Yesterday, Sen. Patty Murray and Ranking Member Johnny Isakson of the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety introduced the bipartisan Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 2013 (S. 1356).
Originally authorized in 1998, the WIA program set up a nationwide job training system for unemployed and underemployed people to find job training programs and other job-search assistance. The program has been up for reauthorization since 2003, but Congress has not been able to come up with a solution to update the program for today’s global, ever-changing economy.
The bipartisan bill introduced yesterday makes a variety of updates to the 1998 law including:
- encouraging regional coordination between local areas and across state lines
- prioritizing training programs that culminate in a recognized postsecondary credential
- ensuring program participants are receiving training for in-demand jobs
- encouraging training that allows participants to seek further education and advance their careers
Despite these positive changes, ACTE has concerns over several aspects of the bill, most notably the one-stop center infrastructure funding mechanism. The mechanism would allow states to use 1.5 percent of funds from the required one-stop partners, including postsecondary Perkins programs, to fund the cost of a one-stop center. This would equate to approximately $17 million in Perkins administrative funds being made unavailable.
Additionally, ACTE would like to see accredited education providers automatically approved as a WIA training providers and state CTE directors included as mandatory members of the state workforce boards.
The bill is currently scheduled for a markup in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Wednesday, July 31 at 10am. ACTE will continue to make these comments to the HELP committee, and the CTE Action Center has been updated with an email for CTE stakeholders to send to their Senators to protect CTE funds from the infrastructure mechanism.
Take Action:
- Email your Senators to ask them to reject the infrastructure funding mechanism
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