CTE Policy Watch: A blog for CTE advocates

DC Digest: July 27-August 2

Congress struggled all week to try and agree on a COVID-19 stimulus package before the House was scheduled to start their August recess on Friday. They were unsuccessful, however, and both chambers will continue talks although it is unlikely that a consensus will be reached in the near future. Here are a few other notes on the happenings of last week:

• House Approves Six More Spending Bills: On Friday, the House passed a $1.3 trillion spending package for fiscal year 2021, which included the Education spending bill. The bill also included funding for the Defense spending bill, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy and Water, Financial Services and General Government, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development measures.
• Rethink K-12 Education Model Grants Awarded: The Department of Education announced that 11 states were awarded more than $180 million in Rethink K-12 Education Model Grants, a grant program that encourages states to think innovatively about how to serve students better during the pandemic. This funding comes from the CARES Act to help states address specific educational needs of students, parents and teachers in K-12 schools. 
• Action Needed to Support Perkins Funding in Next COVID-19 Relief Package: COVID-19 stimulus relief packages from both chambers have not included funding for CTE programs, nor an adequate amount of funding for the other programs that make up our federal education and workforce systems. Please ask Congress to include $1 billion to go toward Perkins funding and robust funding levels for the entire education and workforce development systems.
• House Subcommittee Hearing on COVID-19 and Reopening Schools: Some of the nation’s top public health officials testified before a House subcommittee on Friday to determine if the federal response to the pandemic has been adequate and how the continued spread would affect public life, specifically education. Members asked the officials about whether schools need more funding for virus prevention expenses if schools resume in-person learning and about the speed of children contracting the virus then spreading it to adults, and whether testing to detect cases has too much lag time to be helpful to prevent further spread in schools.

DC Digest: July 20-26

Both the Senate and House were back in session last week and have been working to finalize several bills before the scheduled August recess. The Senate revealed their coronavirus relief package proposal on Monday, while most of the movement in the House has been around appropriations. Below are a few updates on the happenings on the Hill and in the Administration:

• House Approves Four Spending Bills: On Friday, the House passed a $259.5 billion spending package for fiscal year 2021. The four bills included State and Foreign Operations, Agriculture, Interior and Environment, and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. The Education spending bill is expected to be voted on in the House this week along with six other spending bills. 
• House Subcommittee Hearing on COVID-19 and Higher Education: On Thursday, the House’s Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Subcommittee held a hearing titled “Underfunded and Unprepared: Examining How to Overcome Obstacles to Safely Reopen Public Schools” to discuss how schools can safely reopen in the fall. During the hearing, members heard and questioned four witnesses: Michael Hinojosa, Leslie Boggs, Penny Schwinn and Sean O'Leary. Watch the entire hearing here. 
• CTE Caucus Letter to Senate Leadership to Include ACCESS to Careers Act in Next COVID Package: On July 22, CTE Caucus Co-Chairs Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IL) sent a letter to Senate Leadership asking them to include the ACCESS to Careers Act (S.3273) in the upcoming COVID-19 relief package. This proposal, which was endorsed by ACTE, aims to boost student success and career readiness by increasing work-based learning opportunities, ensuring students have access to support services such as career navigators and counselors, and creating career pathways to meet the changing skill demands of the U.S. economy. 
• Association Letter to Congress to Include the Emergency Educational Connections Act in Next COVID Package: ACTE, as part of the Homework Gap Coalition, sent a letter to congressional leaders urging them to include the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 (S. 3690) in the next COVID package. This proposal would appropriate $4 billion towards the FCC's E-Rate program, which would help schools and libraries ensure that all students and educators have internet access for remote teaching and learning this academic year.​ Click here​ to read the letter.
• New CDC Resources and Tools: Under significant political pressure, the CDC released new resources and tools related to schools and reopening. Guidance is also given on implementing collaboration between state and local health departments and schools to protect the health and safety of everyone. Some of the tools and strategies recommended are promoting behaviors to prevent the spread, changing the school and school day structure, ensuring a clean environment, taking measures to prevent others getting sick from someone who is infected, and disseminating information to guide decision-making and adapt to local conditions.
• Department of Education Releases New Guidance on CARES Act Additional Funds: The Department of Education has released updated guidance on how it will distribute the “third allocation” of CARES Act funding available to some institutions that originally qualified for small amounts of funding, including many smaller community and technical colleges or area CTE Centers. New requirements include more extensive budget and expenditure reporting for institutions meeting certain parameters. 

