Almost all attention in Congress this week was focused on the budget reconciliation bill, which was passed by the Senate on July 1 and then sent back to the House for final passage. After a very long vote, the House passed the bill 218-214 on July 3 and the President signed it into law on July 4. While most of the debate was focused on Medicaid and tax changes, the final bill includes a number of provisions impacting postsecondary education, including student loan changes, new accountability indicators for colleges, and an expansion of short-term Pell. There are also new school-voucher provisions on the K-12 side. We’ll have full analysis of each of these areas over the next week. The House will now be in recess for a week due to the extended session. In other news this week:

• Department of Education (ED) Withholds Approximately $7 Billion from States: On July 1, ED was scheduled to release FY 2025 formula grant funding to states. However, despite statutory requirements related to this funding, grants were not released for adult education and several programs under the Every Student Succeeds Act, totaling almost $7 billion to states. While Perkins funds were released, many schools use the withheld funds to support CTE teachers and students as well. The Committee for Education Funding, of which ACTE is a member, sent a letter to Congress urging them to weigh in to ensure funds are distributed.
• ED Restores Access to Some COVID Funds: The Department of Education sent a letter to states and issued a new FAQ document announcing that they were returning to the original COVID-related funding extension process. This now allows extensions of some COVID-related Education Stabilization Fund spending in all states to create uniformity in how states were treated considering ongoing litigation.
• Department of Labor (DOL) Awards Apprenticeship State Grants: On June 30, DOL awarded approximately $84 million in grants to all 50 states to expand Registered Apprenticeships. This funding was from the State Apprenticeship Expansion Formula and you can view how much each state received at the link above.
• ED Wraps Up Negotiated Rulemaking Session: From June 30-July 2, the ED held a session discussing potential changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. The panel discussed changes to the definition of a qualifying employer. While no consensus was reached, the discussions will be used to inform draft regulatory changes that will be published in the federal register for public comment.
• Private Sector Orgs Sign White House Pledge to Invest in AI: On June 30, the White House released a list of almost 70 organizations and companies that have signed a pledge to “provide resources that foster early interest in AI technology, promote AI literacy and proficiency, and enable comprehensive AI training for educators.” The pledge supports the Administration’s priority to establish public-private partnerships in this space.

This week, the Senate passed its budget reconciliation bill in a 50-50 vote. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) joined all Senate Democrats in opposing the bill. Vice President J.D. Vance served as the tie-breaking vote.

This vote came after an intensive review from the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. The Senate Parliamentarian reviews every provision to ensure it complies with the Byrd Rule, which is named after former Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV). The Byrd Rule is designed to keep unrelated measures out of budget reconciliation bills. Under this rule, provisions can be removed if they don’t directly impact federal spending or revenue, if their budgetary effect is considered “merely incidental,” or if they increase the deficit beyond the timeframe set by the budget resolution.

During this review, the parliamentarian initially ruled that the provisions on workforce Pell and private school vouchers did violate the Byrd Rule. In response, the Senate Republicans slimmed down these provisions to ensure that they were compliant with the Byrd Rule.

Initially, the parliamentarian ruled that the expansion of Pell Grant access violated the Byrd Rule because of the provision that gave access to unaccredited programs. Lawmakers reinserted the section and removed the ability for unaccredited programs to be eligible for Pell Grants.

Additionally, the parliamentarian ruled that the provision creating a $5,000 tax for K-12 private school vouchers violated the Byrd Rule. The revised bill language limits the credit to states that currently authorize Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGO) and makes a few other changes.

The bill now moves back to the House where lawmakers will either vote on the Senate bill, amend the bill and send it back to the Senate, or move to a conference committee to reconcile the differences between the two chambers.

ACTE will continue to monitor the progress of the budget reconciliation process and provide regular updates to our membership. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).

This week, Congress continued work on the budget reconciliation package following the Senate Parliamentarian’s rulings on several relevant provisions. Meanwhile, several Trump Administration nominees for the Department of Education (ED) and Department of Labor (DOL) were advanced by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Keep reading for details! 

• Senate HELP Committee Advances Education and Labor Nominees: The Senate HELP Committee voted this week to advance eight Trump Administration nominees at ED and DOL and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  This includes Penny Schwinn, who has been nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of Education. 

• Parliamentarian Rules on Key Education Provisions: This week, the Senate Parliamentarian made several rulings on education provisions lawmakers are hoping to include in the final reconciliation package, including provisions for the expansion of Pell Grant access for short-term job training programs. This is a very fluid situation as the bill moves forward.  

