June 15th, 2012
Perkins Level Funded in Senate Spending Bill
This week the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education marked up their FY13 appropriation bill, which allocated approximately $158 billion to be divided up among its programs, including the Perkins Act. We are happy to report that Perkins was level funded. Given threats to non-defense discretionary programs from sequestration and other budget proposals, we think that level funding is a victory. Thank you to all of you who made outreach to your Senators! Hearing from constituents really can make a difference.
The full Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Labor-HHS-Education bill yesterday by a party-line vote of 16-14. The bill proposes to change the name of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education to the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education. In order for this to happen the House would also have to propose such a change in their bill or agree to the change in conference.
During the mark up the full Committee approved an amendment to restore Pell grant eligibility for Ability to Benefit (ATB) students participating in career pathway programs. Pell eligibility for ATB students was eliminated in the FY12 appropriations bill.
Contact Your Representative Today to Maintain Perkins Act Funding!
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee Chairman Denny Rehberg (MT) previously stated that his subcommittee would not mark up their appropriations bill until after the Supreme Court ruled on the Affordable Care Act. We are now hearing that he plans to mark up their bill on June 20th.
If your Representative is a member of the Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee, we urge you contact them today and ask that they maintain Perkins Act funding. Because the House’s allocation for education and labor programs is lower than that of the Senate, it is even more important that House members hear from constituents about the importance of Perkins and CTE in helping to prepare students for jobs that remain unfilled, and in turning around the economy. There is a greater possibility that Perkins could be cut in this House bill.
House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee members:
- Denny Rehberg, Montana (Chair)
- Jerry Lewis, California
- Rodney Alexander, Louisiana
- Jack Kingston, Georgia
- Kay Granger, Texas
- Michael K. Simpson, Idaho
- Jeff Flake, Arizona
- Cynthia M. Lummis, Wyoming
- Rosa L. DeLauro, Connecticut (Ranking Member)
- Nita M. Lowey, New York
- Jesse L. Jackson, Jr., Illinois
- Lucille Roybal-Allard, California
- Barbara Lee, California
Call Your Member of Congress TODAY!
- Call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121, and ask to be connected to your Members’ office.
- Once connected to the Member’s office, ask to speak to the staffer that works on appropriations or education issues.
- Tell them that cuts to CTE and Perkins will hurt CTE students in every state. Include concrete examples and data from your Member’s district about how students and programs will be impacted by any cuts to Perkins. Make the case, where appropriate, that cuts will hurt the local economy
If you have any questions or to update NASDCTEc on your contact with Congress, please call Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager, at 301-588-9630 or email her at nconneely@careertech.org
Tags: advocacy, appropriations, budget, career pathways, Congress, funding, OVAE, Perkins, postsecondary
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June 8th, 2012
The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a markup of H.R. 4297, the Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012 yesterday. The bill represents large scale changes to the current WIA program. The bill was approved by a party line vote of 23 to 15. There is no word on when the bill will go to the floor.
The bill proposes to consolidate approximately 30 existing workforce and training programs into a single, flexible Workforce Investment Fund, and it would give Governors the power to consolidate even more programs under a unified state plan. The bill would also require states and locals to use common performance measures for all workforce development programs.
As we previously reported, an earlier bill introduced by Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC), which was merged into H.R. 4297, allowed states to submit a unified state plan encompassing two or more job training and related programs, including both Perkins secondary and postsecondary programs. Under Foxx’s bill, Perkins funds would have been eligible to be consolidated into a Workforce Investment Fund and used for workforce activities. After hearing from the CTE community, new language was added to the Workforce Investment Improvement Act that singles out Perkins as one program whose funds cannot be consolidated into the Workforce Investment Fund.
The Workforce Investment Improvement Act also proposes changes to the Job Corps program to ensure that CTE and job training offered under that program is focused on in-demand occupations and that disadvantaged youth receive a regular high school diploma and/or a postsecondary credential that prepares them for employment.
Democrats on the Committee are not supportive of the bill, and offered a substitute bill as an amendment. Their bill focused on career pathways in high demand industries that lead to industry recognized credentials and postsecondary attainment. It would also expand the role of community colleges in job training. The Democrats’ amendment was voted down along party lines.