DC Digest: July 13-19

There wasn’t much movement on the Hill last week, but both Chambers will return on July 20. The main focus was on appropriations which we have more information about below. The House Committee on Appropriations passed all 12 appropriation bills out of committee and the full House will start consideration of the first four spending bills this week. It is expected that the second round of spending bills will be taken up within the coming weeks. Here are a few more updates: 

• Appropriations Update: The House Appropriations Committee passed the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. This bill would give the Perkins Basic State Grant program an increase of $18 million, or 1.4%, over its FY 2020 enacted level, which would bring the total proposed appropriation level to approximately 1.3 billion. Read more.
• Eligibility Requirements in the CARES Act: In a joint statement, ACTE and Advance CTE submitted comments to the federal register opposing the CARES Act rule that only allows eligibility for the CARES Act funds if a student is also eligible for federal aid. Read the entire response here.

DC Digest: July 6-12

The House and the Senate were not in session this week, instead focusing on committee activity, but are expected to return to session on July 20. This week, the conversation around the delivery of instruction in schools and colleges in the fall took center stage at the federal level, with Administration officials pushing for full-time in-person learning and debates among policymakers about the safety and efficacy of such a decision as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase in many places. The conversation is likely to continue as the situation around the country evolves steadily. Here are a few other happenings:

• House FY2021 Appropriations Bill: The House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved its Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations bill. The bill proposes $196.5 billion in overall funding, an increase of $2.4 billion above the FY 2020 level, and includes a small increase in the Perkins Basic State Grant. Read more in our full blog post. 
• House Subcommittee Hearing on COVID-19 and Higher Education: On July 7, the House Education and Labor Subcommittee held a hearing where committee members were able to ask questions about COVID-19 and the impact on higher education. Four witnesses presented during the hearing: Sharon Pierce, Scott Pulsipher, Shaun Harper and Timothy Whitek. Watch the full hearing here. 
• More Support for Increased Education Funding: Following the remarks made by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in favor of increasing funding to schools in the next coronavirus response package, Steven Mnuchin, the U.S. Secretary to the Treasury, has also signalled he is in favor of giving more money to schools. For schools to open safely, he stated that more funds are needed to properly equip their areas. However, it is unclear at this point whether Congress will be able to reach an agreement around the amount and criteria for any additional federal funding for education. 
• Funding for Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants: In order for community colleges to meet labor demands for a skilled workforce, the Department of Labor announced $40 million in funding for the Strengthening Community College Training Grants. These grants will help retrain individuals and build a pipeline of workers in healthcare, logistics, cybersecurity and other industries. The deadline to apply is October 8, 2020.

DC Digest: June 29-July 5

The Fourth of July shortened last week, however, with both the House and Senate in session, there was still some federal policy activity. The conversation around school campuses reopening for the fall continued to dominate education discussions between lawmakers and health officials with no clear answers. Here are notes on what happened last week:

• Final Wave of CTE State Plans Approved: The Department of Education (ED) has approved seven additional Perkins State Plans! The plans that were approved are: Alaska, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. California and Palau have been granted extensions. More information on their plans can be found on the Department’s website.
  
  
• Senate HELP Committee Holds COVID-19 Update Hearing: The latest in a series of hearings by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee was titled, “COVID-19: Update on Progress Toward Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School.” It featured panelists from governmental health agencies (FDA, CDC, NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services) sharing their thoughts on both health and education-related impacts of the coronavirus. 
  
  
• House Passes Infrastructure Bill: On July 1, Democrats in the House passed a $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill called the “Moving Forward Act” which is an expansive bill that calls for improving America’s infrastructure, including repairing roads and bridgesand expanding broadband access in rural areas. While it also includes some money for schools, it is unlikely to pass in the Senate. You can read more about the underlying bill here. 
  
  
• Innovative Technology Project Announced for Rural Communities: ED introduced The Rural Tech Project, a new project that aims to encourage high-quality technological education in rural areas. Rural schools or LEAs can compete for $600,000 in prize money if they come up with competency-based distance learning programs that build a pipeline for high-demand, high-quality jobs for students. The deadline to apply is October 8, 2020.
  
  
• CDC Released New Guidance on COVID-19 Testing in Education: As school districts and colleges consider whether to reopen campuses, on June 30 the CDC offered additional recommendations on testing in colleges and K-12 settings. The guidance does not recommend universally testing every student, but instead using testing strategically as one component of a comprehensive mitigation strategy.  Guidance is provided on how to handle testing individuals with signs or symptoms of COVID, those who are asymptomatic but may have been exposed and those that are asymptomatic without known exposure. 
  
  
• New Senate Bill Proposes $1 Billion for CTE: On June 30, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced S. 4112, the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act, which includes significant resources to help educational institutional respond to the pandemic. You can read more about this bill in a detailed blog post, and see ACTE’s statement of support.

