This week, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared before the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee to defend President Trump’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget request for education. As we reported in February, the president’s budget proposes to level fund the Perkins Basic State Grant at the FY 2017 enacted level ($1.118 billion). In March, Congress voted to increase Perkins funding by $75 million above the FY 2017 level ($1.192 billion) as part of the current year funding bill.
During the hearing, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), co-chair of the Senate CTE Caucus, pointed out the disconnect between the Trump Administration’s claim of support for CTE and workforce training, and the department’s budget proposal that would fund Perkins at the lower FY 2017 level. Sec. DeVos argued that a request to flat fund Perkins should be taken as an indication that CTE is a “top priority” for the Administration—noting that the FY 2019 budget plan proposes to eliminate or cut many other education programs. Baldwin called DeVos’ statement “disappointing.”
Indeed, ACTE urges Sec. DeVos to make investing in Perkins a real funding priority by supporting our efforts to increase federal resources for CTE. We recently sent formal requests to both the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees calling on Congress to fund the Perkins Basic State Grant program to $1.3 billion in the forthcoming FY 2019 appropriations bills. Please take a few minutes to help in this effort by contacting your Members of Congress using our CTE Action Center!
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