Last week, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee held two separate committee hearings related to Executive Branch nominees, including for the U.S. Secretary of Education nominee Miguel Cardona and the U.S. Secretary of Labor nominee Marty Walsh.
On Wednesday during Dr. Cardona’s opening testimony, he made equity and access a key theme of his speech and the priority of his tenure as Secretary of Education. Dr. Cardona highlighted the importance of providing students with pathways to college and career readiness, and promised that all learners will have the opportunity to seek postsecondary opportunities, specifically highlighting the need to provide more support to community colleges.
Throughout the hearing, several committee members emphasized the importance of CTE, and Dr. Cardona himself stated he is a proud CTE graduate of Wilcox Technical High School in Meriden, Connecticut. Senate CTE Caucus Co-Chair Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) emphasized the importance of offering CTE in middle school, as well as the need for CTE in secondary and postsecondary education, especially during a time of economic downturn. CTE Caucus Co-Chair Tim Kaine (D-VA) brought up expanding Pell grants for short-term CTE programs, and several members discussed the need to get rid of the stigma surrounding CTE, which Dr. Cardona agreed.
On Thursday, the Senate HELP Committee held another hearing for Marty Walsh, the U.S. Secretary of Labor nominee. During Mr. Walsh’s opening remarks, he spoke about his experience helping to create Building Pathways, a pre-apprenticeship training program, as well as his work with expanding workplace training, and the importance of building more partnerships and collaborative opportunities like those while he is the Secretary. He emphasized the need for pathernships between the Labor, Commerce, and Education Departments, and with the postsecondary system to increase access to job training. During this hearing, committee member Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) stressed the importance of starting CTE in high school for those not going onto postsecondary institutions.
So glad to know of this CTE Committee and the proposals in the pipeline. I have just convinced our small Rotary Club of Ashland-Lithia Springs to fund a CTE Students of the Month program at our local high school to supplement and build up to our annual CTE Scholarships (formerly titled the Vocational Scholarship program). We have provided 7 awards totaling 25,000 this year to graduating seniors going into CTE post grad training programs and will recognize 14 students each year in the CTE Students of the Month program at Ashland HS.
Thank you for your work on this vital issue.
Sincerely,
Sarah D Silver
CTE Student of the Month program coordinator for Rotary Club of Ashland-Lithia Springs (RCALS) Ashland, Oregon
Equitable and Inclusive Access to Higher Education and Training is a Matter of Social and Economic Justice
Posted by: Sarah D Silver | 04/22/2021 at 03:34 PM