Earlier this week the nondefense discretionary (NDD) Summit, the body that organizes opposition to spending cuts in education and social programs, held a Town Hall meeting in order to discuss the current issues looming regarding sequestration. Sequestration is a crucial issue for the Career Technical Education (CTE) community, as it would result in a significant reduction in spending on CTE programs.  Among the speakers were Sharon Parrott and Ellen Nissenbaum from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities who stated that 72% of the cuts already made had fallen on program spending reductions, with only 28% coming from increased revenue through taxation. They also shared concerns over the possibility that any future deal made in Congress to avoid sequestration could shift even greater cuts onto social programs, rather than the status quo where cuts have been shared fairly evenly between NDD spending and defense spending.

Later in the Town Hall, speakers also discussed potential action and advocacy to ensure no more cuts to social programs were carried out, including the creation of a Twitter hashtag #NDDUnited, a day of action in February and a letter of objection to the cuts which can be found here. The event was rounded off with a summary of important dates, including the President’s budget being revealed in March and the House and Senate budgets being due for completion by April 15th.

President Obama’s Inauguration
This week saw the 57th Presidential inauguration and the second inauguration of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. As mandated by the 20th Amendment, President Obama was sworn in to begin his new term at noon on the 20th, but as that fell on a Sunday a public ceremony was also held on Monday. The inaugural theme was “Faith in America’s Future”, however two objects from the past also played a prominent role as Obama recited the oath of office while he placed his hand on bibles owned by Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln.

The inaugural speech itself referenced the importance of math and science; building roads, networks and research labs; the creation of sustainable energy sources; and the school reform movement. These issues are very closely linked with Career Technical Education (CTE), so the next four years look like being significant and exciting times in the CTE sphere.

House Votes to Suspend Debt Limit
Earlier this week, the House voted to suspend the nation’s debt limit thereby allowing the Treasury Department to ignore the $16.4 trillion cap on government borrowing. The measure would allow additional debt to be incurred in order to allow government to keep on functioning and making payments until May 18th, at which point the debt limit would reset at a higher level.

The House measure requires the Senate to pass a budget by April 15th or have their pay withheld and kept in escrow until the current Congressional term ends in 2015. Still on the horizon are the sequestration cuts, scheduled to come into effect on March 1st unless a deal can be reached between the two parties.

David Beckett, Advocacy Manager

This blog, in coordination with the NASDCTEc Fall Meeting, is provided by one of our sponsors. Our guest blog organization being highlighted today is NOCTI.

NOCTI is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor for the 2012 fall NASDCTEc meeting. We appreciate NASDCTEc’s leadership provided to the CTE Community and appreciate their relationship with our organization. NOCTI is proud to have been a part of the CTE community for over 45 years. We take our role in CTE seriously and feel privileged to serve as another voice in CTE by telling the stories of CTE success from the data the NASDCTEc member states supply us. NOCTI has continued to build on its solid foundation through new products, services, and collaborations.

Recently twenty NOCTI assessments received recommendations from the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) encompassing 1500 colleges across the United States. This means that students scoring at the NCCRS cut score on approved NOCTI tests are eligible for up to six college credits. We have also continued to beta test numerous technological advancements, including mobile devices, tablets, testing algorithms, classroom response systems, state data reporting, and instructional improvement systems.

Please stop by our table to say hello, to learn about our new products, or to share your success story! You may also send us an e-mail if you are interested in learning more about any of the products or services we offer.

Amie (Birdsall) Bloomfield
Customer Care and Outreach Division Manager
NOCTI and Nocti Business Solutions
1-800-334-6283 x213
[email protected]

Ramona Schescke, Member Services Manager