CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Senate Advances Education Funding Bill

This week, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to advance the chamber’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education funding bill. The Senate bill proposes to maintain current levels of funding for the Perkins Basic State Grant at $1.192 billion and CTE National Programs at $7.4 million. The Senate measure significantly differs from the FY 2019 education funding bill that is currently being considered by the House, which proposes to increase the Perkins Basic State Grant by $102 million above the current level—bringing the total to nearly $1.3 billion. As we reported in April, 38 Senators signed a letter requesting $1.3 billion for Perkins state grants in FY 2019. It is an important time to let your Senators know that you want to see this much-needed increase in Perkins funding. Please take a few minutes to contact your Members of Congress through our CTE Action Center.

Senate Education Committee Approves Perkins Draft

On June 26, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved its long-awaited draft bill to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006. The new bill does not have a number yet, but is titled the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. The bipartisan bill was approved unanimously by voice vote, and will now move forward in the legislative process to the full Senate.

While the Senate bill does use the House Perkins reauthorization bill, H.R. 2353, passed last year, as its base, there are significant changes, particularly to accountability provisions, in the bill. ACTE has been working with the Committee to ensure that these changes align with our Perkins reauthorization priorities, and will continue these conversations as the process moves forward. You can read our joint statement with Advance CTE on the markup here, and the letter we sent to the Committee outlining more specific thoughts on the bill here. We will have a full summary available soon.

In addition, the Committee also considered the nomination of Scott Stump to be Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Department of Education. By voice vote, the Committee favorably reported the nomination to the full Senate, where it must be considered before Mr. Stump is officially confirmed. ACTE strongly supports this nomination and looks forward to the completion of the nomination process and working with Mr. Stump as OCTAE’s new Assistant Secretary.

House Funding Bill Seeks Big Increase for Perkins

This week, the House Appropriations Committee provided additional details on its Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 education funding bill. The bill proposes to increase funding for the Perkins Basic State Grant by $102 million above the current level—bringing the total to nearly $1.3 billion. ACTE recently called on Congress to increase the state grant program to $1.3 billion in FY 2019. If enacted into law, this much-needed investment in Perkins will help to restore a decade of declining federal support for CTE. Additionally, Perkins National Programs would be increased by approximately $13 million in the House bill. These additional National Programs funds would be earmarked for a new grant competition that would focus on supporting CTE in STEM fields. The measure was approved by the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations subcommittee earlier this month. The full committee was scheduled to take up the bill this week, but that markup hearing was postponed and will likely not take place until July. 

The House bill proposes to fund the Department of Education overall at $71 billion—an increase of $43 million over the current year funding level. The ESSA Title IV Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants, which can be used to support secondary school career exploration activities and college and career guidance programs, would see an increase of $100 million. However, ESSA Title II funds to support effective educators, as well as Title I grants for low-income students would both be frozen at current levels. The bill recommends maintaining the Pell Grant maximum award at $6,095. The three state formula grants under Title I of WIOA would be frozen at current levels, as would the adult education grant program. The bill would provide an additional $5 million in funding, for a total of $150 million, to support apprenticeship opportunities. 

Additionally, the Senate will unveil its education funding bill this week, so it’s important to keep the positive momentum in Perkins funding going forward. Please take a few minutes to join this effort by contacting your Members of Congress using our CTE Action Center!

Proposal Would Merge Departments of Education, Labor

On Thursday, the Trump Administration announced a proposal for a massive overhaul of executive agencies, one it billed as the largest since President Roosevelt's "New Deal" in the 1930s. The plan would include merging the Departments of Education and Labor into a new Department of Education and the Workforce (DEW). In doing so, the proposal claims to streamline federal workforce development programs, reducing the number of programs by more than 60 percent.

According to the plan, DEW would be organized into four sub-agencies: K-12; American Workforce and Higher Education Administration (AWHEA); Enforcement; and Research, Evaluation, and Administration. CTE would fall squarely within AWHEA, even though it clearly encompasses K-12 as well. Within AWHEA, there would be various "components" that would each be led by an official appointed by the president. Two of these components are "Adult Workforce Development" and "Youth Workforce Development." According to the document, the Adult Workforce Development component would focus on consolidating funding programs to serve adult populations, and the Youth Workforce Development component would include both in- and out-of-school assistance for students and "create stronger pathways to postsecondary paths and employment." Additionally, AWHEA would include a federally-administered "Apprenticeship and Impact Fund."

