This week, Congress returned from recess and focused primarily on the budget reconciliation process, which Republicans hope to use to enact significant budget and tax cuts in the coming weeks. Education leaders and stakeholders are learning more about the potential impact of the Administration’s Executive Order (EO) to eliminate the Department of Education (ED) on their schools and communities. Several education organizations and institutions have issued responses and are turning to legal action. Read more for details.

• Department of Education Cancels COVID Relief Funds Extensions: The Secretary of Education notified state education chiefs on March 28 that previously granted extensions for spending down remaining COVID relief funding would be canceled immediately. Some extensions will now be considered “on an individual project-specific basis.” This has the potential to affect states and school districts with funds remaining, even if those funds are already obligated.
• ED Reopens Application for Income-Driven Loan Repayment Plans: ED recently reopened a revised application for income-driven loan repayment plans and loan consolidation. The form had been temporarily unavailable due to a court order to cease implementation of the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.
• Committee for Education Funding Letter to ED: The Committee for Education Funding sent a letter to Secretary Linda McMahon on behalf of their members (including ACTE) in opposition to the EO calling for the closure of ED. The letter also addressed other recent Administration actions that have drastically cut ED staffing.
• Administration Engages in Legal Battles to Uphold Cuts to Public Education: The Administration requested that the Supreme Court hear appeals to funding cuts that have been blocked by lower federal courts. Notably, a federal judge this week blocked cuts to teacher preparation grants. As of this week, there have been at least nineteen lawsuits that challenge Trump Administration education-related policies or actions.
• Lawmakers Urge Department of Labor (DOL) to Overturn 14(c) Rule: Several Members of the House Education and Workforce Committee issued a letter to Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer requesting that DOL withdraw a proposed rule to halt the issuance of 14(c) certificates, which allows employers to hire workers with disabilities at wages below minimum wage.
• House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education to Hold Hearing on AI in K-12 Education: The House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education will hold a hearing, “From Chalkboards to Chatbots: The Impact of AI on K-12 Education,” on April 1.

This week, advocates attended ACTE’s National Policy Seminar and spent time on Capitol Hill meeting with their Congressional offices to advocate for CTE and education funding. This event was accompanied by a reception on Capitol Hill highlighting the work of eight Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs). Meanwhile, President Trump introduced the long-expected Executive Order (EO) to begin eliminating the Department of Education, and Washington is reacting. Congress was on recess, but returns on March 24 to a full spring agenda. Keep reading for details.

• President Trump Signs EO to Dismantle Department of Education: President Trump signed an EO instructing the Secretary of Education to take steps toward eliminating the Department of Education. The agency cannot be fully eliminated without the approval of Congress, though some Members of Congress have already spoken out in favor. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-LA) vowed to introduce related legislation to accomplish the Administration’s goals. See ACTE’s response to the EO and statement on the recent changes to the Department for more info.
• Department of Education Announces FAFSA Changes: The Department of Education announced more than 8 million 2025-26 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms have been processed. They also announced changes to the FAFSA form to upgrade user experience. The Department is currently on track for a FAFSA release for next year by October 1.
• Trump Administration Cuts Library Funding: The Trump Administration signed an EO last week to cut funding to a number of federal entities. This includes the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which supports museums and libraries as sites of research and teaching.
• Judge Orders Education Department to Restore Some Grants to Schools: A judge ruled the Trump Administration must restore several grants that it had previously cut, including funding to help place teachers in underserved schools. This funding helps to address teacher shortages and help prepare future educators.

This was a chaotic week in Washington, D.C., marked by huge staff reductions at the Department of Education and a showdown over government funding for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025. Ultimately, Congress cleared a continuing resolution to continue federal funding for the rest of the year at roughly current levels, averting a government shutdown. Both chambers will now recess until March 24. Keep reading for more details.