A summary of H.R. 4297 can be found here.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: accountability, career pathways, community colleges, Congress, credentials, federal legislation, Job training, Legislation, postsecondary, Public Policy, WIA, workforce, youth employment
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June 6th, 2012
The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education is scheduled to mark up their FY13 appropriations bill next Tuesday, June 12th. The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee has been slated to receive $157.722 billion to divide up among its programs, including the Perkins Act. The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to markup the Labor-HHS-Education bill on Thursday June 14th.
If your Senator is a member of the Appropriations Committee, we urge you contact them today and ask that they maintain Perkins Act funding. Given the threats to non-defense discretionary funding (including Perkins) from sequestration and other budget proposals, it is vital that members of Congress hear from constituents about the importance of Perkins and CTE in helping to prepare students for jobs that remain unfilled, and in turning around the economy.
Senate Appropriations Committee members (Labor-HHS-Education members denoted by asterisk):
- Daniel Inouye (HI)*
- Patrick Leahy (VT)
- Tom Harkin (IA)*
- Barbara Mikulski (MD)*
- Herb Kohl (WI)*
- Patty Murray (WA)*
- Dianne Feinstein (CA)
- Richard Durbin (IL)*
- Tim Johnson (SD)
- Mary Landrieu (LA)*
- Jack Reed (RI)*
- Frank Lautenberg (NJ)
- Ben Nelson (NE)
- Mark Pryor (AR)*
- Jon Tester (MT)
- Sherrod Brown (OH)*
- Thad Cochran (MS)*
- Mitch McConnell (KY)
- Richard Shelby (AL)*
- Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)*
- Lamar Alexander (TN)*
- Susan Collins (ME)
- Lisa Murkowski (AK)
- Lindsey Graham (SC)*
- Mark Kirk (IL)*
- Dan Coats (IN)
- Roy Blunt (MO)
- Jerry Moran (KS)*
- John Hoeven (ND)
- Ron Johnson (WI)*
Call Your Senator TODAY!
- Call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121, and ask to be connected to your Members’ office.
- Once connected to the Member’s office, ask to speak to the staffer that works on appropriations or education issues.
- Tell them that cuts to CTE and Perkins will hurt CTE students in every state. Insert concrete examples and data from your state about how students and programs will be impacted any cuts to Perkins. Make the case, where appropriate, that cuts will hurt the state’s economy
If you have any questions or to update NASDCTEc on your contact with Congress, please call Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager, at 301-588-9630 or email her at nconneely@careertech.org
Tags: advocacy, appropriations, budget, Congress, funding, Perkins
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May 11th, 2012
Proposed Rule Affecting Agriculture Education Withdrawn
As we told you late last year, the Department of Labor proposed a rule relating to the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which would eliminate the student learner exemptions, particularly related to agriculture experiences. These changes would limit the opportunities for students to participate in hands-on learning experiences in agriculture programs.
The Department recently announced that they were withdrawing the proposed rule “in response to thousands of comments expressing concerns about the effect of the proposed rules on small family-owned farms.” We are pleased to see the change that can occur because of grassroots advocacy. The CTE and agriculture communities mobilized to voice their concerns with the proposed rule, their voices were heard!
House Passes Sequester Replacement Bill
The House passed H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act which, we told you about last week. This bill would replace cuts to defense spending with reductions to food stamps and other mandatory social programs. The bill passed 218-99, along party lines. Nearly all Republicans supported the bill (16 opposed it), and no Democrats supported it.
The Democratically-controlled Senate is so opposed to the bill that they have said they will not even vote on it. President Obama released a Statement of Administration Policy which indicated his plan to veto the bill if it reached his desk because it “would impose deep budget cuts that cost jobs and hurt middle class and vulnerable Americans – especially seniors, veterans, and children.” While the bill has very little chance of passing Congress, it could serve as a marker for Republicans during budget negotiations later this year.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: advocacy, agriculture, appropriations, funding, Public Policy, Secondary
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May 3rd, 2012
In an effort to shield $600 billion in defense spending from sequestration, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (WI) has introduced a pair of bills that would generate savings in some manner other than the current sequestration plan in the Budget Control Act.
