Congress is now turning its attention to the Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) Appropriations process. In the last two weeks, a letter requesting a stronger federal investment in the Perkins Basic State Grant was sent to Senate Appropriators and the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on FY19. Read below to find out more about these items and a bill introduced to help address the shortage of Career Technical Education (CTE) educators.
38 Senators Sign Letter Requesting Larger Investment in Perkins
As we reported, Senators Blumenthal (D-CT), along with two of the co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus, Senators Baldwin (D-WI) and Kaine (D-VA), led an effort to send a “Dear Colleague” letter to the Chairman, Senator Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member, Senator Murray (D-WA), of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies encouraging that they consider increasing the federal investment in Perkins. A record 38 Senators across 26 statessigned the letter – a strong show of support for CTE and a reflection of your advocacy efforts! Advance CTE will be sending thank you letters to these Senators and we encourage you to do so as well if your Senator(s) signed on to the letter (and you can find their contact information through the U.S. Senate website).
Oklahoma CTE Leader Testifies at House Appropriations Subcommittee Hearing on the Pipeline to the Workforce
On April 25, the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee held a hearing on the FY19 Pipeline to the Workforce. Dr. Tom Friedemann, Superintendent/CEO of the Francis Tuttle Technology Center in Oklahoma testified during the hearing along with Dr. Maria H. Coons, Vice President of Workforce and Strategic Alliances at Harper College in Illinois, G. David Sload, President-CEO of the Keystone Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors in Pennsylvania and Portia Wu, Director of Workforce Policy at Microsoft Corporation. Members of the Subcommittee focused their questions on a variety of topics related to apprenticeship models and CTE delivery. The importance of changing the perception of CTE was raised as well as career exploration, career guidance and advisement and providing tailored student supports.
“Creating Quality Technical Educators Act” Introduced in the Senate
On April 24, Senators Kaine (D-VA), Portman (R-OH) and Baldwin (D-WI), Co-Chairs of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, along with Senator Moore Capito (R-WV) introduced the “Creating Quality Technical Educators Act.” The bill’s press release highlights that it will “create a teacher residency grant program to help address the CTE teacher shortage in schools. The grant program creates partnerships between elementary, middle or high schools and higher education institutions to offer one-year teacher residencies to train prospective educators.” Advance CTE is proud to support this bill.
Kathryn Zekus, Senior Associate, Federal Policy