On Monday evening, the Senate passed legislation to reauthorize the Perkins Act. The bill comes after several weeks of intense negotiations and hard work by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and its staff. ACTE and Advance CTE worked closely with the bill's sponsors throughout the process and secured some important changes to the legislation after it passed out of the HELP Committee last month. There are several positive aspects of the bill, including increasing the reserve fund and expanding career exploration into the middle grades. However, both ACTE and Advance CTE have concerns that there may be some unintended consequences of the bill, and we hope to continue working with both the House and Senate to clarify several provisions in the weeks ahead.
Following the bill's passage, ACTE and Advance CTE issued a joint statement and sent a letter to congressional leaders. We believe the House intends to take up the Senate version of the bill this week before its August recess, which would clear the bill to be signed into law by the president.
If the bill is signed into law, then it would take effect July 1, 2019 and begin with a transition year to allow time for planning. Should the legislation be enacted, ACTE will prepare and distribute a number of resources related to the new law. Check back on the CTE Policy Watch Blog for updates throughout this process.
How do I determine if my senators were present? I will have to assume they voted, if they were present.
Posted by: Kirk Edney | 07/25/2018 at 05:07 PM
Hi Kirk - While there was no recorded vote, Senators were given the opportunity to place a "hold" on the bill which would have stopped the process from moving forward, and none did. Additionally, no Senator objected or audibly opposed the bill when it was brought forward on the Floor.
Posted by: Jarrod Nagurka | 07/26/2018 at 08:41 AM