• Congress Passes CR: The House passed a year-long continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government for FY 2025 through September on March 11 and the Senate followed on March 14, just before current government funding would have expired triggering a shut down. The CR provides roughly level funding for most programs, but does contain some cuts and other anomalies. As the CR is signed into law and official allocations for individual programs are released, we will provide updates.
• ACTE and Advance CTE Issue Statement on Department of Education Funding & Staffing Impacts on CTE: ACTE and Advance CTE released a statement regarding the recent staffing and funding actions of the U.S. Department of Education and their impacts on the CTE community. Read the statement here.
• Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) Leads Coalition in Letter to Congress on Postsecondary Data: IHEP led a coalition of 87 organizations and individual researchers in sending a letter to Congress elevating deep concerns regarding recent Institute of Education Sciences (IES) research and data collection cancellations. ACTE signed on to this letter.
• Senate Confirms Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer: The Senate voted to confirm Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Secretary of Labor earlier this week. She was sworn in shortly after the vote.
• House Holds Hearing on School Choice: The Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee held a hearing on school choice. During opening statements, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, House CTE Caucus co-chair, highlighted CTE schools in her district as strong and viable educational opportunities.
• Committee for Education Funding (CEF) Briefing: CEF, a large education coalition of which ACTE is a member, held a briefing on Capitol Hill, “The Value and Importance of Federal Investments in Education.” The panel featured Richard Kincaid, Sr. Executive Director of College and Career Pathways at Maryland State Department of Education. Kincaid used his time on the panel to highlight the positive outcomes of CTE programs and benefits to enrolling in CTE. Other panelists also pressed the need for stronger federal investments and for research and data.

ACTE has published a new resource, Strategies to Support Special Populations in CTE, to provide CTE practitioners with access to strategies, tips and examples to support students in special population groups as designated by Perkins V, including students with disabilities, economically disadvantaged learners, foster youth and more.  

The repository can be filtered by special population group and/or by strategy type: 

• Articulated and Flexible Learning 
• Career Exploration and Planning 
• Collaboration 
• Data 
• Instructional Supports 
• Wraparound Supports 

In addition, ACTE offers resources through our other regularly updated repositories, such as our High-quality CTE Library and Teach CTE Repository.  

Please share this repository with your fellow CTE educators to help them locate resources to better serve students from special populations groups. For any questions, comments or concerns, you can contact Jesus Galvan, ACTE’s Research and Policy Coordinator, at jgalvan@acteonline.org.  

Before jumping into our regular roundup of research and data resources relevant to CTE, ACTE would like to share our concern about the recent U.S. Department of Education cancellation of research contracts as well as the reduction in force that appears to essentially eliminate all functions at the Institute of Education Sciences and National Center for Education Statistics, halting critical research and data collection. Read more in our joint statement with Advance CTE. 

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Credentials of Value: The Lumina Foundation recently launched a new national goal they aim to achieve: By 2040, 75% of adults in America will have a credential of value that leads to economic prosperity. Lumina defines a credential of value as a post-high school credential that leads to a career paying 15% more than the national median salary for a high school graduate.

As part of this new goal, Lumina published a data dashboard monitoring the progress of the nation and states in reaching the 75% threshold. As of 2023, 44.1% of adults aged 25-64 in the workforce have a credential of value, including bachelor’s degrees (18%), graduate degrees (13.2%), short-term credentials (7.7%) and associate degrees (5.2%). States and territories have varying percentages of adults with a credential of value, ranging from 22.5% in Puerto Rico’s to 70.4% in Washington, DC. 

The findings, which can be disaggregated by age as well as by race/ethnicity, highlight the benefits of adults earning a post-high school credential while also underscoring disparities. 

Transfer Enrollment and Pathways: The National Student Clearinghouse recently released data on transfer enrollment for the fall 2024 semester: 

• Returning transfer students made up the majority of transfer enrollment (52%), driven by higher growth rates among those transferring after temporarily exiting postsecondary education.
• Although community college enrollment is still below pre-pandemic levels, this sector has gained the most transfer enrollment since fall 2020 (+13.5%). 
• Students from two-year schools with a high vocational focus made up a larger share of two-to-four-year transfers in fall 2024 than the year prior (+6.5%). 
• Two-thirds of transfer students changed their major. 
• Increasing numbers of students transferred into business and health majors compared to fall 2023 (+5.8% and +12.6%, respectively).  
• Black (+8.3%) and Hispanic (+4.4%) students saw the largest increase in transfers since fall 2023; white students were the only racial/ethnic group with decreasing transfer rates (-1.3%). 

Beyond Transfer: Insights from a Survey of American Adults: Public Agenda has released the results of a survey they conducted to better understand Americans’ experiences with transferring postsecondary credits between schools and their perceptions of obstacles toward earning a degree. The survey was completed by 3,077 adult Americans across the country. 

The survey yielded several important findings: 

• A quarter of respondents who attempted to transfer credits report that they were able to transfer only a few or none of their credits.  
• Thirty-seven percent of respondents reported the credit transfer process to be difficult. 
• Twenty percent of respondents had to retake a course they had already completed. 
• A higher percentage of white respondents compared to Black or Latino respondents say they successfully transferred all or most of their credits, and more white respondents found the transfer process easy than students from other racial/ethnic groups.  

