The biggest news in Washington this week was the passage of the social spending package, known as the Build Back Better Act, in the House on a party-line vote. The bill contains $1.7 in new investments across the federal government, along with accompanying revenue increases. It includes several provisions that will benefit CTE students and programs, including a $700 million investment in Perkins V. You can read more about the bill’s education-related programs in the CTE Policy Watch blog post linked below. Next, the bill heads to the Senate as leadership there aims to bring the bill up for a vote before the end of the year. In addition, negotiations surrounding the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriations bills are still ongoing, and Congress likely needs to pass another Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government funded before government funding runs out on Dec. 3. As we await the next steps from Congress, here are the key headlines from this week:
- House Passes Build Back Better Act: On November 19, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act along party lines, paving the way for the bill to go through final negotiations in the Senate. This version of the bill includes funding for CTE priorities that we have previously covered, including the $700 million in funding for Perkins. In addition, it also includes $5 billion for Community College and Industry Partnership grants which would provide funds to postsecondary institutions (including community and technical colleges and area CTE centers) to partner with employers to expand education and training opportunities in high-skill, high-wage or in-demand industry sectors or occupations. Read more on the bill and other ACTE legislative updates here.
- Departments of Education and Labor Recognize National Apprenticeship Week: The Departments of Education and Labor, as well as organizations, schools and companies across the country, recognized November 15-21 as the 7th annual National Apprenticeship Week. The week was celebrated with events promoting apprenticeships and the opportunities that they provide for learners, including a Twitter hashtag - #NAW2021, the launch of a partnership and MOU with the Government of Switzerland to expand registered apprenticeships with Swiss-owned and Swiss-invested companies in the United States, and an online dialogue to expand access to registered apprenticeships among underserved communities.
- President Biden Signs Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: On Nov. 15, President Biden signed the bi-partisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. The new law would provide significant resources to upgrade infrastructure across the country, and a few programs that benefit education and workforce development as well. You can read more on the blog.
- Congressional Education Subcommittees Hold Hearing on COVID-19 Funds: The Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and the Higher Education and Workforce Investment Subcommittees of the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing with the Department of Education to discuss how schools are spending COVID-19 stimulus funds. Speakers highlighted community colleges' use of funds to address student mental health and underscored the importance of transparent spending. For more details, you can watch the full hearing here.
- Committee for Education Funding (CEF) Sends Letter to Congressional Appropriators: The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), of which ACTE is a member, sent a letter to the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees requesting that Congress pass the FY 2022 Labor‐HHS-Education appropriations bill as soon as possible, calling on them to enact the bill and end the reliance on CRs to maintain government funding.
- Department of Education Proposes Changes to Civil Rights Data Collection: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education has published its draft information collection request package for 2021-22 in the federal register. In addition to new information request related to the impact of COVID-19, OCR is proposing to add an optional nonbinary category to gender data questions. This could eventually have an impact on Perkins data reporting as well. Comments on the OCR request can be submitted here by 1/18/22.
- Department of Education Approves Additional ARP-ESSER Funds: The Department of Education announced that it has approved Puerto Rico’s ARP-ESSER plan. ARP-ESSER funds are used to support schools and students as they reopen for in-person learning, and to help sustain the safe operation of schools.
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