Each year, members in both chambers lead “Dear Colleague” letters that are sent to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee in both the House and Senate requesting robust funding for the Perkins Basic State Grant. This year’s letters were led by Reps. G.T. Thompson (R-PA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) in the House as well as Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) in the Senate. A total of 40 senators and 71 members of the House signed these letters.
Additionally, ACTE in coordination with Advance CTE recently sent a letter to House and Senate Appropriations Committee leadership requesting an $82 million increase to Perkins for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. The letter in part states, “adjusted for inflation, current levels of investment for this program are roughly half of the amount of the federal investment made in CTE in 1980. It is imperative that Congress begin to close this $1.3 billion gap in funding for CTE given significant new demand for skilled talent driven, in part, by new investments authorized by Congress in advanced manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, and other sectors of our shared economy.”
House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-OK) also laid out his timeline for FY 2025 appropriations bills this week. The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill is tentatively scheduled to come before the subcommittee on June 28 and before the full committee on July 10. He also announced the subcommittee allocations for each bill. The allocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education our bill will be $184,564,000. That represents a cut of approximately 11 percent compared to FY 2024, which will make it very difficult for any education or workforce development programs to gain needed increases, and even maintaining funding will be challenging.
ACTE is closely monitoring developments in the appropriations process, and we will keep you updated so that you can continue to advocate for the highest possible levels of CTE spending within this budget environment. Please let us know if you have any questions!
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