DC Digest: June 22-28

It was a busy week in DC last week! While police reform bills have stalled, discussions continue on next steps. In addition, lawmakers continue to move slowly toward a new COVID-19 relief bill, and support for additional funding for education in the next relief package is gaining traction. Read more below!  

• Four More CTE State Plans Approved: The Department of Education has approved four additional Perkins State Plans! The plans that were approved are: Arkansas, Mississippi, Nevada and Tennessee. More information on their plans can be found on the Departments website. 
• House Committee Hearing on Racial Inequities During COVID-19: On Monday, June 22, the House Education and Labor Committee hosted a hearing on “Inequities Exposed: How COVID-19 Widened Racial Inequalities in Education, Health and the Workforce”. During the hearing, committee members were able to hear from four experts about this issue discussed ways to move forward. Topics included lack of access to distance learning for Black, Latino and low-income students, minority businesses being most negatively affected during the pandemic, and other impacts that have disproportionately affected people of color during COVID-19. 
• Transformation of Work Summit: Protocol hosted “The Transformation of Work Summit” to explain how COVID-19 has shaped employability skills, workforce training, economic development and more. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), the Future of Work Caucus Chair in the House, spoke on how COVID-19  illuminated inequities and accentuated the need for technology to address the current and future skills gap. A Future of Skills panel discussed barriers to closing the skills gap, in-demand skills and the role of educational institutions during and after COVID-19. Watch the recording here. 
• Executive Order on Skills-Based Hiring: President Trump signed an Executive Order stating that the federal hiring process will no longer rely on degree-based hiring but instead on skills-based hiring. The order directs the Office of Personnel Management and the heads of other agencies to “review and revise all job classification and qualification standards for positions within the competitive service” to focus more on skills and competencies rather than educational credentials. 
• Apply for Out-of-school-time Career Pathways Grant: The Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) is inviting schools to apply for the new Out-of-school-time Career Pathway program. This grant program is offering $1.5 million to help state educational agencies support projects that will lead to expanded options for career pathways that can lead to postsecondary credentials. The deadline to apply is September 21, 2020. 
• Support for Additional Education Funding in COVID-19 Relief Package: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee, supports giving schools and colleges additional funds in the next COVID-19 relief package in order for students to be able to safely return to campuses in the fall. 

DC Digest: June 15-21

This week, there was quite a bit of news on the federal education policy front with the Senate back in session. The House is scheduled to return on June 24, but committee meetings and pro forma sessions continue. Both chambers are working toward legislation related to police reform but have yet to come to a consensus. We will continue to provide updates on any related bills impacting education or workforce development as the process continues. Here is the news!

• Fourth Wave of CTE State Plans Approved: The Department of Education (ED) has approved six additional CTE state plans! The plans that were approved are: Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina and Utah. More information on their plans can be found on the ED’s website. 

• FY21 Appropriations Schedule Released: The House Appropriations Committee announced on Friday that its Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill is scheduled to be marked up in subcommittee on July 7, at 5pm. At the same time, however, the Senate Appropriations Committee is delaying the start of markups for its FY 2021 bills over partisan disagreements on police reform and COVID-19 spending. Senate Democrats believe that this year’s funding bills should include COVID-19 relief funding and increased funding for programs that promote social justice. Republicans argue this breaches a previous agreement and consider these provisions "poison pills," so it is unclear how the process will move forward.  

• Republicans Release Broadband Connectivity and Digital Equity Framework: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, released principles for a legislative framework to expand broadband access and digital opportunity and close the digital divide. Their hope is that this legislation will serve as a foundation for future legislative efforts related to the COVID-19 economic recovery. Read more.

• House Education Committee Member Briefing: On Thursday, the House Education and Labor Committee Democrats hosted a member briefing focused on their $15.6 billion workforce investment bill, H.R. 6646, the Relaunching America's Workforce Act. During the briefing, Members discussed how Congress can help workers sharpen their skills and quickly reenter the workforce in the face of the current economic decline. Watch here.

• Child Care is Infrastructure Act Introduced in the House: Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) introduced the Child Care is Infrastructure Act that would allocate $10 billion over five years for child care infrastructure, and an additional $35 million for early childhood education and workforce development to fund a student repayment program and grants for students pursuing individuals pursuing a Childhood Development Associate (CDA) Credential or an associate’s degree. 

• Supreme Court Blocks Administration from Ending Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA): On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that DACA, which protects deportation and provides work authorization for undocumented immigrants that came here as children, and affects a large number of college students nationally, cannot be ended immediately.

