On March 11, President Joe Biden released his proposed budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, requesting $82 billion for the Department of Education, just slightly above current funding levels. The budget announcement came days after the State of the Union address in which he called for teacher pay raises and increasing the Pell Grant. 

The request includes a $40 million budget increase for Perkins, which is just under a 3 percent increase over FY23 levels (remember that FY 24 appropriations are still making their way through Congress). Further, the budget proposes $64 million for the continuation and expansion of the department’s Career-Connected High Schools competitive grant program. It is important to note that competitive grant programs only reach a limited number of students at schools that may be more equipped to apply for and manage the grants, whereas formula grant programs, such as the Perkins Basic State Grant, reach all students, so our primary advocacy focus is on the Basic State Grant.    

In total, the Department of Education budget proposes an increase of $3.9 billion over the FY 2023 budget, including the following programs: 

Secondary 

• $18.6 billion for ESSA Title I, a $200 million increase over FY23 
• $14.4 billion for the IDEA State Grants, a $200 million increase over FY23 
• $215 billion for teacher-preparation grants, including $90 million for the Supporting Effective Educator Development grant 
• $173 million for the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Fund to support recruitment and retention of educators 

Postsecondary 

• $2.7 billion for the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) 
• $900 increase to the Pell Grant, raising the maximum award from $7,395 to $8,145 for students in public and non-profit institutions 
• $1.23 billion for Federal Work Study 

For the Department of Labor, the budget $13.9 billion, which is about $318 million over FY23 levels. As part of this request, the Administration is not proposing funding increases for many existing workforce development programs, which is due in part to the budgetary caps established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act. However, there is a newly proposed Career Training Fund, which would be funded at $8 billion over the next 10 years and jointly administered by the Departments of Labor, Education and Commerce. Per the department’s budget materials, this new funding stream would provide “up to $10,000 per worker to support the cost of high-quality, evidence-based training with additional funding for wrap-around supports.” 

Additionally, the budget calls for $335 million for Registered Apprenticeship opportunities, with $50 million earmarked to expand existing Registered Apprenticeship programs in clean energy occupations. The budget also allocates $70 million for community colleges to enhance collaborative, high-quality training programs with the public workforce development system and employers. 

Last week, Congress focused primarily on passing a spending package of $460 billion dollars to fund part of the government through the rest of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024. President Biden also delivered the 2024 State of the Union this week. In the coming weeks, Congress is hoping to pass the remaining six appropriations bills, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill in order to meet the March 22 deadline under the current continuing resolution. See below for more details and other news: 

• Biden Delivers State of the Union: President Biden delivered his State of the Union Address on Thursday, acknowledging pressing issues facing the country. Most relevant, he discussed access to high-quality jobs for everyone, regardless of whether they possess a degree. A current apprentice and a former technical college student invited by Dr. Jill Biden attended the event, highlighting the importance of skilled apprentices and technical education students. 
• Congress Passes Spending Package to Partially Fund Government Through FY 2024: Just in time for the March 8 deadline, the House and Senate passed the first six FY 2024 appropriations bills 
• U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Appoints 30 Leaders to Serve on Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship: The DOL announced the appointments of 30 members to serve on the Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship to advise the Secretary of Labor on issues related to the national apprenticeship system. 
• Bipartisan Legislation to Bolster Skills Training for American Workers: Reps. Kilmer, Thompson, Schneider and Fitzpatrick introduced the Skills Investment Act. The bipartisan legislation would help American Workers to pay for skills training, apprenticeships and professional development. A companion bill was also introduced in the Senate by Senators Klobuchar and Braun. ACTE endorsed the bill. 
• Bipartisan Push for Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act (BWPA): Reps. Virginia Foxx and Bobby Scott, chair and ranking member of the House Education and Workforce committee, attended the Business Roundtable’s CEO Workforce Forum to discuss the BWPA. 
• Executive Order on Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government: President Biden issued an executive order launching an initiative to strengthen the federal workforce using Registered Apprenticeships. For example, the DOL has launched a pilot Federal Youth Apprentice Pathway, which will provide three-year apprenticeship programs leading to permanent federal positions. The Executive Order also seeks to encourage the use of Registered Apprenticeships in federal grants and contracts.
• DOL Releases Updated Guidance on Pre-Apprenticeship Programs: The DOL released a Training and Employment Notice explaining several pre-apprenticeship programs, how they are helpful toward people entering the workforce and best practices to follow for said programs.

Workforce Development in Rural America: The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce recently published a report on the challenges and strengths of small-town America. Researchers discovered that working adults in rural America are almost as likely as working adults in urban America to have a good job – an occupation that pays a minimum of $43,000 for workers aged 25-44 and $55,000 for workers aged 45-64.

