Last week, President Trump issued a proclamation declaring February as CTE Month. The proclamation recognized the importance of high-quality CTE and ensuring all students have access to it. Most notably, the proclamation stated that the President’s “fiscal year 2021 budget proposal to the Congress will include significant increases in funding for [CTE].”
The President’s professed commitment to increasing funding in CTE was also hinted at in his State of the Union address. There, he asked Congress to support his “plan to offer vocational and technical education in every single high school in America.” However, it is unclear whether President Trump was simply referring to Perkins funding, or whether he will unveil some other proposal to ensure CTE is offered at every high school. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos added in a statement following the address that the President has a “strong commitment to career and technical education and apprenticeship expansion.”
While the proclamation and State of the Union remarks provide hope that the President’s budget will increase funding for CTE, few details have yet been released. Historically, President Trump proposed a $168 million cut to Perkins Basic State Grants for fiscal year (FY) 2018, and proposed flat-funding for FY 2019 and FY 2020. A proposed increase to Perkins Basic State Grants for FY 2021 would be a welcome shift in policy.
It is important to note that presidential budgets—and this is not unique to President Trump—are not necessarily indicative of how Congress will exercise its constitutionally-granted power to appropriate federal funds. Rather, presidential budgets can be seen simply as suggestions or priorities. As evidence, Congress has chosen to increase funding for Perkins Basic State Grants in each of the last three fiscal years, even though President Trump’s budget has either proposed cutting or flat-funding the program.
Stay tuned to the CTE Policy Watch Blog for updates once the President’s budget and any other CTE-related policies are released. The President's FY 2021 budget is scheduled to be released on February 10, 2020.
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