CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

Ask Your Senators to Support Robust Funding for CTE in FY 2023!

On June 30, the House Appropriations Committee marked up and approved by a vote of 32-24 its Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. In addition to other education and workforce-related investments, the House legislation proposes a $45 million increase to the Perkins Basic State Grant program, a year-over-year increase equal to what was enacted in the FY22 spending bill. 

Now, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee are set to begin crafting their version of the FY23 spending bill, and we need your help to promote an even greater increase for Perkins that is more reflective of the needs of the CTE community. We are requesting an increase of $200 million for the Perkins Basic State Grant in FY23 to ensure that CTE can continue to serve as a critical part of our nation’s economic development and meet urgent workforce needs. 

ACTION NEEDED: CLICK HERE to ask your senator to support robust funding for high-quality CTE programs in the Senate’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill! 

You can send a message directly using the ACTE Action Center. Additionally, if you have a direct contact in your senator's office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested Senate office. Please contact your senators today!

ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Members of Congress to Cosponsor the RAISE Act!

On March 3, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced legislation that would boost compensation for all public early childhood and K-12 teachers, including those in CTE. The legislation, titled the RAISE Act, would provide refundable federal income tax credits between $1,000 and $15,000 to eligible teachers annually. The amount of the credit would be determined by a sliding scale based on the school poverty level where the teacher works. 

Specifically, the RAISE Act would:   

• Provide all eligible K-12 and early childhood teachers with a minimum $1,000 refundable tax credit, regardless of school poverty level.  
• Provide a refundable tax credit of up to $15,000 for early childhood teachers with a bachelor’s degree and all eligible K-12 teachers. 
• Provide a refundable tax credit of up to $10,000 for early childhood teachers with an associate degree or Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate.  

Additionally, the bill would invest in educator recruitment and retention programs, incentivize local education agencies to increase teacher salaries, provide labor protections to prevent the tax credit from being unfairly used in salary negotiations and increase the educator tax deduction to $500 for all early childhood and K-12 teachers.   

ACTE has officially endorsed the RAISE Act. Now, we need your assistance to help retain teachers in the profession and attract more high-quality professionals to the teacher workforce.  

ACTION NEEDED: Contact your Members of Congress to ask them to cosponsor and support the RAISE Act! 

If you have a direct contact in your Member's office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested congressional office. Please contact your Members of Congress today!

Ask Your Members of Congress: Support CTE Provisions in the America COMPETES Act/USICA Conference Negotiations!

After House passage of the America COMPETES Act in February, House and Senate leadership began the formal process of resolving differences between America COMPETES and the Senate’s version of the legislation, known as the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA). The America COMPETES Act contains several provisions with implications for CTE, most notably the expansion of Pell Grants to short-term programs through language similar to the JOBS Act.  

• However, the JOBS Act language is not currently included in the Senate version of the bill, making it a critical issue for the conference negotiations. There are several other CTE-related issues that we hope the conference committee considers as well. 

If you reside in Arizona, New York, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Washington or California, your Members of Congress are in a key position to impact the conference negotiations, making it crucial that CTE advocates in these states weigh in now with these Members of Congress as the negotiations move to the final stages. 

ACTION NEEDED: Contact your policymakers in the House and Senate to ask them to support the extension of Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term CTE programs and additional workforce development priorities during the conference negotiations for the America COMPETES Act/USICA. 

If you have a direct contact in your representative's or senator’s office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested congressional office. Please contact your senators and representatives today!

Ask Your Senator: Support Robust Funding for Perkins in FY 2023!

Each year, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) lead a “Dear Colleague” letter to be sent to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee requesting robust funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) in the FY 2023 Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill. Committee members view these “Dear Colleague” letters as a critical part of the process because they show the breadth of support a specific program has, making this letter’s success critical. These senators have begun circulating the letter to their Senate colleagues to obtain additional senators to sign on. 

The president’s original budget request for FY 23 was disappointing, but only represents a starting point in what will be months of negotiation in Congress. Your advocacy these past few years has been critical to securing increases in Perkins funding; we need your help again to secure an increase for Perkins that is more reflective of the needs of the CTE community than the Administration’s request and ensures that CTE can continue to serve as a critical part of our economic recovery and meet urgent workforce needs. 

