On December 11, the White House issued a new executive order (EO) to create a uniform national framework for artificial intelligence (AI). The EO, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence, seeks to centralize AI governance at the federal level and allow companies more flexibility.

The Trump Administration states that state-by-state regulation would create a “patchwork of 50 different regulatory regimes that makes compliance more challenging, particularly for start-ups.”

While the Executive Order does not mention education or workforce applications of AI, the components could impact how states address these issues. The core components of the EO include:

• A Federal AI Litigation Taskforce: The taskforce will identify and challenge state AI laws that conflict with the desired federal policy direction.
• Evaluating State AI Laws: Within 90 days, the Secretary of Commerce must evaluate existing state AI laws and identify those deemed onerous or inconsistent with the federal stance.
• Restrictions on State Funding: Within 90 days, the Secretary of Commerce will also issue a policy notice tying eligibility for remaining Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds to whether a state’s AI laws conflict with the federal policy. Other agencies shall also review grants to determine if they can condition funding on State AI policies.
• Federal Reporting and Disclosure Standards: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be tasked with initiating proceedings to determine whether to establish a national reporting and disclosure standard for AI models.
• FTC Preemption of Deceptive AI Laws: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) must issue guidance clarifying that state laws requiring AI models to alter “truthful outputs” are preempted under the FTC’s authority to prohibit deceptive acts and practices.
• Legislative Recommendations: The EO calls for federal recommendations to Congress for creating a formal statutory AI policy framework that would preempt conflicting state laws.

ACTE will continue to monitor the implementation of the EO and will inform our members will relevant updates. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).

A new playbook published by Advance CTE provides education and workforce leaders with strategies and resources to strengthen the connection between CTE and the green workforce. The playbook argues that as demand for green workers continues to grow, CTE programs are positioned to equip students with the academic and occupational knowledge necessary to enter this large and rapidly evolving field. 

The playbook contains an overview of the current green economy and discusses how the specific components of CTE programs—from work-based learning to industry-recognized credentials—align with what green employers seek. Policy recommendations include the following: 

• Expand Existing Coalitions to Include CTE and Green Workforce Experts: Invite CTE teachers, experts from green workforce organizations, green employers and other relevant stakeholders to join existing partnerships and networks. 

• Leverage Trusted Organizations to Act as Intermediaries between CTE and Green Industries: Organizations such as workforce boards and green workforce organizations are positioned to connect CTE programs with green employers. 

• Create or Expand Funding Uses to Include Green/Climate-aligned CTE Programs: Leverage local, state and federal funding sources to create and expand green CTE programs. 

• Incorporate Green Skills into CTE Pathway Standards and Programs: Existing CTE programs should move to incorporate more green-related content, emphasizing the industry’s applicability across different career pathways. 

• Institutionalize Secondary and Postsecondary CTE Educator Policy, Professional Development and Resources for the Green Workforce: CTE teacher professional development and learning opportunities should work to better integrate green workforce content. 

• Integrate Green Careers into Career Awareness Campaigns: Beginning in elementary school, create campaigns that make students aware of green careers they can pursue. 

• Establish Data-driven Research and Decision-making Processes Linked to Labor Conditions: Incorporate green workforce data into state longitudinal data systems and track CTE program outcomes. 

In addition, the playbook provides implementation steps and examples of exemplary work being done under each recommendation. Initiatives in Massachusetts and Delaware, for instance, offer students and families detailed information on career and educational pathways that lead to jobs in green-related fields, such as clean energy and agriculture.  

For practitioners interested in additional information, Advance CTE has published several other resources related to CTE and the green workforce, including a guide on incorporating green careers into the National Career Clusters Framework® and a case study of work being done in Delaware to better integrate environmental literacy into career pathways. MDRC has also published similar resources, such as this framework for connecting CTE programs with climate jobs.  

Community College Credential Dual Value Framework: A framework from Education Equity Solutions outlines how state and community college leaders can categorize and strengthen the value of the credentials they offer, particularly as Workforce Pell implementation approaches. 

The framework measures community college credentials based on their economic mobility for individual students and the community benefits they provide by supporting essential social functions. Credentials are assigned to four different categories, and the framework provides strategies on how leaders can measure, categorize and take action on specific credentials. The categories are the following: 

• Low-opportunity Credentials: Low individual and community benefits. The framework recommends either revising these credentials by integrating work-based learning experiences or connecting students with other opportunities. 
• Individual-value Credentials: High individual and low community benefits. These credentials should be monitored to ensure that their demand aligns with community needs. 
• Community-value Credentials: Low individual and high community benefits. These are credentials that connect students with low-wage jobs that support essential community functions. The framework recommends stacking these credentials with similar, higher-level credentials and providing students with financial resources to pursue those more advanced credentials. 
• Dual-value Credentials: High individual and community benefits. Students should be able to easily access these credentials, and community colleges are encouraged to scale these programs and remove barriers that prevent participation.  