The Sequester Replacement Act would reduce the discretionary spending cap set by the Budget Control Act for FY13 by $19 billion. It also prohibits defense spending from being subject to sequestration in FY13. This would shift all of the savings required by the Budget Control Act to fall on non-defense discretionary spending, including education programs.
The House budget resolution included reconciliation instructions for six committees – Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform and Ways and Means – to save $260 billion over ten years. The resulting bill, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, makes cuts to mandatory programs within these six committees in exchange for stopping sequestration in 2013. More information on specific cuts to programs under the committees’ jurisdictions can be found here.
Both bills are expected to be on the House floor for votes next week.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: appropriations, budget, Congress, funding
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April 20th, 2012
The Department of Education released their Perkins reauthorization blueprint yesterday. See our previous blog entry and statement here.
Senate Sets Spending Levels for Subcommittees
This week the Senate Appropriations Committee released their 302(b) allocations, or spending levels, for each of the 12 subcommittees. In the Senate, they are using as their top line number the cap set by the Budget Control Act — $1.047 trillion. The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee would receive $157.722 billion to divide up among its programs, including the Perkins Act. The House is expected to release its 302(b) allocations next.
House Holds WIA Hearing
The House Education and the Workforce Committee held a legislative hearing this week on H.R. 4297, the “Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012.” The hearing provided members an opportunity to discuss and gather expert feedback on the legislation. Among other things, this bill would consolidate 27existing workforce related programs into one flexible job training program, require the makeup of WIBs to be two-thirds employers, and require States to adopt common performance measures.
DOL Releases Career Pathways Resources
The Employment and Training Administration at the Department of Labor released technical assistance resources for the Career Pathways Initiative. The Career Pathways Initiative was launched in June 2010 to increase credential attainment and improve access to training opportunities for disadvantaged individuals. The new resources can be found here.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: appropriations, budget, career pathways, federal grants, Job training, Perkins, WIA, workforce
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April 20th, 2012
Yesterday Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and OVAE Assistant Secretary Brenda Dann-Messier unveiled Investing in America’s Future: A Blueprint for Transforming Career and Technical Education at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa. This Blueprint outlines the Obama Administration’s plan for reauthorizing the Perkins Act, and revolves around the following four themes:
- Alignment: Effective alignment between high-quality CTE programs and labor market needs to equip students with 21st-century skills and prepare them for in-demand occupations in high-growth industry sectors;
- Collaboration: Strong collaborations among secondary and postsecondary institutions, employers, and industry partners to improve the quality of CTE programs;
- Accountability: Meaningful accountability for improving academic outcomes and building technical and employability skills in CTE programs for all students, based upon common definitions and clear metrics for performance; and
- Innovation: Increased emphasis on innovation supported by systemic reform of state policies and practices to support CTE implementation of effective practices at the local level.
While we support the themes encompassed in the Blueprint, we worry that the details related to each of these areas could have an adverse affect on CTE programs. For example, the proposal to award funds to consortia on a competitive basis could result in decreased, inequitable student access to high-quality CTE programs. You can read our joint statement with ACTE here. We will provide more detailed analysis in the coming days.
For more information from the Department of Education, you can access a summary of the Blueprint, as well as their press release.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: accountability, business and industry partnerships, Equity, federal legislation, funding, Innovation, labor market, Legislation, OVAE, Perkins, Public Policy, Secondary, Secretary Duncan, technical skills
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April 20th, 2012
Yesterday afternoon, at Des Moines Area Community College, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan released the Administration’s proposal for Perkins reauthorization. NASDCTEc, together with ACTE, issued a statement immediately following the release:
ALEXANDRIA, VA — On April 19, 2012, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan unveiled Investing in America’s Future: A Blueprint for Transforming Career and Technical Education, outlining the Obama Administration’s proposal for reauthorizing the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins). The National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) appreciate the Department’s focus on Perkins, and Career and Technical Education (CTE), at a time when many industries face a shortage of well qualified skilled workers. However, some of the details in the Blueprint raise serious concerns.
While we support the themes encompassed in the Perkins Blueprint—alignment, collaboration, accountability and innovation—we worry that the details in the Blueprint could have an adverse affect on CTE programs and result in decreased, inequitable student access to high-quality CTE programs. As the reauthorization process moves forward, CTE stakeholders across the country are looking forward to providing input to develop a new law that will best meet the needs of CTE students and our nation’s economy.
