Education Funding Bill Advances in House

This week, the House Appropriations Committee voted to advance their 2018 education funding bill. As we recently reported, the bill proposes to maintain funding for the Perkins Basic State Grant at $1.118 billion and CTE National Programs at $7.4 million. The level funding for CTE comes despite a $2.4 billion cut to the Department of Education’s budget overall. The funding measure was approved by the education appropriations subcommittee last week. By advancing the bill, lawmakers rejected the Administration’s request to cut the state grant program by 15 percent. In a recent letter to President Trump, the members of the moderate New Democrat Coalition in the House expressed support for the Administration’s efforts to promote apprenticeships, but argued that proposed cuts in funding to CTE and job training programs are contrary to the goal of building the nation’s workforce. “We value results over rhetoric,” wrote the 48 members of the coalition. “These budget cuts are incongruent with the promise you made to the American people.” 

Comments

[Laura Mann]

The support of Perkins funding is essential to the labor force. As a Career and Technical Education Director, I have seen first hand the impact of CTE on students. Just this year, we had a student graduate from our Maritime program and continue at the local community college and is now a Tankerman for a local company making good money. Because of this opportunity, the student has broken the cycle of poverty in his family. CTE is the future of America's skill labor work force.

[Ashley Henry]

As an Agriculture teacher that primarily teaches agricultural mechanics which focuses on things such welding, electrical wiring and various other vocational trade areas I see first hand what students are doing with skills they acquired in CTE classes. I know of several of students who graduated in 2016 who are working in vocational areas and they are making as much money or more than I do with a Bachelor's degree. In order to teach skills such as welding and electrical wiring it is imperative that students learn the skill by actually doing it. If money for supplies is cut I believe that there will be a decline in skilled laborers. This goes completely against the whole idea of bringing industry back to America.