Thus far, reaction from policymakers has been mixed, primarily along party lines. Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has expressed optimism about the proposal, while Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) has thrown cold water on it. Similarly, while Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee was more reserved than his House counterpart, he too expressed a willingness to explore the plan. Conversely, HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) called it "unrealistic, unhelpful, and futile."

The proposal still lacks many details. For instance, Perkins is not mentioned in the document. ACTE is reserving final judgment until more details emerge and we are able to comprehensively evaluate the proposal. However, we remain skeptical that the CTE community would benefit from a proposal that isolates CTE from K-12 considering how many learners participate in secondary CTE. Additionally, having an undersecretary solely devoted to CTE, as is the case with the current Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) within the Department of Education, is important given the unique role CTE plays across secondary and postsecondary education, and the workforce development system. We will continue to monitor developments, and continue to post updates to the CTE Policy Watch Blog. It is important to note that these changes would have to be approved by Congress, which already has a very full schedule leading up to the mid-term elections.

The flowchart below, which comes from the report, illustrates the organization of the new department. The full plan can be found here.

Perkins Markup Pending in Senate

Bipartisan negotiations have been moving at a quicker pace over the last few weeks as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hoped to finally move forward on its Perkins reauthorization bill. Last week, Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) formally announced committee consideration of a yet-to-be-released Perkins reauthorization bill for this Wednesday, June 20. He had also committed to moving a bill forward even if partisan agreement was not reached on a proposal.

However, on Monday, the Committee announced that the Executive Session to mark up the bill would be postponed due to conflicts with the Senate schedule. Negotiations continue, and are making progress, but legislation has yet to be released. We’ve included the full statement by Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) below:

“We have announced an Executive Session for June 20 for a series of important bills and nominations. Our goal is bipartisan agreement on the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, and we are making significant progress toward that goal. Because Sen. Alexander will be managing the Energy and Water Appropriations bill on the Senate floor next week, we have agreed to postpone the June 20 Executive Session to Tuesday, June 26 or Wednesday, June 27 at a time to be determined.”

The Committee was also scheduled to consider the nomination of Scott Stump to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Career, Technical and Adult Education during the Executive Session, so this vote (as well as votes on a few other bills and nominations) will need to be rescheduled as well.

ACTE joined with Advance CTE to issue a statement supporting the continued bipartisan negotiations and careful consideration of Perkins. We hope to have a final date and time for the markup and draft legislation to share soon, and will let you know if action is needed!

Perkins Markup Scheduled in Senate

Earlier today, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee announced it will hold an Executive Session to consider legislation and nominations on Wednesday, June 20, at 10:30 am. In what could be very good news, a bill to reauthorize the Perkins Act is included on the list of business for the Executive Session! In addition, the nomination of Scott Stump to be the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education is scheduled to be considered as well.

At this time, no legislative text has been finalized for the markup, but negotiations continue. In a statement published in Education Week, Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said, "Senator Enzi, R-Wyo., and Senator Casey, D-Pa., have been making good progress, and I hope the bill the committee considers next week is bipartisan.” Last week, Sen. Alexander said he would bring the bill up before the Committee whether there was a bipartisan agreement or not, implying that he could move a partisan, Republican-only bill if no agreement is reached. 

We continue to encourage Members of Congress to work together to produce a Senate bill that aligns with our priorities to move the field forward, and that can ultimately gain enough support to be signed into law. We will release more information as soon as it becomes available!

UPDATE: Politico is reporting that the Senate Perkins markup has been delayed to Tuesday, June 26, or Wednesday, June 27, as lawmakers continue to work on crafting a bipartisan bill. 

Secretary DeVos Tours International CTE Programs

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos left on a 10-day tour of Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, to include school visits, meetings with education stakeholders and the delivery of the keynote address at the International Congress on Vocational and Professional Education and Training.

While in Europe, she planned to visit a variety of educational programs and schools, including several technical education centers and apprenticeship sites. Speaking at the International Congress, she praised the Swiss training and apprenticeship system and highlighted both the depth and breadth of its reach – “The Swiss approach is one from which we can all learn a great deal. It is so interesting that more than two-thirds of current students pursue their education through apprenticeships. Of course apprenticeships include those for welders and carpenters — which, in my country, is more common. But apprenticeships here include many options in every sector of the economy, including health care, finance and law.”

