ESSA Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment state grants 
• 27% increase for Apprenticeship Expansion Grants 
• 5% increase for Adult Education 

There are some key differences between this bill and its counterpart in the House. For example, the Senate bill does not provide any funding increases for the Strengthening Community College Training Grants. It also proposes smaller increases for Teacher Quality Partnership grants and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act state grants, 27% and 2%, respectively.  

There is unlikely to be any more action taken in the appropriations process before August recess, however, Congress will likely need to pass a continuing resolution to extend the FY22 budget until after the midterm elections this November. The elections will provide clarity as to which party will control each chamber – an outcome that will greatly impact whether a deal will be struck on final bills before the end of the calendar year. ACTE will continue to monitor these negotiations and provide any updates the occur. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Manager of Government Relations, Zach Curtis (zcurtis@acteonline.org).  

Research Roundup: Equity Gaps and Career Planning Supports

CTE Outcomes for Students with Disabilities: In March, Georgia Policy Labs at Georgia State University published a report that analyzed participation, graduation rates and postsecondary outcomes for high school students with identified disabilities (SWD) who concentrate in CTE. Researchers examined student data from Massachusetts, Tennessee and Washington and shared the following findings:

• Across all three states, students with specific learning disabilities such as dyslexia are more likely to concentrate in CTE than any other disability category. In contrast, students with autism and low-incidence disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities or multiple disabilities, are less likely to concentrate.
• CTE SWD are 10 to 15 percentage points more likely to graduate from high school than non-CTE SWD.
• Of the three states examined, only Tennessee has higher postsecondary attendance rates for CTE SWD than non-CTE SWD.
• CTE SWD are 5 to 10 percentage points more likely to be employed at least part-time one year after graduation than non-CTE SWD. However, this trend isn’t consistent across all disability categories.

Female CTE Concentrator Outcomes: An article by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development analyzes the outcomes of female Minnesota students who take high school CTE coursework. The analysis is highly detailed but concludes that, for many female CTE concentrators, high school CTE is not enough to attain a family-sustaining wage. However, when combined with a postsecondary credential, female CTE concentrators can reap benefits.

Improving Access and Success for English Learners: Recently, Advance CTE released a brief that describes challenges English learners (ELs) may encounter in CTE programs. In the 2018-19 school year, over 520,000 secondary and nearly 122,000 postsecondary CTE participants were ELs. Barriers to access and success these learners may face include a lack of personalization; entrance exams that test language ability as well as content knowledge; out-of-school commitments, such as supporting one’s family; and a lack of data on ELs and feedback mechanisms to learn more about EL students’ needs.

Career Planning Supports: A brief published by MDRC describes lessons learned from a pilot career planning program for recent high school graduates. In 2021, MDRC partnered with the Regional Youth Adult Social Action Partnership, an organization that serves young people in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to implement the Park City Career Pathways (PCCP) program. Partnering with key stakeholders, PCCP aimed to connect 300 to 400 Bridgeport high school graduates and non-graduates from the class of 2020 and 2021 with career planning supports as well as postsecondary, work-based learning and employment opportunities. The brief highlights some of the challenges PCCP faced regarding building partnerships, program promotion strategies and follow-up support for participants that may be useful for communities implementing similar initiatives.

DC Digest: July 18-24

This week was another quiet one for CTE-related items. Congress focused on passing a “minibus” of six appropriations bills, holding January 6th Committee hearings, negotiating a budget reconciliation package with key members of Congress and negotiating on the CHIPS Act, a package that contains funding for semiconductor manufacturing and investments, as well as some elements of the USICA/America COMPETES Act. The scaled-down bill may get a vote as soon as the week of July 25. However, language similar to the JOBS Act was not included in the draft text of the bill that was released on July 20. We are working to elevate the issue to Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), one of the lead negotiators on the bill. ACTE is also monitoring the expected release of the Senate Appropriations Committee's FY 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill. As we await more details, here are some news and notes from Washington: 

• ACTION ALERT: Ask Members of Congress to Include JOBS Act Language in the CHIPS Act: We need your help in putting pressure on your Members of Congress to include the JOBS Act language in the text of the CHIPS Act! If you reside in Arizona, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Washington or California, your Members of Congress are in a key position to impact negotiations, making it crucial that CTE advocates in these states weigh in now as the negotiations quickly shift in a new direction. ACTION NEEDED: Contact your policymakers in the House and Senate to ask them to support the extension of Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term CTE programs as they negotiate the CHIPS Act.

• Departments of Labor and Commerce Announce Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint: Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced the 120-Day Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Sprint, an effort to train a skilled cybersecurity workforce through registered apprenticeships, support numerous industries’ use of Registered Apprenticeships to develop and train a skilled and diverse cybersecurity workforce. The initiative seeks to recruit employers, industry associations, labor unions, educational providers, community-based organizations and others. Read more about the initiative here.

