This week, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testified before lawmakers in both chambers of Congress.
On Tuesday, she testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies on President Trump’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget request for the Department of Education (ED). Then on Wednesday, she testified before the House Committee on Education and Workforce on the policies and priorities for ED.
Senators questioned McMahon about the proposed budget for ED, which would cut funding by 15%. Notably, Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith (R-MS) asked McMahon to provide more details about ED’s plans to fund CTE programs. In response, she said, “we're looking very much across all states and we're level funding CTE. It's not being reduced.”
Sec. McMahon returned to the Hill on Wednesday where she emphasized that her main policy priorities for ED include risk sharing related to student loans at postsecondary institutions and workforce Pell. Many other topics were covered in the three-hour hearing that often got contentious.
In support of workforce Pell, McMahon stated that “bold reforms” are needed to help fill the more than 8 million open jobs in the United States.
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) asked about proposed plans to move the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) to the Department of Labor. McMahon stated, “I can tell you that one of the executive orders from the president was that the Commerce Department, Department of Labor, and Department of Education should coordinate and look at workforce programs. There are over 50 – 43 different workforce development programs across all of the agencies. It's certainly inefficient in operation. So, I have had many discussions with Commerce. I've had many discussions with the secretary of labor, and I think there are opportunities to move some of those programs.”
When asked to clarify, McMahon confirmed that she has had discussions to move OCTAE “to the other agencies,” but did not elaborate further on the specifics of OCTAE’s future at ED.
Also of note, Rep. GT Thompson (R-PA), Co-Chair of the House CTE Caucus, asked about ED’s recent decision to eliminate the contract for the National Evaluation of Career and Technical Education (NECTEP) under Perkins. He noted that Congress is set to begin work on reauthorizing Perkins and this data is vital to that work. The NECTEP data was set to be completed and lawmakers want to “maximize opportunities” when reauthorizing legislation.
McMahon said in response, “we're going to continue to collect the data that we need to collect.” She added that she would look further into the specifics of the NECTEP contract and get back to lawmakers.
