Trump Budget Falls Short on Workforce Training

We have reported on how President Donald Trump’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget plan would be detrimental to education—cutting the Perkins Basic State Grant by $168 million, while significantly reducing or eliminating funding for after-school programs, teacher education partnership grants, student financial aid, and educator training and professional development. But as the Administration prepares for a week dedicated to promoting workforce development issues, it’s important to note that the president’s budget plan would also drastically reduce support for federal job training programs.

Overall, the Trump budget calls for a $2.5 billion (21 percent) cut to the U.S. Department of Labor. The president seeks to slash funding for the three state formula grants under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) by 40 percent, specifically cutting WIOA adult funding by $325 million, dislocated worker state grants by $465 million and youth grants by $350 million. These state grants form the backbone of the nation’s workforce training system and support access to postsecondary CTE for many job seekers. Additionally, Adult Education state grants (included in the Department of Education’s budget) under Title II of WIOA, and Title III Wagner-Peyser Employment Services state grants would be cut by $96 million and $256 million respectively. Job Corps, YouthBuild, Native Americans Programs, employment and training services to migrant and seasonal farmworkers, and the Senior Community Service Employment Program would all be cut or eliminated under the president’s budget.

The disconnect between the Administration’s statements in support of job training and the deep cuts to workforce programs in the FY 2018 budget request was on display when Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta appeared before the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee last week. In his prepared remarks, Sec. Acosta emphasized the value of apprenticeships. “High quality apprenticeships enable employers to be involved in the training of their future workforce so they can be sure new hires possess the skills needed to do the job,” said Acosta. However, the budget proposal would cut the apprenticeship grant program, currently operated as the ApprenticeshipUSA initiative, by $5 million. Members of the subcommittee denounced the cuts to job training in the budget. Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) rebutted Sec. Acosta’s assertion that the budget would “do more with less” to support employment and training services. “You can’t do more with less,” argued Rep. DeLauro, “you can only do less with less.” Please take a few minutes to let your Members of Congress know about the importance of investing in education and workforce development by increasing funding for Perkins.

Comments

[Robert Mauro]

To be fair, there are several points that you do not address in your budget critique: 1) There presently exist over 50 job training programs within the federal government, spread over at least four cabinet departments. 2) Effectiveness of the programs is widely known to be questionable. We tend to measure job training programs by the amount of money allotted, not by the results. 3) Perkins is important, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that it is the prime financial supporter of CTE. At most schools, it is 8-10 percent of the budget, with state and local funds carrying the load. As a comparison, Job Corps is funded at $1.6 billion, while Perkins would again come in at $1.1 billion. And where is the accountability for either!