• FY23 Appropriations Update: On July 20, the House passed a “minibus” package of six FY2023 appropriations bills, but the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill was not included. The House may bring the remainder of the bills to the floor as soon as this week, or they may wait until after the August congressional recess to do so. The Senate Appropriations Committee also plans to release its draft FY2023 bills during the week of July 25 without holding markups. ACTE will continue to monitor the appropriations process and will provide updates as they come.

• House Bill to Establish Agriculture Workforce Training Program Introduced: On July 19, Reps. Tom Emmer (R-MN), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced a bill to establish a grant program for eligible institutions to carry out agriculture workforce training programs. You can read the full text of the legislation here.

• Bill to Expand Cybersecurity Workforce Placed on Senate Calendar: S. 2274, the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Expansion Act, has been reported by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and placed on the Senate legislative calendar for floor consideration. The bill was co-introduced by Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and would establish a federal government cybersecurity apprenticeship program and a pilot program on cybersecurity training for military veterans transitioning from the military. You can read the full text of the legislation here.

ACTION ALERT: Ask Members of Congress to Include JOBS Act Language in the CHIPS Act!

On July 14, news reports stated that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would move to consider a standalone package of funding for semiconductor manufacturing, now known as the CHIPS Act, as soon as Tuesday, July 19 after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) halted conference negotiations on the bipartisan and bicameral America COMPETES/USICA. The status of several provisions under negotiation, including the JOBS Act and College Transparency Act (CTA), are still unclear, as lawmakers seek to bypass the conference negotiations in hopes of passing the bill before the August congressional recess. The America COMPETES Act and the USICA contain several provisions with implications for CTE, most notably the expansion of Pell Grants to short-term programs through language similar to the JOBS Act in the America COMPETES Act. 

Now, lawmakers are lobbying congressional leadership to include their personal priorities in the bill. We need your help in putting pressure on your Members of Congress to include the JOBS Act language in the text of the CHIPS Act! 

If you reside in Arizona, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Washington or California, your Members of Congress are in a key position to impact negotiations, making it crucial that CTE advocates in these states weigh in now as the negotiations quickly shift in a new direction. 

ACTION NEEDED: Contact your policymakers in the House and Senate to ask them to support the extension of Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term CTE programs as they negotiate the CHIPS Act. 

If you have a direct contact in your representative’s or senator’s office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested congressional office. Please contact your senators and representatives today!

DC Digest: July 11-17

Last week in Washington was another quiet week for CTE. Lawmakers focused on considering the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), looking for a path forward on the America COMPETES Act/USICA negotiations, passing veterans’ benefits legislation and negotiating a potential budget reconciliation package with key members of the Senate. Both chambers will be in session for the rest of the month, where there is expected to be a procedural motion in the Senate to begin consideration of a standalone bill that contains funding for semiconductor manufacturing and investment tax credits. There is currently no plan to hold appropriations bill markups in the Senate, while the House may put its version of the FY 2023 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on the floor as soon as the week of July 18. As we await more details, here are some news and notes from Washington:

• ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Senators to Support Robust Funding for CTE in FY 2023: The House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill proposes a $45 million increase to the Perkins Basic State Grant program, a year-over-year increase equal to what was enacted in the FY22 spending bill. Now, the Senate Appropriations Committee and its Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee are set to begin crafting their version of the FY23 spending bill. CLICK HERE to ask your senator to support robust funding for high-quality CTE programs in the Senate’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill!

• White House, Department of Education Highlight American Rescue Plan Funding: On July 13, the White House held an event titled, “White House Summit on the American Rescue Plan and the Workforce,” to highlight how American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding has been used to support pandemic recovery and workforce-related initiatives, particularly in the public health and infrastructure fields. Additional ARP funding was also released to high-need postsecondary institutions. Read more about both here.

• America COMPETES/USICA Update: On July 14, news reports stated that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would move to consider a standalone package of funding for semiconductor manufacturing as soon as Tuesday, July 19, after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) halted conference negotiations on the bipartisan and bicameral America COMPETES/USICA. The status of several provisions under negotiation, including the JOBS Act and College Transparency Act (CTA) are still unclear, as lawmakers increasingly appear likely to bypass the conference negotiations in hopes of passing the bill before the August congressional recess. ACTE will continue to monitor any new developments as they come.

• Department of Labor Awards Funding to Support Job Exploration and Training Options for Young People: The Department of Labor has awarded grants to out-of-school time organizations to connect with local and state workforce boards, organizations and education partners to introduce young people to career possibilities and provide education, training, supportive services and work experience to better prepare young adults for careers. Read more about the grants here.

• Department of Labor Announces First Cohort of Apprenticeship Ambassadors: The Department of Labor has announced 207 officials and organizations were chosen to serve as the first cohort of Apprenticeship Ambassadors to share their experiences and collaborate with the department’s Office of Apprenticeship to support apprenticeship opportunities. The chosen ambassadors include community-based organizations, educators, employers, equity partners, industry, labor and state associations, program sponsors and workforce partners. View the full list of Apprenticeship Ambassadors here. 
   
