On Wednesday, January 21, President Barack Obama gave a speech at Boise State University emphasizing the role of federal policy and private sector partnerships in strengthening the middle class and building America’s economy. The speech drew heavily from the themes in his State of the Union Address, given the evening prior, and stressed the importance of bipartisanship and cooperation in Congress to make progress on these issues.
A major component of the speech was the role of postsecondary CTE through community colleges and skills training:
“My administration is connecting community colleges with local employers to train workers to fill high-paying jobs like coding, or robotics, as well as traditional fields like nursing. And today, we’re partnering with business across the country to “Upskill America” -- to help workers of all ages earn a shot at better, higher-paying jobs, even if they don’t have a higher education... We want to recruit more companies to help provide apprenticeships and other pathways so that people can upgrade their skills. We're all going to have to do that in this new economy.”
In a follow-up message to the speech, the Department of Education further detailed several of the specific steps they hope to take in their efforts, including “expanding registered apprenticeships, increasing the use of tuition benefit programs that pay for a worker to complete his or her college education, offering on-the-job training for career progression, and increasing access to technology-enabled learning tools.”
These sentiments were echoed on a fact sheet from the White House, which also included information about the American Technical Training Fund and a sneak peek at the president's FY 16 budget request, which will include more than $2 billion for the expansion of registered apprenticeships. This comes on the heels of the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's new "playbook" on apprenticeships and innovative uses of federal funds for these programs.
President Obama’s continued attention to postsecondary CTE issues marks an encouraging step in building public support for these and other CTE policy priorities, which will foster a stronger workforce and build a future for America’s students. To learn more about the president’s State of the Union Address, click here.
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