On May 30, Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR) introduced a bill, H.R. 4782, to establish a pilot program to support career and technical education exploration programs for middle and high school students. The Building Understanding, Investment, Learning, and Direction (BUILD) CTE Act is a companion to a Senate bill by the same name,S. 1293, introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in July 2013.
While the Perkins CTE Act allows funds to be used for students as young as seventh grade, limited funding has often left funds for career exploration scarce. The BUILD CTE Act would create competitive grants for local education agencies to establish career exploration programs for students to experiment before entering a more specific CTE program later in their education. Funds would only be available to those schools not receiving Perkins funds.
In addition to Rep. Schrader, the bill’s co-sponsors include Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI), Andre Carson (D-IN), Denny Heck (D-WA) and Marc Veasey (D-TX).
In conjunction with the release of the bill, Rep. Schrader visited a CTE program in his congressional district. As proven by the introduction of this bill, these types of activities hosted by CTE stakeholders can go a long way in helping Members of Congress become CTE champions. If you’re interested in hosting a school visit, see ACTE’s advocacy toolkit or send me an e-mail at [email protected].
The BUILD and STEP Acts seem to have much potential in supporting career readiness for high and middle schools! Thank you for updates!
Posted by: Karen Beasley Raliski | 01/10/2015 at 10:23 AM