Counting Credentials: A report from Credential Engine provides data on the number of unique credentials offered in the U.S. in 2025. In total, the report identified about 1.8 million unique credentials from over 130,000 providers. The count for specific credentials includes the following:

Additional disaggregated data as well as a state-by-state breakdown are provided. Other than secondary school diplomas and industry certifications, each credential type increased in number of offerings in 2025 compared to 2022. 

A companion piece outlines the current landscape and challenges surrounding the credential landscape and proposes various solutions and paths forward. These include harnessing the power of AI to match credentials with workers’ and employers’ needs, measuring the economic and social impact of credential attainment and better aligning credentials with career opportunities. 

Employers’ Perceived Value of High School Industry-recognized Credentials: A journal article by Teri Harris, Mickey Kosloski and Philip A. Reed in Career and Technical Education Research (CTER) examines how employers perceive industry-recognized credentials earned by high school students. Over 250 employers from a specific state were asked to rank a list of state-approved industry-recognized credentials in their industry from 1 (never heard of it) to 5 (most important), judging whether the credential is valuable for hiring and prepares students for future careers.  

Analysis of the survey data revealed that industry credentials in the health sciences, family and consumer sciences (FACS) and agricultural sciences were rated the highest, while business and marketing and skilled and technical sciences/STEM did not have any industry credentials that ranked in the top 20%. Although some credentials appear to have more value than others, the analysis indicates that all the credentials measured in the study have at least some value for employers. The authors recommend that high school CTE programs reassess the credentials they offer in light of these findings.  

State Investments in Short-term Credential Pathways: A report from HCM Strategists analyzes state investments and initiatives in the short-term credential landscape. The report found that states have invested nearly $10 billion in supporting and expanding short-term credential pathways, including $8.1 billion for 111 currently active initiatives across 34 states. Of this, $4.5 billion is comprised of initiatives exclusively supporting short-term credentials. 2025 saw significant action, with states investing $511 million to establish 26 new initiatives. Several of these include the following: 

• California Master Plan for Career Education: Released in April 2025, the plan outlines six key areas that state leaders should focus on to improve the state’s career education system. The areas include establishing a state coordinating body and ensuring that education and workforce training opportunities are accessible and affordable.  
• North Carolina Council on Workforce and Apprenticeships (EO 11): Established under Executive Order 11, the council is focused on expanding credential and degree attainment opportunities across the state, including pre- and Registered Apprenticeship programs as well as work-based learning opportunities. 
• Utah’s First Credential Scholarship (HB 260): The First Credential Scholarship, which replaces the PRIME Program, encourages high school students to earn an industry-recognized credential and aims to scale credentialing opportunities across the state. 

Practitioners interested in learning about other similar state-led initiatives can view ACTE and Advance CTE’s longitudinal state policy tracker and filter by the “industry-recognized credentials” tag. Additionally, the National Association of State Boards of Education recently released a series of articles examining how states can equip students with the skills and credentials needed to succeed in the workforce.

As we enter the new year, check out some of the highlights in the CTE policy and advocacy space from 2025 and help us ring in 2026 with some New Year’s advocacy resolutions and goals.

2025 in Advocacy:

• ACTE advocates sent over 9,600 messages to their policymakers through our Action Center!
  • Our advocates were most active during June and July.
  • We helped tell Congress to support increased funding for education and workforce development through both Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 and FY 2026 appropriations bills.
  • The most active states in 2025 were… California, North Carolina and Pennsylvania!
• CTE stakeholders and advocates joined us in recognizing the great CTE programs at Crossland High School in Temple Hills, MD, for the annual CTE Month school visited hosted by ACTE, Prince George’s County Public Schools and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
• ACTE was also joined by CTSOs, students, Hill staff and other stakeholders for our NPS Hill reception, where we all heard from amazing students about the incredible work they do in their various programs.