DC Digest: June 8-14

Members of Congress, like much of the country, have spent significant time in the last few weeks discussing issues around racial inequity, with initial legislation introduced this week and more proposals under consideration. Common ground appears to be emerging between the two parties on several law enforcement reform issues. We will share more on any related bills impacting education or workforce development as the process unfolds. Below are a few other updates:

• Third Wave of CTE State Plans Approved: The Department of Education has approved 10 additional CTE state plans! The 10 plans that were approved are: Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin and DC. More information on their plans can be found on the ED’s website. 
• Senate Holds Hearing on COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hosted a hearing entitled ‘COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely’ where lawmakers discussed how to ensure schools can open safely in the fall. Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) also encouraged the reopening schools because of racial inequalities that minority students are facing while schools are closed. Watch the full hearing here, and read more on the blog here. You can also read the statement Sen. Alexander made on the Senate floor the next day, which acknowledged that schools may need additional funding to reopen
• The Committee for Education Funding (CEF) Hosts Hill Day: On Tuesday, ACTE joined CEF for their Hill Day to speak with lawmakers about the need for federal investment in education for COVID-19 costs and FY2021. Members of Congress were urged to increase the level of funding since the current level of funding is $7 million below the 2011 level in inflation-adjusted terms.
• Department of Education Releases Regulatory Guidance on CARES Act Student Aid: The Department of Education has issued a draft rule related to student eligibility for the portion of postsecondary CARES Act funding that is set aside for student aid. More information can be found in this blog post. 
• Applications for Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund Available: The Department of Education announced that all applications for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, a $3 billion stabilization fund under the CARES Act stimulus package, have been received. These applications are now public. The Governor’s fund is  aimed to help with funding for secondary and postsecondary institutions that were hit the hardest by COVID-19. Check out the plans to see what was included in your state’s application.
• Markups for FY21 Appropriations Bills Announced: House Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) has announced that subcommittee markups for the FY21 Appropriations bills will begin the week of July 6, with the hopes of having them passed out of the House by August recess. Similarly, Senate Appropriations Chair Richard Shelby (R-Al) announced the Senate will begin its process the third week of June. The situation remains fluid and is subject to change.
• House Members Request Education Funding for Next Relief Package: More than 100 Democratic House members are requesting $305 billion in education funding for K-12 schools in the next COVID-19 relief package. The lawmakers argue this funding is needed in order to ensure schools can be effective in the fall. 

DC Digest: May 25-31

With the Memorial Day holiday shortening the week and the Senate in recess, activity was lighter this week. The House was in session for most of the week, and considered minor changes to the Paycheck Protection Program. The Senate will return to the Hill June 1. Read more to find out what has been happening!

• Second Wave of CTE State Plans Approved: The Department of Education (ED) announced that they have approved the second wave of CTE state plans! This wave included 9 states: Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. More information on their plans can be found on the ED’s website.
  
  
• House Summer Schedule Announced: On Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer sent a letter to Representatives announcing tentative plans for summer. June will be dedicated primarily to Committee work, with only one day of votes scheduled unless additional COVID-19 legislation is ready for floor action. 

DC Digest: May 11-17

The House returned to session on Friday, and activity is picking up on the Hill.  You can read more about the House vote on their next coronavirus relief package here. Catch up on the other happenings from the Hill and Administration below!

• Presidential Cybersecurity Education Award Winners: The Department of Education has awarded Donna Woods from California and Kara Four Bear from North Dakota the inaugural Presidential Cybersecurity Education Award. The criteria for the award were “superior educator accomplishment, academic achievement indicators, and leadership contributing to educational excellence” in cybersecurity education.
  
  
• Senate Hearing on COVID-19: Safely Getting Back to Work and Back to School: On Tuesday, May 12, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing where Senators heard testimony from four top health officials and were able to ask questions about issues affected by COVID-19. Regarding the safety of opening up schools again, officials were hesitant to give an answer and stated that it would depend on the landscape of where the country and local communities are in August. You can watch the hearing here.
  
  
• Cohort Announced for the Pathways to Credentials Initiative: The Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education announced the cohort for a new initiative, Pathways to Credentials. The goal is to increase postsecondary institutions’ capacity for stackable, industry-recognized credentials. The cohort consists of 10 community colleges who will receive technical assistance between May 2020 and July 2021.
  
  
• New Grant Competition for Student-Centered Funding Program: The Department of Education has announced a new $3 million grant, funded through ESSA, to give an opportunity to school districts to launch student-centered funding programs. The program will allow local districts the flexibility to spend funds on individual student needs. 
  
  
• New CDC Decision Chart on Reopening Schools: The Center for Disease Control released a new decision chart to provide guidance on when and how schools should reopen. The guidance states that schools should only reopen if there is ongoing monitoring in place which includes screening protocols, daily evaluating of any staff or students with symptoms or previous exposure, and promoting healthy habits such as hand washing and face coverings among other measures.