The Department of Education invites public comments on regional educational needs to guide its Regional Advisory Committees (RACs) in their administration of technical assistance to states and school districts. This provides an opportunity to identify growing demands for expanding CTE programs and challenges programs currently face.
The 10 RACs collect information on educational needs within their assigned region and then determine how comprehensive centers as described in the Educational Technical Assistance Act (ETAA) can provide technical assistance to address these needs. These committees rely on public comments to guide their work, and these comments, alongside data and resources, will be considered at the next committee meeting. In order for the committee to consider offering enhanced technical assistance to CTE programs, comments must present the current need for these programs and why it should be considered a priority. For example, you might want to share any challenges you are facing around the CTE teacher pipeline or providing students access to work-based learning.
Access the form to submit public comments here which includes the following questions:
- What are 1 to 2 educational needs within your region the RAC should prioritize?
- Why do you believe these are educational priorities that your region should address?
- What information can the RACs collect about these priorities to better understand and address the need(s)?
- Please add any other comments about educational needs in the region and how they could be addressed.
There isn’t much time to submit comments - they should be submitted two business days before the upcoming committee meeting for your respective region. Meeting dates are not publicly posted yet, but are expected to occur in late September or early October, so time is of the essence! The committees also encourage public attendance of these meetings, and the schedule and registration link will be posted here.