This week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before the House Education and the Workforce Committee to discuss the Administration’s education policy priorities. This is her first appearance before this committee since she assumed the top job at the U.S. Department of Education in 2017. Several members of the committee pressed DeVos on Perkins reauthorization and the department’s priorities for CTE. She highlighted opportunities for students to earn postsecondary credit in high school, business engagement with CTE programs, and promoting apprenticeship programs among those priorities. The committee approved, and the full House of Representatives later passed, a bipartisan Perkins reauthorization bill last year. Though DeVos echoed the committee members who urged the Senate to finally take up Perkins, she made no specific comments about the Administration’s plans for reauthorization.
Higher education policy was another focus of the hearing. Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) noted the House Republican plan for reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, known as the Promoting Real Opportunity, Success, and Prosperity through Education Reform (PROSPER) Act, and its proposal to expand Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled in short-term education and training programs. This idea already has bipartisan support through Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act, which ACTE has endorsed. In addition to HEA reauthorization, DeVos discussed the department’s efforts to rewrite the federal gainful employment regulation. The Administration has engaged in negotiated rulemaking on the issue, and the secretary suggested that a new proposal would be available for public comment in the near future.
The secretary also touched on the topic of apprenticeships and her role on the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion. Earlier this month, the task force released a report that outlined a series of policy recommendations--most of which focused on a controversial framework to provide federal recognition and support for industry-recognized apprenticeship programs. During the hearing, DeVos repeatedly expressed her commitment to expanding “earn and learn” opportunities.
Several members of the committee pressed the secretary on a contentious plan to reorganize the department. Though not specifically mentioned at the hearing, the reorganization plan proposes to consolidate the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) into a new Office of Postsecondary and Lifelong Learning. ACTE opposes the planned consolidation, and we were joined by 24 other national stakeholder groups in sending a letter to DeVos in April expressing our opposition.
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