• NCER Awards Education Research Grants: The National Center for Education Research (NCER) has awarded new grants under its Education Research Grants Program. Two grants were awarded for CTE-related projects, titled “CTE Teacher Labor Markets, Attributes, and Student Outcomes” at Georgia State University and “Exploring Noncredit CTE Program Factors that Strengthen Workforce Pipelines” at the University of California, Irvine. Awards were made to 35 institutions in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

• Department of Education Announces Engage Every Student Initiative: The Department of Education has announced a public-private partnership with Afterschool Alliance, The National Comprehensive Center, the National League of Cities, The National Summer Learning Association and the School Superintendents Association who will work with over 20 allied organizations to ensure that students have access to out of school time (OST) learning opportunities year-round. Read more about the initiative here.

Research Roundup: Dual Enrollment & High School CTE

State Dual Enrollment Policies: Recently, Education Commission of the States compiled dual enrollment policies across all 50 states to create a comprehensive resource that lets users explore and compare states’ policies. Included in the resource is information on student access, eligibility requirements, course offerings, funding and program quality. The following outline broad-level findings:

• About 48 states and D.C. have state-level dual enrollment policies and 28 states have created multiple dual enrollment programs through state policy.
• Approximately 27 states require secondary and/or postsecondary institutions to notify students and their families of at least one of their state-level dual enrollment programs.
• Among 41 states that have student eligibility criteria, the most common types were students’ grade level, meeting the postsecondary institution’s entrance requirements and having a recommendation from a school official.
• Of 42 states that have instructor qualification requirements, the most common were meeting the postsecondary institution’s faculty requirements, meeting institutional accreditor requirements and having a graduate degree.

P-TECH 9-14 & Dual Enrollment: New York City’s P-TECH Grades 9-14 model prepares high school students for STEM careers through dual credit courses at the City University of New York (CUNY), which allows them to earn an applied associate degree within six years. To qualify for dual enrollment in New York, students must pass the New York State Regents exams. In a report by MDRC, researchers compared P-TECH students with students from other New York City high schools and found the following differences:

• About 42% of P-TECH students passed the Regents English language arts exam with a qualifying score compared to 25% of students from other high schools.
• By grade 10, the dual enrollment rate for P-TECH students was significantly higher than for other high school students, with the gap growing larger each consecutive year of high school.
• P-TECH students attempted and earned more dual enrollment credits than other high school students. By graduation, on average, P-TECH students had earned 6.4 more college credits.
• In both P-TECH and other high schools, female students took dual enrollment courses at higher rates than their male counterparts.

Dual Enrollment Access for English Learners: A blog post by the Community College Research Center describes how Anne Arundel Public Schools and Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in Maryland are pursuing efforts to grow the number of English learners in dual enrollment courses, which has led to the pairing of a noncredit Capstone Grammar and Editing course with a one-credit Student Success Seminar for dual credit EL students. Recently, 19 ELs from Anne Arundel Public Schools applied to AACC and registered for the two classes, almost matching the total number of ELs statewide (23) who were dual enrolled in 2017-2018.

High School Students’ Perspectives on CTE: Between February 2020 and January 2022, ECMC Group conducted five national surveys of more than 5,000 high school students to understand their perspectives on their education and career plans. The following detail findings from the surveys that are particularly relevant to CTE:

• Almost half of students believe that postsecondary education should last less than four years, and skills should be taught by hands-on or on-the-job experiences.
• Roughly 22% of students stated they are more likely to attend a postsecondary CTE institution because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a 10-percentage point increase from May 2020.
• Many careers that students are thinking of pursuing are aligned with CTE pathways; however, only 20% believe that CTE can lead to the career they want. This could be attributed to the fact that more than half of students surveyed don’t understand what CTE is.
• About 74% of students say it’s important to have a career in mind before graduating and 55% of students state that they have already begun exploring their career options during high school.

White House, Department of Education Highlight American Rescue Plan Funding

On July 13, the White House held an event titled, “White House Summit on the American Rescue Plan and the Workforce” to highlight how American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding has been used to support pandemic recovery and workforce-related initiatives, particularly in the public health and infrastructure fields. The event featured Vice President Kamala Harris, Gene Sperling, head of the White House American Rescue Plan Implementation Team and National Skills Coalition CEO Andy Van Kleunen. 

WRTP/Big Step, a Milwaukee workforce development organization, and Employ Milwaukee, the City of Milwaukee’s workforce development board, also attended the event and discussed their efforts to train Milwaukee residents to enter careers in infrastructure. The organizations noted a need to extend Pell Grants to short-term postsecondary training programs, a top priority for ACTE. 

Additionally, the Department of Education recently announced the release of the final allocation of ARP funding to support students at high-need institutions. The grants were awarded to HBCUs, Minority-serving Institutions, community colleges, rural institutions and institutions serving large populations of low-income students. 

You can read more about the Department of Education’s release of ARP funding here.