• Supreme Court Upholds Universal Funding Mechanism in Federal Communication Commission (FCC) v. Consumers’ Research: In a decision on the FCC v Consumers’ Research case, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the constitutionality of the Universal Service Funding Mechanism. This ensures the continued operation of the E-Rate program, which provides support for broadband access and Wi-Fi connectivity in schools.  

• Senate Appropriations Committee Holds Hearing on President’s Rescission Request: The Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on the President’s Rescission Request, which would rescind $9.4 billion in enacted funding in FY 2025. While most of the funding in the current recission package is related to foreign aid and public broadcasting, this has the potential to set a precedent for the recission of other funding.   

Monday, June 30 Update: Over the weekend, changes were constantly being made to the reconciliation bill, and versions of short-term Pell and school voucher tax credits were reinserted. The situation is still very fluid, so we'll have more updates as the text of the bill is finalized in the Senate. 

This week, the Senate Parliamentarian made a number of rulings on education provisions lawmakers are hoping to include in the final reconciliation package.

When the Senate takes up a budget reconciliation bill, the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, reviews all provisions to ensure that it complies with the Byrd Rule, a process commonly known as the “Byrd Bath.” The Byrd Rule, named after former Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), aims to prevent extraneous measures from being included in reconciliation bills. Under the Byrd Rule, provisions can be struck if they do not affect federal spending or revenue, if their impact is "merely incidental" budgetary goals, or if they increase the deficit outside the time period covered by the budget resolution. A senator can raise a point of order to challenge such provisions, but it takes 60 votes to override it.

During this Byrd Bath, the parliamentarian made several rulings on the various education provisions included in the text the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) submitted for consideration.

Most notably, she ruled that the expansion of Pell Grant access for short-term training programs be subject to the 60-vote threshold because of the provision that gave access to unaccredited programs and for-profit institutions. As of now, it is not known if lawmakers will reinsert a slimmed down provision that does not include unaccredited programs and for-profit institutions.

The parliamentarian also ruled that the changes to student loan repayments are in violation of the Byrd Rule. This provision would limit repayment options to the standard plan with fixed payments (over 10-25 years) or a new income-based repayment plan.

In addition to the HELP rulings, the parliamentarian also ruled on a key provision in the Senate Finance Committee bill. She ruled that the creation of $5,000 tax credit for K-12 private school vouchers violates the Byrd Rule.

The parliamentarian is still set to rule on many other provisions, including provisions that would permanently restrict the Secretary of Education from issuing regulations that are “economically significant,” meaning their annual effect on the economy is at least $100 million or they “adversely” affect the economy. The Byrd Bath process must be completed before the Senate can begin consideration of the legislation.

ACTE will continue to monitor the progress of the budget reconciliation process and provide regular updates to our membership. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).

Who takes High-earning CTE Pathways?: A report from the Career and Technical Education Policy Exchange examines which students enroll in high-earning CTE pathways.

The researchers analyzed data on CTE concentrators from five school districts across the country to find that gender is the strongest predictor of earnings potential. Across all five school districts, female CTE students were more likely to enroll in Career Clusters associated with lower earnings such as Education & Training and Human Services as well as the higher earning Health Science Cluster. Meanwhile, male students were more represented in high-paying Clusters such as IT, STEM and Finance. 

Smaller but noteworthy differences were also found between racial/ethnic groups. Black and Hispanic CTE students tend to enroll in Clusters that are associated with slightly lower earnings than white students, but the researchers noted that these gaps are much smaller than the national pay gaps between Black, Hispanic and white workers. CTE students from low-income households enroll in Clusters with similar wages compared to high-income students, and differences by disability status were mixed. 

Some College, No Credential Outcomes: A report and data dashboard from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center examines the current population of some college, no credential (SCNC) individuals. Major takeaways from the report include: 

• At the start of the 2023-24 academic year, the total SCNC population under 65 years of age was 37.5 million, a 2.2% increase from the previous year. 
• Most institutions saw reductions in the number of students leaving postsecondary education; notably, community colleges saw a 10.7% reduction in the number of stopouts compared to the previous year. 
• More than one million SCNC students re-enrolled in postsecondary education in 2023-24, and the share of re-enrollees who earned a credential in their first year of re-enrollment increased by 4.7%.  
• Community colleges are the primary destination for returning SCNC students, with nearly three in five re-enrolling in a community college. 
• Approximately one-quarter of SCNC credential earners attained a credential without re-enrolling, possibly owing to state/institutional policies aimed at awarding credentials to learners who had previously stopped out. 
• Although white and Asian students earned credentials at higher rates compared to other SCNC re-enrollees, all racial/ethnic groups saw gains in re-enrollment and credential attainment. 

