Ask Your Representative to Sign Perkins Funding Letter

Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Jim Langevin (D-RI), the co-chairs of the bipartisan Congressional CTE Caucus, are asking their colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join them in supporting strong federal funding for CTE in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 appropriations bill. Lawmakers who support CTE should sign this letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging a strong federal investment in Perkins.

Perkins funding serves millions of secondary, postsecondary and adult CTE students nationwide, but it has not kept pace with the growing demand for high-quality programs. Over the past decade, total Perkins grant funding to states declined by 13 percent--nearly $170 million less in funding to support CTE. More needs to be done to support our high schools, tech centers and community colleges.

As we recently reported, President Trump’s FY 2018 budget request would cut billions in federal support for K-12 education, higher education and job training. We need as many members of the House as possible to sign this letter to help ensure that Congress recognizes the importance of funding CTE. Please take a few minutes to help us in this effort. Contact your representative using the CTE Action Center and urge him or her to sign on today!

Comments

[Joseph Roche]

CTE programs offer the solution to the skills shortage in industries important to the US economy. Industries such as manufacturing which is growing along with the technical complexity within the industry sector.

[Carroll shry]

Support Ag Education in the Perkins Bill.

[Julie Gloege]

CTE programs teach much needed skills that our future workforce need. They also support the academic instruction that occurs and social skills so that teams can get along on the job. Work Based Learning gives students the supported instruction they need as they explore their futures post secondary. I even decreases the expense of future training as more students are now graduating with a career plan to pursue. The alternative is that they keep changing their focus in college and waste money taking unnecessary classes and often drop out altogether. We all need CTE in the schools.

[Charles Rinehart]

CTE not only teaches the hard skills to students to take interest in trade jobs, but it reinforces the soft skills like work ethic, working collaboratively with others, safety, and even picking up after yourself. The Perkins funding is critical to keeping our building trades program operational.

[Diana Kubik]

As a manufacturing company this grant has been instrumental in providing us trained workers that are able to contribute to our production line immediately upon starting employment with us. This is key for us to be able to meet production demands placed on us by our clients. The elimination of this grant has the potential of causing our operating costs to go up, jobs to ship late and the loss of clients. I ask that the Perkins grant continue to be funded.

[Carol Mann]

CTE courses enable students to graduate from high school with the knowledge that they need to apply for, hold, an excel in a career! They are the only classes students take that have as a part of their curriculum there's actual skills needed. Please continue the funding of these courses by you're signing of the Perkins bill.

[Griselda Quintanilla]

CTE offers the skills and knowledge base to fill the job demands of the current workforce demands.

[Rylee]

CTE is extremely important. College isn't for every student. In CTE classes we learn amazing skills such as speaking, interviewing, and these classes provide career ready students. My CTE classes are my favorite classes and with out them I wouldn't be the leader I have been able to become. The students at my school would be greatly affected if this was cut from our funding we would lose what we consider a home away from home.