The current list of signers already includes: Brown, Sherrod; Cantwell, Maria; Cardin, Ben; Carper, Thomas; Casey, Bob; Cortez Masto, Catherine; King, Angus; Markey, Edward J.; Menendez, Robert; Merkley, Jeff; Murphy, Christopher; Ossoff, Jon; Reed, Jack; Schatz, Brian; Van Hollen, Chris; Warnock, Raphael G.; Whitehouse, Sheldon; Wyden, Ron. 

 ACTION NEEDED:  

• CLICK HERE to ask your senator to sign the “Dear Colleague” letter supporting robust funding for Perkins CTE in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill if they are not already on the list! The deadline for sign-ons is COB on Friday, May 20, 2022. 

You can send a message directly using the ACTE Action Center. Additionally, if you have a direct contact in your senator's office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested Senate office. Please contact your senator today!

Ask Your Representative: Support Robust Funding for Perkins in FY 2023!

As the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations process gets under way, House CTE Caucus chairmen Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA) are leading a “Dear Colleague” letter to be sent to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee requesting robust funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) in the FY 2023 Labor, Health, and Human Services appropriations bill. Committee members view these “Dear Colleague” letters as a critical part of the process because they show the breadth of support a specific program has, making this letter’s success critical. These representatives have begun circulating their letter and are seeking additional House members to sign on. 

The president’s original budget request for FY 23 was disappointing, but only represents a starting point in what will be months of negotiation in Congress. Your advocacy these past few years has been critical to securing increases in Perkins funding; we need your help again to secure an increase for Perkins that is more reflective of the needs of the CTE community than the Administration’s request and ensures that CTE can continue to serve as a critical part of our economic recovery and meet urgent workforce needs. 

ACTION NEEDED:  

• CLICK HERE to ask your representative to sign the “Dear Colleague” letter  supporting robust funding for Perkins CTE in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. The deadline for sign-ons is COB on Friday, April 22, 2022. 

You can send a message directly using the ACTE Action Center. Additionally, if you have a direct contact in your representative's office, such as from a meeting with a staff member during NPS or at another time, we urge you to call or email directly. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested House office. Please contact your representative today!

Ask Your Members of Congress: Cosponsor the House and Senate CTE Month Resolutions!

The co-chairs of the House and Senate CTE Caucus, Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), and Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Todd Young (R-IN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Rob Portman (R-OH) have introduced resolutions in both chambers honoring February as CTE Month! 

CLICK HERE to ask your Members of Congress to cosponsor this year’s CTE Month resolutions. 

The House and Senate resolutions raise awareness about the many benefits associated with high-quality CTE programs. Your advocacy makes a difference and encourages representatives and senators to cosponsor the resolutions, so please contact your Members of Congress today!

ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Senators to Support CTE Funding in the Build Back Better Act!

On November 19, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, paving the way for the bill to go through final negotiations in the Senate. This version of the bill includes funding for CTE priorities, including $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; and significant resources for a number of other education and workforce development programs.  

Senators are in the midst of heavy negotiations to finalize the bill before the end of the year, so now is the time to act – we need your help to keep CTE programs top of mind for senators as they make decisions about final funding levels in the bill!  

As CTE stakeholders, it has never been more important to engage with your senators by sending letters and participating in the #careerteched conversation on Twitter to urge them to prioritize these critical investments in CTE.  

Sending a letter to and engaging with your policymakers on social media will take less than five minutes – sending messages is particularly important if you live in a state with a Democratic senator, as they have the most influence over these negotiations!    

ACTION NEEDED: 

• CLICK HERE to send a letter and/or a Tweet urging senators to support CTE funding in the Build Back Better Act. 

Please connect with your senators by sending them a letter and a Tweet today!

CTE Advocates Take Action During Budget Reconciliation on Twitter

On October 12, ACTE launched a social media campaign to urge Members of Congress to maintain the robust funding levels provided in the budget reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, for CTE and other workforce development programs as the final negotiations on that bill continue! 

As of October 22, 77 Tweets have been sent through ACTE’s Action Center, which facilitates delivery of emails and Tweets to Members of Congress. For those without Twitter accounts, advocates were encouraged to send a letter supporting the funding levels through the Action Center – so far, 335 letters have been sent to Capitol Hill.  