2025 in Legislative Activity:

• We continued to gain more support in Congress for CTE!
  • Twelve new Representatives and a majority of Senators supported the annual resolution supporting CTE Month!
  • Both chambers maintained their bipartisan support for the resolution!
• It took some time, but Congress passed a continuing resolution (CR) in March funding the government at current levels for FY 25. In the face of proposals seeking to cut education funding, the Perkins State Grant funding was maintained at $1.44 billion. Thank you to our advocates who reached to their policymakers to ask them to support more CTE and education funding.
• Congress then turned its attention to passing a budget reconciliation bill that later became the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA). President Trump signed OBBBA in July. Included in the bill were a number of education provisions. In a win for CTE, OBBA included a provision expanding Pell Grant access to short-term programs between 8 and 15 weeks – a longtime priority for ACTE! Other provisions included:
  • OBBA addressed the looming Pell shortfall by providing $10.5 billion in mandatory funding. The bill also eliminated Pell eligibility for students who have higher family resources or already are already receiving other grants that cover the cost of college.
  • The bill added caps to student loans for graduate programs, eliminated both the Grad PLUS loan program while scaling back Parent PLUS program, and consolidated all existing repayment plans into two options (a standard or an income-driven plan).
  • It created a school voucher program tax credit program. Under the new program, individuals can receive a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to nonprofit scholarship-granting organizations (SGOs). These SGOs then issue scholarships/vouchers that families can use for private school tuition, tutoring, transportation, textbooks, special-needs services and other expenses, including for public school students.
• When FY 2025 ended on September 30, lawmakers unfortunately had not reached a final deal for FY 26 funding. As a result, the government shut down and remained closed for 43 days, a new record. Lawmakers eventually came to an agreement to end the shutdown and pass a short-term CR in November. The CR will last through January 30. Lawmakers are busy working to pass either another CR or full-year funding for FY 26.

Do you have any advocacy resolutions? Here are a few to get you started!

• Send at least five advocacy messages to your federal policymakers (you can do this through ACTE’s Action Center!)
• Set up a meeting with your federal policymaker’s education staff person (virtual, in your state, or at NPS!). Educate them on CTE, establish yourself as a resource and make the case!
• Keep up with CTE policy updates so that you never miss a beat!
  • Follow us on socials! @ACTEpolicy on X (formerly Twitter) and @ACTEpolicy.bsky.social on Bluesky
  • Subscribe to our Legislative Alerts!
  • Subscribe to get alerts from the CTE Policy Watch Blog!
• Have conversations with your family, friends and colleagues on why CTE matters and what you can all do to help support students, families and local industry!

Congress was on recess over the holiday break, although there was still significant policy activity late in December. Policymakers are set to return the week of January 5, with important action expected as the continuing resolution (CR) currently funding the federal government expires on January 30. In December, it was reported that policymakers had agreed on top-line figures for the budget overall, but no specific allocations for remaining appropriations bills have been released.  Read more updates below. 

• Henry Mack Confirmed to Top DOL Position: On Dec. 18, the Senate confirmed Henry Mack to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration at the DOL, which oversees implementation of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and other federal workforce programs. Mack previously served as a State CTE Director with the Florida Department of Education and in a number of other education- and workforce-related roles.  

• President Trump Signs EO Aimed at Blocking AI Regulations in States: On Dec. 11, President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at curtailing states’ abilities to regulate AI with legislation. The EO directs the Attorney General to establish a task force which will challenge state AI laws seen as curbing AI innovation or being burdensome.  

• DOJ Rules that Grants for MSIs are Unconstitutional: On Dec. 2, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel determined that multiple minority serving institution (MSI) grant programs administered by ED are unconstitutional, a position that Secretary of Education Linda McMahan agreed with in a statement on Dec. 19. Affected programs include the Native Hawaiian CTE Grant Program as well as other programs aimed at serving Hispanic, Black, Alaskan, Native American and Asian students. ED has indicated that they are evaluating the potential impact of the opinion on affected programs and will announce future actions at a later date. 

• House Subcommittee Holds Markup on Child Privacy Bills: On December 13, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade held a markup consisting of 18 bills related to child online safety and privacy. Included in the markup was the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act and the Kids Online Safety Act. The broad goal of the legislation considered was to add more protections for children from social media platforms. The full committee will vote next on these bills before it advances to floor of the House of Representatives. 

• ED Rulemaking Committee on Student Loans to Reconvene: ED’s Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD) Committee will meet for the second time the week of January 5 to discuss implementation of student loan provisions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Last month, the committee met and agreed on numerous rules for Workforce Pell implementation. 

• DOL Announces Funding for Occupational Skills Training Programs: On Dec. 30, the DOL announced the availability of $98 million in grants for pre-apprenticeship programs in high-demand fields through the Department’s YouthBuild Program. The grants aim to provide youth aged 16-24 with academic and occupational skills training, with a focus on communities where many youth do not participate in the workforce. Grant applicants must indicate how they plan on incorporating AI-related skills into their programming. 

• Wage Garnishment to Resume for Defaulted Student Loan Borrowers: On Dec. 23, the Trump Administration indicated that it will resume garnishing the wages of defaulted student loan borrowers in early 2026. The Department said it would send notices to about 1,000 borrowers the week of January 7, with more notices to be sent out in the following months.  