Gen Z’s Limited Awareness of Non-college Pathways: A report from Gallup, the Walton Family Foundation and Jobs for the Future surveyed over 1,900 Gen Z high school students and their parents/guardians as well as adults nationwide to better understand Gen Z’s experiences and awareness of non-college pathways. 

The researchers found that: 

• Fewer than three in 10 students feel very prepared to pursue any pathway after high school. Apprenticeship programs rank the lowest, with only 8% of students feeling very prepared to pursue them. 
• Only 15% of Gen Z students received information from their schools on career pathways that do not require a college degree, only 24% reported being prepared for an apprenticeship program, and only 39% reported that their schools prepared them to pursue an internship.  
• Gen Z students and their parents know very little about pathways other than college. Despite this, nearly half of all high school students reported interest in pursuing a pathway other than a job or a bachelor’s degree. 
• Students are much more likely to express interest in a pathway if their parents have talked with them about that pathway. For instance, students are 37 percentage points more likely to express interest in pursuing an apprenticeship if their parents have talked to them about apprenticeship. 

2025 Post-graduation Readiness Report: A report from YouScience examines the pathways high school graduates from the class of 2024 pursued and the career guidance that they received. 

The report finds that graduates are increasingly pursuing non-baccalaureate pathways – from 2019 to 2024, the percentage of graduates who pursued a bachelor’s degree dropped by 20 percentage points. Over the same period, graduates were 15 percentage points more likely to be working toward a specific career goal, reflecting a shift toward more skills-based pathways. 

Despite this, 70% of graduates reported lacking confidence in their post-graduation career plans. In addition, students reported the following:  

• 50% said that their schools could have offered more work-based learning opportunities. 
• 39% wished that they had participated in more CTE courses. 
• 38% wished that they had participated in an internship, job shadow or part-time work.  
• 27% wished they had done more research on other postsecondary options. 

This week, Democratic Members of Congress addressed the interagency agreement (IAA) to transfer administration of CTE funding from the Department of Education (ED) to the Department of Labor (DOL). In other Capitol Hill news, the Senate continued to work on the confirmation process for Trump Administration appointees while the House took recess. Keep reading for more details! 

• Democratic Leadership Calls on ED to Cease IAA with DOL: Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and  Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) sent a letter to ED Secretary Linda McMahon opposing the efforts to transfer responsibility over CTE programs to DOL.  

• Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Held Hearing on DOL Nominees: The Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on several Trump Administration nominations for DOL and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  

• Senate HELP Committee to Consider Trump Administration Nominees: Next week, the Senate HELP Committee is voting on several nominations at ED, DOL and the EEOC. This includes the Nomination of Penny Schwinn to serve as Deputy Secretary of Education at ED. ACTE will share any relevant updates! 

• Appropriations Process Slows: This week, House Appropriations Committee leaders announced the postponement of several appropriations bills originally scheduled for next week. While the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill is still on the schedule for July 21, but could be pushed back as well. The Senate process has also been delayed, and markups of their bills will not start before the week of July 7.   

Following the House passage of their budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) in May, work has now shifted to the Senate, where each relevant committee is preparing legislative text to be combined into a comprehensive bill

Last week, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) released it portion of the budget reconciliation package. While the Senate bill builds on many of the provisions included in the House-passed bill, including significant changes to student loans, it removes the provision that would eliminate Pell Grant eligibility for students enrolled less than half time. It also maintains the current definition of full-time status for the purpose of Pell grants at 12 credit hours per semester, rather than shifting it to 15 credit hours as in the House bill. The Senate bill would provide $10.5 billion in funding to the Pell Grant program, in light of a predicted shortfall.

Like in the House bill, the Senate bill also includes language that would expand Pell Grant access for short-term training programs. Programs between 150 and 599 clock hours in length that are at least eight weeks would be eligible for Pell Grants. Senators included some additional guardrails to ensure program quality. Programs must meet key completion, job placement and earning metrics to maintain eligibility, including verifying that program completion leads to “value added earnings,” meaning that the amount that earnings exceed 150% of the poverty standard, with regional adjustments.

In addition to the HELP Committee bill, the Senate Committee on Finance released its text last night. The Finance Committee is the final Senate committee to release its legislative text.

Similar to the House bill, included in the text is the creation of $5,000 tax credit for K-12 private school vouchers. Students who benefit from the vouchers must be members of a household with an income not greater than 300% of the area median gross income and be eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school. ACTE opposes any proposal that would take resources away from public education.

The Senate reconciliation package will now go directly to the floor to be considered by the full Senate. If the bill passes, it will be sent back to the House for its approval or the creation of a Conference Committee to reconcile the differences between the two bills.

ACTE will continue to monitor the bill and communicate the latest developments as they occur. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).