On March 29, Republicans in the House introduced The Workforce Investment Improvement Act (H.R. 4297). The bill consolidates three previously introduced pieces of legislation sponsored by Reps. Foxx (R-NC), Heck (R-NV) and McKeon (R-CA).
As reported by ACTE earlier this year, the bill introduced by Rep. Foxx in December allowed each state’s governor to include Perkins in a broad workforce plan that would consolidate many workforce programs. The Foxx bill also allowed Perkins to be spent on any activity that was included in that plan—even if the activities were not authorized under Perkins.
Although H.R.4297 retains a provision requiring Perkins to be included in a unified state plan, it also states that Perkins funds cannot be consolidated with other funds. This is good news and a victory for the CTE community! ACTE advocated to remove the Perkins consolidation from the legislation and many CTE advocates contacted Members of Congress to request the change.
Unfortunately, H.R.4297 continues to consolidate over 20 workforce programs.
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