More findings and insights below:

• The rural workforce accounts for 13% of the total 25-64-year-old population and holds a proportionate share of roughly 12% of the country’s good jobs.
• The number of colleges offering middle-skills programs is 13 times greater in very urban areas than very rural areas.
• Workers with an associate degree or some college hold a larger share of good jobs in rural areas than in urban areas.
• Across rural areas, the South has the highest rate of non-participation in the labor force (29%) followed by the West (26%).
• White employees hold a larger share of good jobs in rural areas than in urban areas.
• Women workers are less likely to have a good job in rural areas than in urban areas.

Meeting the Workforce Demand of Clean Energy: A recent report by the National Skills Coalition examined the labor supply and demand and potential talent shortages that may be generated by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act. Researchers found that an average of 2.9 million jobs per year are expected to be generated by these investments.

Here are more details on the impacts of these new laws:

• 69% of jobs created by the laws will be available for workers without a bachelor’s degree. 
• Newly created jobs are projected to pay a median hourly wage of $26.20 an hour or 10.5% higher than current U.S. workforce median hourly wage.
• Multiple occupations will face an anticipated labor shortage of 1.1 million workers with the necessary skills to fill these jobs.
• Approximately two in three jobs will be directly created by the three laws within construction and manufacturing, amounting to about 680,000 total new jobs.

Lessons from the New Skills for Youth Initiative: Advance CTE in collaboration with Education Strategy Group recently released a report that shares the challenges and successes of sustaining the work of the New Skills for Youth (NSFY). The analysis describes outcomes such as improved training and support for CTE teachers, increased usage of data for addressing equity gaps and expanded access to regional and statewide career pathways, among others.

In addition, the authors made the following recommendations:

• Form industry partnerships with intentionality for regional and statewide career pathways to ensure that partners have fully bought into the career pathways vision.
• Emphasize that projected successes from career pathways grant funds will not show up immediately.
• Advocate for dedicated line-item funding at the state level to help sustain organizational work.
• Provide one-on-one assistance to local leaders to help meet demand for scaling career pathways and support the needs of local sites.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union Address.  

National security considerations loomed large over the whole speech. In the remarks, Biden prioritized assuring access to humanitarian assistant to Gaza amid the ongoing war, while advocating for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Biden also pressed Congress to pass the national security supplemental package to continue sending aid to Ukraine. 

However, President Biden did make a few references to education, including more access to preschool, high-quality tutoring and summer learning, and college affordability, as well as a nod to raising teacher salaries. In relationship to CTE, at about the halfway point in the speech, Biden said, “I’m also connecting businesses and high schools so students get hands-on experience and a path to a good-paying job whether or not they go to college.” Additionally, Biden recounted a meeting with the leaders of the Business Roundtable. They were critical of his education budget. He mentioned that when he was Vice President, they said they needed a better educated workforce, and that his proposals would provide them the “best-educated workforce in the world.”  

Among the invited guests sitting with First Lady Jill Biden was Samantha Ervin-Upsher. Ervin-Upsher is an apprentice with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She met the First Lady during a visit highlighting the Investing in American Workforce Hub, which is an Administration initiative that seeks to build career pathways through high schools, community colleges and unions to job opportunities. Rashawn Spivey, the founder and owner of HERO Plumbing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was also in the box as a graduate of Milwaukee Area Technical College and former apprentice. Additionally, Mayor Garnett Johnson of Augusta, Georgia was among the guests. Augusta is one of the five cities the White House designated as Investing in America Workforce Hubs. The Augusta Workforce Hub is led by a partnership between Mayor Johnson and three Augusta regional education institutions focused on training students in growing sectors, such as advanced manufacturing and construction skilled trades, to prepare the next generation for technical jobs in the region. 

A recording of the address can be found here. 

This week, Congress was once again focused on trying to complete the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 appropriations process, and another continuing resolution (CR) was needed to avert a government shutdown. Reportedly, congressional leaders have almost finalized six of the twelve FY 2024 funding bills, but they were not ready by today’s original March 1 deadline. Instead, Congress voted on a new CR that results in funding for these six bills now expiring March 8. The remaining bills are now set to expire on March 22. The Labor-HHS-Education bill has not yet been finalized, but Congress is hoping to finalize the remaining six bills before the March 22 deadline, so stay tuned! In other news this week: 

• ACTE and Cardozo Education Campus Host Annual CTE Month School Visit: On February 27, ACTE celebrated CTE Month with Cardozo Education Campus in D.C. alongside staff from the Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical and Adult Education, Capitol Hill and other partner organizations.
• Lawmakers Include Pell Grant Change in CR: Included in the CR was a technical fix to the way the Department of Education calculates the amount of financial aid a dependent student qualifies for each year under the Pell Grant program. This change addresses a potential shortfall that could have been triggered by the original provision. The CR also adds $7.7 billion in mandatory funding to support Pell Grants. Not all Members of Congress were supportive of the change, however, with House Education and Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott issuing a statement in opposition.  
• Secretary Raimondo Delivers Update on CHIPS and Science Act: U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo delivered a policy address on the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, stating that new investments would put the U.S. on track to produce 20% of the world’s logic chips by 2030. Companies that produce advanced semiconductors have also now requested over $70 billion in federal subsidies, about twice as much as there is available.  
  