We believe that a new CTE law should provide sufficient resources to ensure that all students have access to high-quality CTE, beginning early in a student’s education with career awareness and broad knowledge and building pathways to more specific career-readiness skills through connections among secondary education, postsecondary education, and the labor market. To achieve this goal, we believe it is critical that the new law focus on improving program quality by building the capacity of secondary and postsecondary educational institutions to prepare all students for success in current and emerging in-demand career pathways.
Recent data prove that CTE is making the difference in the lives of students, in communities and for businesses all across our nation. We are eager to work with the Department of Education, the Obama Administration and Congress to develop federal policy and legislation that builds on strengths, expands opportunities and access for more students to be successful in college and careers, and helps keep our nation’s economy strong and prosperous.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: federal legislation, future, Legislation, Perkins, Public Policy, Secondary, Secretary Duncan
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April 6th, 2012
Congress is on recess this week and next for the Easter and Passover holidays. They will reconvene on Monday April 16, 2012.
Dear Colleague Letters Call for Investment in Perkins
Members of both the House and Senate have signed on to “Dear Colleague” letters, asking the appropriators in their respective chambers to invest in Perkins during the FY13 appropriations process. The Senate letter, authored by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (CT), was signed by 22 Senators. In the House, the letter was authored by Reps. Glenn Thompson (PA) and Jim Langevin (RI), and was signed by a total of 65 Representatives.
At a time when Congress is looking to cut spending in all areas, letters such as these show appropriators the level of support among members for individual programs. While it is hard to predict what will happen with funding for any programs this year, we hope that these letters will resonate with the Appropriations Committees and will stave off further cuts to Perkins.
Bills Introduced
Rebuild America Act
Senator Tom Harkin (IA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has introduced S. 2252, the Rebuild America Act, aimed at restoring the middle class through investments in education, infrastructure and job training, and changes to the tax code. Among other things, the bill would:
- Provide $20 million in formula grants to modernize public schools and community colleges,
- Invest in teacher professional development,
- Create grants to incentivize regional partnerships of businesses, schools, labor, and economic development officials to train workers for jobs, and
- Provide funds for state and local governments to hire teachers, police officers, and firefighters.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: advocacy, appropriations, budget, business and industry partnerships, community colleges, Congress, federal legislation, funding, Job training, middle class, professional development
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March 30th, 2012
House Introduces Workforce Investment Act
The House this week introduced a comprehensive Workforce Investment Act reauthorization proposal, H.R. 4297, The Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012. This builds upon three separate bills introduced earlier this session by Reps. Virginia Foxx (NC), Rep. Buck McKeon (CA), and Rep. Joe Heck (NV). Rep. Foxx’s earlier bill, the Streamlining Workforce Development Programs Act, allowed states to submit a unified plan encompassing two or more job training and related programs, including both Perkins secondary and postsecondary programs. Under Foxx’s bill, Perkins funds would have been eligible to be consolidated into a Workforce Investment Fund and used for workforce activities. We shared our opposition to this proposal with the members of the Education and the Workforce Committee, and we are happy to report that new language was added to the Workforce Investment Improvement Act that singles out Perkins as the only program that cannot be consolidated in the unified state plan.
House Passes Budget Resolution
Yesterday the House passed the FY13 Budget Resolution introduced by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (WI) by a vote of 228 to 191. This proposal would cap federal spending at $1.028 trillion, which is $19 billion below levels set by the Budget Control Act and the level that the Senate is plans to use. Such a large difference between the chambers sets up another potentially long and drawn out appropriations process.
Duncan Testifies Before Congress on Budget
This week, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee to discuss the Administration’s FY13 Budget, much like he did last week before the Appropriations Labor-HHS- Education Subcommittee. There was push back from this committee about the focus in the President’s budget on new competitive grant programs, as opposed to the long-standing formula programs. Secretary Duncan also spoke about the value of community colleges and the need to increase capacity to meet the growing demand of individuals seeking to upgrade their skills.
Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager
Tags: advocacy, appropriations, budget, community colleges, Congress, federal legislation, funding, Job training, Perkins, postsecondary, Public Policy, Secondary, Secretary Duncan, WIA
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