July 30, 2007

Recently the House of Representatives passed the FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. The bipartisan bill was passed 276-140 with 53 Republicans voting “yea.” You can find the list of Members who voted here. The House-passed bill includes a $25 million increase in the Perkins Basic State Grants compared to FY 2007, and more than $4 billion in additional funding for the Department of Education overall.

Action Needed:

1. If your Member of Congress is listed under the “yeas”, please thank him/her for that vote and all of the hard work that went into ensuring an increase to Perkins and for education overall. Ask him/her to continue to support the bill as it moves through the legislative process.
   
   This thank you is very important. It can help establish a relationship with your Representative that will help in the upcoming months if the President follows through with his threat to veto the legislation because it rejects his cuts and provides higher levels of spending to many programs, such as Perkins.
   
   
2. If your Member of Congress voted “nay” on the bill you may want to reach out to him/her and explain the importance of the Perkins program, and how the passed appropriations bill will help to expand resources for career and technical education.
   
   
3. Next week the House and Senate will begin summer recess, and this is an excellent time to meet with your Representative or Senators in your home town. Many Members of Congress will be hosting “Town Hall” meetings. A Town Hall meeting is a community gathering used to obtain suggestions or feedback on public policies. It is important that you locate these meetings and attend to advocate for CTE appropriations and other issues. Invite students, teachers, parents, business leaders and other members of the community to help discuss CTE issues and the effect CTE has in your community. For Town Hall meeting talking points, please e-mail Jamie Baxter at ACTE.

Another great way to advocate during the summer recess is by inviting a Member of Congress to visit your school. This is one of the best ways to demonstrate first hand the impact CTE makes in the lives of students. If your school holds summer classes or starts before September 3, extend an invitation to your Washington Representative and his or her staffs requesting a visit.

Both of these options for advocating during the month of August give you the opportunity to discuss CTE with your Members of Congress. It is important that you take the opportunity to build relationships with your elected officials in Washington to help them understand the kind of difference that increased resources in CTE makes in the lives of students.