As we kick off the new year, check out some of the highlights in the CTE policy and advocacy space from 2024, and help us ring in 2025 with some New Year’s advocacy resolutions and goals.
2024 in Advocacy:
ACTE advocates sent out over 4,000 messages to their federal policymakers through our Action Center!
- Our advocates were most active during April and July...did you send a message to your policymaker then?
- We helped to tell Congress to support increased funding for education and workforce development in both Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and FY 2025 appropriations packages. Most recently, our members in affected states told their policymakers to support the Social Security Fairness Act!
- The most active state in 2024 was...Oklahoma!
CTE stakeholders and advocates joined us in recognizing great CTE programs at Cardozo Education Campus in Washington D.C. for the annual CTE Month school visit hosted by ACTE, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)!
- Cardozo showcased incredible CTE programs and ACTE’s 2024 Teacher of the Year, Mr. Aris “P” Pangilinan!
- The event was attended by staff from Capitol Hill, The Department of Education, DCPS and local and national organizations.
ACTE was joined by CTSOs, students, advocates, Hill and Administration Staff and other stakeholders for our NPS Hill reception, where co-chairs and other members of the House and Senate CTE Caucuses delivered remarks on the incredible work done for CTE students and their legislative goals.
2024 in Congress:
We gained even more support in Congress for CTE!
- One new Senator and three Representatives joined the CTE Caucuses in their respective chambers, bringing the total membership to 32 in the Senate Caucus and 110 in the House.
- Six new Senators and 8 new Representatives cosponsored the JOBS Act of 2023, which would pave the way for Pell Grant access for participants in short-term job training programs. We’re extending a big THANK YOU to Sens. Coons, Heinrich, Merkley, Rosen, former Sen. Tester and Reps. Schakowsky, Carbajal, Hayes, Larsen, McClellan, Vasquez and Dingell.
- Both chambers also introduced the CTE Month Resolution, which gained bipartisan support!
It took some time, but Congress passed a Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations package in March. In a big victory, the Perkins Basic State Grant was funded at $1.44 billion, an increase of $10 million above FY 2023 levels. Now Congress is in the process of developing funding packages for FY 2025 appropriations. The bill introduced in the House provides an increase in Perkins funding but threatens to cut funds to other critical education programs. Meanwhile, the Senate version of the bill stands to provide more adequate funding for education across the board, including a Perkins increase. Thank you to our advocates who reached out to their policymakers to let them know we need more funding for CTE!
Congress passed the Social Security Fairness Act! This bill marks the culmination of decades of advocacy to repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) within the Social Security program. These provisions unfairly reduced Social Security benefits, including spousal benefits, for those who worked in private sector jobs and paid into Social Security, but also worked in a public sector job and earned a pension. President Biden signed the bill into law last week.
A WIOA Reauthorization Was Nearly Finalized. In December, the bipartisan leaders of the House and Senate education committees came to an agreement to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Although it was excluded from the final year-end package, this was the most progress made to update the law since it was last reauthorized in 2014.
Thank you to all our members, advocates, partners and CTE Caucus members for supporting CTE in 2024! If, like us, your New Year’s resolution is to have another fantastic year of CTE advocacy, check out these resources to stay up to date and equip yourself for the 119th Congress:
- Follow us on socials! @ACTEpolicy on X (formerly Twitter) and @ACTEpolicy.bsky.social on Bluesky
- Subscribe to our Legislative Alerts
- Sign-up to get alerts from the CTE Policy Watch Blog
- Connect with your Members of Congress through ACTE’s Action Center
- This is even more important if you have new representation following the election – educate them on CTE, establish yourself as a resource and make the case!
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