Mapping a Path from High School to Success: A report by Education Strategy Group examines various nursing, cybersecurity and mechatronics pathways to identify trends and best practices. 

Across all three pathways, researchers found that most maps included clear outcomes and stackable credentials. The pathway maps also rely heavily on local contexts, such as taking transportation into consideration. Messaging varied from easily understandable maps to complex maps that were confusing. Finally, the researchers noted potential implications for accessibility as some maps impose GPA restrictions, age cut-offs and other requirements that may hinder a student’s access to a pathway. 

The researchers also shared findings and recommendations by pathway: 

• Nursing: Most course maps follow very similar course sequences even while considering local contexts, meaning that programs may be able to build off other programs’ maps.  
• Cybersecurity: Researchers found that the maps were often narrowly focused on obtaining credentials in cybersecurity, not branching out into how cybersecurity can be paired with other IT-related career paths. 
• Mechatronics: Maps should explain in plain language what mechatronics is, how it differs from past manufacturing jobs, and what careers it can lead to today. 

This week, the U.S. Department of Education initiated a reduction in force (RIF) reducing the agency’s workforce from 4,133 employees to approximately 2,183 workers.

This includes nearly 600 employees who accepted voluntary resignation opportunities through the Deferred Resignation Program and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment. The other roughly 1,400 employees impacted by the RIF were placed on administrative leave beginning Friday, March 21. Staffing cuts particularly affected the Department’s civil rights, financial aid and education research teams, although the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education lost staff as well. 

ACTE and Advance CTE are extremely concerned that staffing and funding cuts at ED are likely to hinder the distribution of Perkins grants, disrupt data collection on CTE participation and outcomes, reduce essential guidance, and jeopardize access for vulnerable learners. These recent actions also appear to essentially eliminate all functions at the Institute of Education Sciences and National Center for Education Statistics, halting critical research and data collection. Read more in our joint statement.

This week the primary focus on the Hill was President Trump’s address to Congress, with concerns also growing about some proposed policy shifts and DOGE-related cuts. Several congressional committees did focus on education and workforce issues though, discussing potential funding and legislative opportunities to promote career development and education. The Senate also confirmed Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education. Meanwhile, as the deadline looms closer, Congressional leaders are working to agree on a plan to fund the government after March 14. Read more for details! 

• Republican Leaders Prepare Year-long Continuing Resolution: With federal funding set to expire on March 14, Congress has been working on plans to finish work on FY 2025 appropriations bills. Republican leaders in the House and Senate are currently working on a continuing resolution that would maintain federal funding at current levels for the rest of the fiscal year with a few adjustments. The text of this bill hasn’t been released yet, however, and it is unclear if there is enough support for it to pass.  

• Linda McMahon Confirmed as Secretary of Education: On March 3, Linda McMahon was confirmed as Secretary of Education by the Senate. McMahon has expressed interest in CTE, specifically apprenticeship opportunities, and voiced support for expanding Pell Grants for short-term training programs. Learn more about her policies and background on the blog! 

• Secretary McMahon Letter to the Department of Education: To kick off her term as Secretary, McMahon published a memo, “Our Department’s Final Mission,” to outline her policy goals for her tenure. Specifically, she pledged to review programs and initiatives and evaluate whether they should remain funded and functional, dependent on how they align with the Administration’s goals. McMahon’s intention to overhaul the agency is in line with President Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the Department, which is rumored to be the focus of an upcoming Executive Order (EO).  

• Education Department Releases New FAQs on DEI Issues: On February 14, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) released a Dear Colleague Letter suggesting a broad interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and directing educational institutions to comply with instructions outlined in the letter related to civil rights and anti-discrimination. To address questions on the letter, ED released an additional set of Frequently Asked Questions on March 1. Check out the blog for more details. 

• House Education and Workforce Committee Holds WIOA Reauthorization Hearing: On March 7, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing focused on reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Lawmakers from both parties highlighted their interest in reauthorizing the legislation. Read more on the blog! 

• Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee Holds Member Day: On March 5, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education held a Member Day. Member Days are an opportunity for Members of Congress who are not part of the Subcommittee to voice their interests and let the appropriators know what funding they want for their districts and communities. Witnesses included House CTE Caucus co-chair Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI), both of whom advocated for continued investment in education, specifically CTE.  Read more on the blog.  

• President Trump Signs EO on English as National Language: President Trump signed an EO to designate English as the national language of the United States. This may have long-term implications for accommodating multilingual students. This also revokes previous mandates on translation services for federal agencies and the resources they provide.