CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

House Education and Workforce Committee Holds First Organizing Meeting

The House Education and Workforce Committee, now chaired by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), held an organizing meeting on January 15, during which both Rep. Walberg and Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) announced new committee members and their goals for the committee in the 119th Congress. 

Rep. Walberg laid out his agenda priorities for the Committee, including the cost of college, school choice, social and cultural issues in higher education, and workforce development. On workforce development, Walberg stated, “Bottom line, we want students, workers, job creators all to have the skills they need to be competitive in the 21st century.” 

Notably, Rep. Scott also expressed an interest in workforce development, particularly related to the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). He encouraged support for the bill, “Our bipartisan, bicameral proposal will help train workers for good-paying jobs and connect employers with highly qualified candidates,” also sharing that, “It is good for workers, good for employers and good for the economy.”  

Reps. Walberg and Scott also reviewed reforms to the Committee’s rules, procedures and oversight work. They also announced new Members of Congress who will serve on the Education and Workforce Committee this congress, including: 

Republicans: 

• Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) 

• Rep. Ryan McKenzie (R-PA) 

• Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) 

• Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC) 

• Rep. Mark Messmer (R-IN) 

Democrats: 

• Rep. Greg Casar (D-MI) 

• Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA0 

• Rep. John Mannion (D-NY) 

In the coming weeks, ACTE will be reaching out to all the new members and advocating for CTE, and our longtime priorities. We will continue to monitor the 119th Congress’s work and share updates as well!  

2024 Year in Review

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! 

Meet the New Members of the Senate Appropriations and HELP Committees

With the 119th Congress underway, Senate leaders recently announced their committee rosters for this Congress. The Senate Committees on Appropriations and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) will have several new faces.  

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) will take over as chair of the Appropriations Committee. The long-time Senator served as the ranking member in the previous Congress. In addition to Appropriations, she serves on HELP and has made education a priority during her entire Senate career.  

Joining the committee for Senate Republicans are Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Mike Rounds (R-SD). Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is currently still on the committee for this Congress; however, he will leave Congress when he gets confirmed as Secretary of State. That will open another spot on the committee for an additional Republican. 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) will move to the role of ranking member having served as chair this last Congress. Similarly to Sen. Collins, she sits on HELP and was the top Democrat on that committee for several Congresses. Democrats joining the committee are Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). They replace Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Jon Tester (D-MT). Sens. Manchin and Sinema both retired from Congress and Sen. Tester did not win re-election. 

Moving to HELP, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) will take over as the new chair of the committee. For the 118th Congress, he served as the ranking member. He came to the Senate in 2015 and previously served in the House of Representatives from 2009-2015. His priorities on education and workforce include introducing the College Transparency Act as well as negotiating a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). ACTE endorsed the College Transparency Act in the 118th Congress. As chair, it will be his responsibility to set the direction of the committee. 

On the Republican side of the aisle, four new members will join the committee for the 119th Congress. They are Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jim Banks (R-IN) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). Of these new members, Sen. Banks is the only new member of the Senate. He was elected to the House in 2016 and served his entire tenure on the House Education and the Workforce Committee. 

Two members who were on HELP in the previous Congress will not return. Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Ted Budd (R-NC) have rolled off the committee to pursue other assignments.  

On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will remain as the top Democrat on the committee, but he will shift to serve as the ranking member for this Congress.  

The Democrats will also welcome three new members to the committee: Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) and Andy Kim (D-NJ). All three are freshmen Senators in the 119th Congress. Sens. Blunt Rochester and Kim previously served in the House while Sen. Alsobrooks served as the Executive for Prince George’s County in Maryland. 

In the coming weeks, ACTE will be reaching out to all the new members and advocating for CTE, and our longtime priorities. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch ([email protected]).    

OCTAE Releases New Resource Regarding ELs and CTE

As part of its Unlocking Career Success initiative, the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) recently released an English Learner Playbook, a guide for how educators, students, families, policymakers, and other stakeholders can best bring career-connected learning opportunities to English learners (ELs). The playbook also addresses the importance of multilingualism, another key priority for the Secretary of Education.  

The English Learner Playbook contains suggestions and resources for strengthening opportunities for ELs tailored to various groups. For example, a section for local leaders discusses collaboration between educational and industry leaders, state leaders are advised to consider innovative funding models to fund these efforts, and educators are encouraged to engage with families in decision-making about their student’s educational options. The playbook also describes why it is beneficial to engage ELs in career pathways, citing studies, similar programs and other initiatives that resulted in positive outcomes for ELs. 

Educators, students, families, policymakers, and other stakeholders, particularly those who work with ELs and are concerned about career pathways, are encouraged to share and utilize the playbook to uplift the opportunities available to ELs. 

You can learn more about serving ELs in CTE through our brief, “Supporting English Learners in CTE,” produced with our partners at Advance CTE.  

Meet Jesus Galvan, ACTE’s Newest Staff Member

My name is Jesus Galvan, and I recently joined ACTE as its new Research and Policy Coordinator. In this role, I will support ACTE with various research, data and policy activities, including creating fact sheets and writing blog posts. 

