This week, the House Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing that focused on employer solutions for addressing the skills gap. The subcommittee heard testimony from a panel of expert witnesses, which included Vice President of Workforce and Economic Development at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) Steven Partridge. Mr. Partridge recently appeared at a congressional briefing on higher education and CTE that was hosted by ACTE and the Senate CTE Caucus. He spoke about the importance of early career awareness activities for in-demand fields at the middle school and high school levels. Partridge also discussed NOVA’s partnership with Amazon.com to develop registered apprenticeships for the company’s facilities in Virginia. Other witnesses urged the subcommittee to support the expansion of 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.
During the hearing, Chairman Brett Guthrie (R-GA) highlighted the 2017 passage of the House Perkins reauthorization bill, known as the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, as a way to encourage more employers to engage with CTE programs. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) took the opportunity to urge the Senate to act on Perkins reauthorization as well. However, Ranking Member Susan Davis (D-CA) noted that private investments in skills training have gone down as federal support for CTE, WIOA and other workforce development programs have seen similar reductions over time. Tell your Members of Congress about the importance of Perkins funding by going to our CTE Action Center.
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