ACTE members contacted senators and representatives from California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia on Twitter. Here is a sampling of the Tweets ACTE members sent to make their voices heard: 

 

 

 

 

To read more Tweets from the campaign, visit the #careerteched hashtag on Twitter! It is also not too late to participate in the campaign! It is important to continue advocacy efforts to help keep CTE top of mind for policymakers as they make key funding decisions and urge federal policymakers to prioritize critical investments in CTE. Please visit the Action Center to send a Tweet or letter to your federal policymakers today! 

ACTION ALERT: Ask Members of Congress to Support CTE Funding on Twitter!

Recently, the House Education and Labor Committee approved its portion of the budget reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, containing $4 billion for CTE! ACTE is now calling on Congress to maintain the robust funding levels provided in that bill for CTE and other workforce development programs as the budget reconciliation negotiations continue!  

Members of Congress and their communications teams are constantly keeping an eye on Twitter to monitor the biggest conversations that are taking place among their constituents, the media and advocates. As CTE stakeholders, it has never been more important to engage in the #careerteched conversation on Twitter to meet Members of Congress where they are and urge them to prioritize critical investments in CTE. 

At this stage of the reconciliation process, congressional leadership is in the midst of heavy negotiations, so now is the time to act – we need your help to keep CTE programs top of mind for Members of Congress as they make key funding decisions affecting CTE! 

Engaging with your policymakers on social media will take less than five minutes! Sending messages is particularly important if you live in a state or district with Democratic Members of Congress, as they have the most influence over these negotiations! 

ACTION NEEDED: 

If you have a Twitter account, CLICK HERE to send a Tweet urging Members of Congress to support CTE funding in the Build Back Better Act. Below are tips to utilize the Twitter function of ACTE’s Action Alert system:

• Input your address, then check or uncheck the blue checkboxes to choose the Tweets you want to send. 
• The Tweets are customizable, so if you want to add your own thoughts to the pre-written Tweet in the text box, you can do so! 
• Next, a window will pop up asking you to authorize the Congress Web application for use on your Twitter account. Authorize the app and press the blue “send” button to complete the process. 

Additionally, if you are not active on Twitter and would like to send a letter to your Members of Congress, please click here to send an email through  ACTE’s Action Center! Please connect with them on Twitter or send a letter today!

ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Members of Congress to Support CTE Funding During Critical Budget Reconciliation Period!

Following the passage of a budget resolution by the House and Senate, the House Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will begin drafting their portions of the larger budget reconciliation package. At this stage of the process, the key funding decisions for CTE are being made by members of these committees. We need your help to put pressure on policymakers to prioritize investments in CTE programs and workforce development in the budget reconciliation bill.  

Your advocacy has been instrumental in securing funding increases for CTE for the past several years, and your voice is critical to ensuring that policymakers in Washington understand the many benefits of high-quality CTE programs. The Biden Administration has proposed $10 billion over 10 years for CTE programs in the reconciliation bill as a part of the President’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget request and American Jobs Plan. More broadly, the Biden Administration is calling for $100 billion in funding for workforce development. However,amidst competing priorities and limited resources available for education spending in the bill, these funds may not be included. 

In addition, there are numerous discussions underway about how to provide up to two years of free college through the bill, and how to support postsecondary retention and completion. ACTE is proactively working to ensure that CTE programs at area CTE centers and certificate programs at other institutions are included in any of these proposals. 

The House Education and Labor Committee is expected to begin considering its portion of the budget reconciliation package as soon as Thursday, September 9, and is putting that proposal together now. The Senate HELP Committee is expected to follow soon after, so now is the time to act! 
 

ACTION NEEDED:  

CLICK HERE to ask your Members of Congress to weigh in with their colleagues on the Senate HELP Committee and House Education and Labor Committee to ask them to support these three priorities in the budget reconciliation bill: 
 

• Include the Biden Administration’s proposed investment of $10 billion over 10 years for CTE programs  
• Match the Biden Administration’s $100 billion request for workforce development funding overall, including CTE funding 
• Ensure that CTE programs are included in any postsecondary proposals, such as free college and college retention and completion initiatives, including programs at area CTE centers.  

Additionally, if you have met with a staff member during NPS or at another time and have a direct contact, feel free to call or email directly rather than using the Action Center link. You can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and an operator will connect you to your requested House or Senate office. Please contact your Members of Congress today!