She also highlighted the need to personalize education, and her desire for a wide variety of postsecondary credentials to be valued: “All of these are valid pursuits. Each should be embraced as such. If it’s the right fit for the student, then it’s the right education. And importantly, no stigma should stand in the way of a student’s journey to success."  

Sec. DeVos followed her speech by posting on the Department of Education’s Homeroom blog, where she outlined more of her thoughts on how the United States could learn from the Swiss apprenticeship system. ACTE has an ongoing partnership with the Swiss Embassy to help do just that – you can read more about some of the activities here. You can also read more about Sec. DeVos’s trip in EdWeek, where ACTE was quoted in an article discussing what it would take to bring elements of the European system to the United States.  

House Committee Passes TANF Reauthorization Bill

Last month, House Republicans passed a bill to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act (TANF) on a party-line vote. The bill, the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services for Success Act (JOBS for Success Act), or H.R. 5861, comes as TANF is set to expire at the end of September. TANF is a block grant program to the states, whereby states then use the funds to provide cash assistance, along with employment and training support, to low-income families. The program includes work-requirements for qualifying adults. In addition to actual jobs, work activities can include CTE and some other job training. ACTE has several priorities related to TANF reauthorization to improve the law to better assist TANF recipients in accessing meaningful job training that will improve their economic well-being

The bill makes some positive changes that address most of ACTE's recommendations. Among many reforms, the bill would eliminate the 12-month limit for individuals to count CTE programs as a work activity for the purpose of receiving benefits. This will allow TANF recipients to pursue longer-term credentials, including those that may take 18 or 24 months to complete and are often associated with higher earnings. Additionally, the bill eliminates an existing arbitrary limitation on the percentage of a state's work participation rate that can be met through recipients' education activities. The bill would also establish an outcome-based performance accountability system largely aligned with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This is a step in the right direction, though ACTE would like to see credential attainment included as a metric of success.

Some Democrats and other organizations have acknowledged the bill makes some important reforms, but have criticized it for providing an insufficient level of funding. Indeed, the bill would continue the roughly 20-year trend of flat-funding TANF, which due to inflation, has reduced the program's real value by more than one-third. Similarly, ACTE is concerned that some aspects of the bill would place a greater burden on the workforce development system without allocating adequate funds to accommodate for these changes.

ACTE has endorsed another TANF-related bill that was offered as an amendment to the comprehensive reauthorization bill during the markup but not voted on, the Improving Access to Good Jobs for Parents Act (H.R. 5888). That amendment would have provided $900 million in formula grants to states and provide critical resources to partnerships across the workforce development ecosystem, including community colleges and CTE programs. ACTE believes these funds would strengthen coordination across programs and increase skills and economic opportunities for TANF recipients. We hope to see the idea revisited as the TANF reauthorization process moves forward.

DeVos: Proposal to Flat Fund Perkins Means CTE is a Priority

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!

ACTE Requests $1.3 Billion for Perkins to Restore Cuts

Recently, ACTE sent requests to the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which have jurisdiction over federal funding for education and workforce development programs, calling for $1.3 billion for Perkins Basic State Grants in the forthcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 appropriations bills. As we reported, the Perkins state grant program received a $75 million increase ($1.192 billion in total) as part of the FY 2018 omnibus funding measure that passed in March! This was an important victory as the federal investment in Perkins has declined by 13 percent over the past decade—nearly $170 million less in funding for local CTE programs. However, Congress must do more to restore those cuts and ensure that high schools, community colleges and tech centers nationwide have the resources they need to provide high-quality CTE programs for students.

Restoring federal funding for CTE by increasing the Perkins Basic State Grant to $1.3 billion will strengthen the capacity of CTE programs to deliver academically rigorous CTE content, ensure support for special populations, purchase the latest technology and equipment for the classroom, strengthen employer partnerships, provide college and career counseling services, and deliver educator professional development opportunities. Recently, 38 Senators echoed this request in a letter to congressional appropriators, while 170 members of the House of Representatives called for a strong investment in Perkins in FY 2019. Please take a few minutes to help in this effort by contacting your Members of Congress through our CTE Action Center!