• Biden-Harris Administration Releases Resources to Support Early School Success: The Department of Education released guidance for how states, local educational agencies and schools can utilize Title I funding to expand access to high-quality preschool for younger children in settings such as schools, Head Start and community based organizations. This also notes the need for educational equity.  
  
• US, Japan Launch Workforce Development Exchange: The Department of Labor’s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training, Brent Parton, visited Japan to facilitate technical exchanges on workforce strategies for advanced manufacturing and the semiconductor sub-sector in the two nations. 

On Thursday, lawmakers averted a partial government shutdown after both the House and Senate cleared a two-step continuing resolution (CR) to allow final FY 2024 appropriations work to wrap up in the coming weeks. The CR moves the funding deadlines from March 1 and March 8 to March 8 and March 22.  

The vote will set up a first tranche of six full-year spending bills that the House is expected to vote on next Wednesday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said that legislative text for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy and Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development will be released over the weekend.  

Reports state that the second batch of bills, which includes the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies funding bill, will be considered by the March 22 deadline, although no details about this bill have been released.  

Included in the CR was a provision that makes changes to the FAFSA Simplification Act. Lawmakers are describing the change as a technical fix to the way the Department of Education calculates the amount of financial aid a dependent student qualifies for each year. It also adds $7.7 billion to support Pell Grants over four years. Without this technical correction, the Pell grant program would have faced a significant shortfall for fiscal year (FY) 2025 because more dependent students would be receiving larger Pell grants that Congress intended when it most recently updated the formula for calculating financial aid eligibility.  

As the appropriations process wraps up in the coming weeks, ACTE will keep you informed on the funding levels for the Department of Education and continue to advocate for the highest level of Perkins funding possible! 

On February 27, ACTE partnered with the Cardozo Education Campus to host the annual 2024 CTE Month School Visit to highlight the incredible programming, students, teachers and faculty at Cardozo. Cardozo is also home to ACTE’s CTE Teacher of the Year, Mr. Aris Pangilinan, known as “Mr. P.” 

The event began with opening remarks by ACTE Executive Director LeAnn Curry, followed by remarks from Cardozo Principal Arthur Mola, Senior Deputy Chief of SEAD Strategy at D.C. Public Schools Glenn Starnes and Cardozo CTE Director Cheryl Rodgers. Mr. P followed these remarks with an inspiring speech, detailing how he grew into his role as a CTE teacher and the incredible experiences he offers to his students. 

A student panel took center stage following Mr. P’s remarks, moderated by and featuring several CTE students pursing pathways in engineering, computer science and similar fields. Students on the panel had hopes of pursuing careers in neuroscience, diplomacy, cybersecurity and more. These students spoke about the impact that CTE has had on their education and their career prospects, giving examples of how CTE has strengthened their employability skills, confidence and networking abilities. They also shared some of the incredible opportunities CTE has opened for them, including internships. Most notably, the students discussed policy changes they need to see in how Congress and local leaders approach CTE. The overwhelming consensus was a push for more funding. Students explained how an increase in funding would help to ensure they all had access to laptops and other learning materials for home use, proper preparation for internships both on behalf of the students and organizations hosting the internships, and more programming that could send students abroad to expand their scope of understanding. 

After the student panel, ambassadors from Mr. P’s class guided guests through several stations in his classroom, sharing work students have accomplished in robotics competitions, programs such as the Rotary Club that open doors for students looking to help local and global communities, and examples of past students who have gone on to exciting careers and postsecondary opportunities.  

Lastly, guests were guided to visit two additional classrooms that were part of the school’s Engineering and IT programs. Guests had the chance to listen to Mr. Richards and Ms. Monsey’s lessons and see their classrooms and equipment. Groups were accompanied by student escorts who shared their experiences and gave insight into the structure and pathways that Cardozo has to offer. 

ACTE is grateful for the enthusiasm and collaboration with Cardozo Education Campus in hosting this insightful event in celebration of CTE Month. Specifically, ACTE extends a warm thank-you to CTE Director Cheryl Rodgers, Mr. Aris Pangilinan and Dr. William Blake from Cardozo, Crystal Smith and Iris Wilson from DCPS, the wonderful guests from the Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, or “OCTAE”, our guests from partner organizations and the generous sponsor for this event, the National Association of Homebuilders.