I was born and raised in Southeast Texas, near the Louisiana border and the Gulf of Mexico. I grew up in an area plagued by poverty and attended poor-performing schools – despite this, I remained oblivious to my living situation until I reached high school. Only then did I begin to realize how access to a good K-12 education, college and a stable career often depended on where one was born, their socioeconomic status and their racial/ethnic background. Once I enrolled for college at Rice University, I took my lived experiences and began to focus on attaining a career where I could work in education in some capacity.

At Rice, I engaged in numerous research and internship experiences to expand my knowledge in education research and policy. This includes interning at the Educational Testing Service, the U.S. Department of Education and Latinos for Education and conducting research with the Houston Education Research Consortium and the Kinder Institute for Urban Research. After graduating from Rice, I enrolled in the Master of Arts program in Educational Policy Studies at Boston University, where I interned with the Wheelock Educational Policy Center and worked alongside the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy on a project analyzing STEM-based work experiences for high school students in Massachusetts. I have many different interests in education research, but CTE began to bloom as a particular standout because of its push to secure stabilized futures and career paths for all students, an issue that I particularly care about. 

In this new role with ACTE, I hope to contribute significantly to the expanding opportunities that CTE can bring about, particularly for vulnerable student populations in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also hope to see flourishing economic opportunities for these students because of expanded CTE offerings – in an increasingly expensive era, building wealth for the most vulnerable student populations is urgent. 

Outside of work, I enjoy collecting New York Times newspapers, listening to music (shoutout to the band Beach House), visiting museums and cooking with my parents. 

If I can be of any help or assistance to you, please do not hesitate to reach me at [email protected]. I would be more than happy to speak with you. 

Updated Resources: Education & Training and Hospitality & Tourism Sector Sheets

Today ACTE published CTE: Developing the Education & Training Workforce and CTE: Developing the Hospitality & Tourism Workforce as part of our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE's long-time partner Pearson.  

The Education & Training Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports this workforce, which employs more than 8 million people nationwide supporting preschool through adult learners, while the Hospitality & Tourism Sector Sheet describes CTE’s role in preparing individuals to work in travel and tourism, hotels and lodging, and restaurant fields.

The Sector Sheets share information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in these sectors. And demonstrate the importance of CTE in developing these workforces by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more. 

Both the newer and older Sector Sheets are available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce. 

Updated Resource: Financial Services Sector Sheet

Today ACTE published CTE: Developing the Financial Services Workforce as part of our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE's long-time partner Pearson.  

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the financial services workforce, which employs more than 7.2 million people nationwide. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in accounting and business finance, securities and investments, and insurance.

In addition, the Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing this workforce by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more. 

Both the newer and older Sector Sheets are available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce.  

Updated Resource: Arts, Media and Entertainment Sector Sheet

Today ACTE published CTE: Developing the Arts, Media and Entertainment Workforce as part of our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE's long-time partner Pearson.  

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the arts, media and entertainment workforce, which employs about 3 million people nationwide. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in the animation, game design and visual effects; performance, music and live entertainment; and media production sub-sectors.

In addition, the Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing this workforce by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more. 

Both the newer and older Sector Sheets are available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce.  

Updated Resource: Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security Sector Sheet

Today ACTE is releasing CTE: Developing the Law, Public Safety, Corrections and Security Workforce, the latest in our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE's long-time partner Pearson.  

These revised Sector Sheets include job opportunities in each sector and descriptions of how CTE prepares learners for the workforce in each sector, all in a new format featuring more streamlined text and additional graphics to make these advocacy tools even more effective. 

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the law, public safety, corrections and security workforce, which employs about 5 million people nationwide. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in the emergency medical and fire, legal services and law enforcement sub-sectors. Finally, the Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing this workforce by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more. 

As we move forward with the revamped Sector Sheets, both the newer and older Sector Sheets will remain available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce.  

Updated Resource: Biosciences Sector Sheet

ACTE has published CTE: Developing the Biosciences Workforce, the latest in our revamped series of Sector Sheets describing CTE’s role in growing the workforce for vital industry sectors. The Sector Sheet series is published with support from ACTE's long-time partner Pearson.  

These revised Sector Sheets include job opportunities in each sector and descriptions of how CTE prepares learners for the workforce in each sector, all in a new format featuring more streamlined text and additional graphics to make these advocacy tools even more effective. 

This Sector Sheet describes how CTE supports the biosciences workforce, which employs over 2.1 million people nationwide across more than 127,000 business establishments. It also shares information on occupations, earnings and credentials that enable individuals to succeed in the laboratories, medical equipment and devices, and pharmaceutical manufacturing sub-sectors. Finally, the Sector Sheet demonstrates the importance of CTE in developing this workforce by describing how CTE prepares learners through courses, industry credentials, work-based learning, career and technical student organizations and more. 

As we move forward with the revamped Sector Sheets, both the newer and older Sector Sheets will remain available on the ACTE Sector Sheet webpage for download and use. We encourage you to share these tools with students, families, counselors, policymakers and others to spread the message about CTE and its benefits for learners and the workforce.