• DOL Launches the American Manufacturing Apprenticeship Fund: On Dec. 19, the DOL announced the launch of the American Manufacturing Apprenticeship Fund, through a partnership with Arkansas, to develop and expand advanced manufacturing apprenticeship programs across the nation. The $36 million program will award eligible employers $3,500 for each new apprentice hired. The application portal will open on January 28, with more details to come. 

• Federal Judge Rules ED Must Reinstate Mental Health Grants: On Dec. 19, a federal judge ruled that ED must reinstate mental health grants to 16 states that were canceled in April of last year. The grant programs—which were established in 2018 to combat school violence and youth mental health issues—were originally canceled by the Administration for conflicting with other priorities. 

• President Trump Signs the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act: On Dec. 18, President Trump signed the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025. The bill reauthorizes funding under the Secure Rural Schools Program—which provides funding for schools in counties with large amounts of tax-exempt federal land—through FY 26. 

When Congress passed H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, in July they included a provision that would expand Pell Grant access to short-term training programs. According to the law, Workforce Pell will take effect on July 1, 2026. The Department of Education (ED) convened a negotiated rulemaking committee to discuss the issues at play, which will lead to guidance from ED on the implementation of Workforce Pell.

Between Dec. 8 and 12, the Accountability in Higher Education and Access through Demand-driven Workforce Pell (AHEAD) committee discussed a variety of issues. At the end of the week, the committee recommended the following rules to govern implementation:

• Job Placement: Initially, placement rates will be based on the percentage of students employed during the second quarter after exiting the program. Under the proposed rule, starting in 2028-29, the rate will include only students employed in an occupation related to the program or a comparable high-skill, high-wage or in-demand occupation.
• Limits on Outsourcing: Institutions cannot outsource more than 25% of programs to an ineligible institution or organization. This proposed rule would bar an institution from acting as a pass-through for an unaccredited provider.
• State-by-State Agreements: This proposal allows for bilateral agreements between states to allow learners to access programs across jurisdictions. This will help learners who may need to cross state lines in order to complete their program.
• Connection with Registered Apprenticeship: The proposed rule would enable instruction related to Registered Apprenticeships to count toward Workforce Pell.
• Credit Transfer Policies: A student who has completed a Workforce Pell-eligible program and subsequently enrolled in a related certificate or degree program must receive academic credit for the Workforce Pell program. The committee proposed a clarification on the types of written policies that will govern this provision, including established articulation agreements, transfer-of-credit agreements, consortium or partnership agreements, or similar arrangements.
• Loss of Eligibility: A school that loses eligibility may not reestablish the failing program or establish a “substantially similar” program for two years. The committee proposed that “substantially similar” include programs with the same 4-digit Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) code.

The AHEAD committee will reconvene the week of Jan. 5 to discuss additional regulations regarding Workforce Pell. ACTE will continue to monitor the negotiations and provide updates as they become available. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager Jimmy Koch (jkoch@acteonline.org).

On December 9, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Education and the American Family held a hearing entitled: “Building Pathways: Advancing Workforce Development in the 21^st Century.” The witnesses included:

• Chris Cox: Deputy Chancellor for Instruction, Research and Development, Alabama Community College System
• Chelle Travis: Executive Director, SkillsUSA
• Joel Stadtlander: Director of Human Resources for ArcelorMittal Calvert
• Luke Rhine: Vice President, Rodel Foundation

The hearing centered on strategies to close the skills gap. But there was also strong discussions on the need for increased investments in CTE along with concerns over the interagency agreement (IAA) to transfer the administration of CTE funds from the Department of Education (ED) to the Department of Labor (DOL).

Throughout the hearing, lawmakers repeatedly highlighted the importance of skills-based pathways that lead to good-paying jobs. Witnesses pointed to industry-recognized credentials, short-term training and work-based learning as critical tools for connecting individuals to in-demand careers more quickly.

In her testimony, Ms. Travis stated, “Federal investments should recognize the full spectrum of work-based learning modalities, from career awareness activities in middle school through career preparation experiences like internships, apprenticeships, and industry-validated competitive events in high school and beyond.” She went on to say that federal policy should “provide dedicated support for scaling work-based learning and developing wider statewide pathways systems that connect CTE programs with complementary workforce development initiatives, ensuring adequate capacity to serve the growing population of learners pursuing career-focused educational experiences.”

On Workforce Pell, Dr. Cox noted that community colleges are well positioned to implement Workforce Pell as they are “agile” and already preparing students for work. Additionally, Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) said he was glad funding was put toward Workforce Pell in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and added that it makes sense to put Pell grants toward short-term credentials because “employers are hiring skills, not degrees.”

Several senators also expressed concern over the IAA. Ranking Member Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) said that she was “disappointed” with the move and the potential inefficiencies will cause. According to Luke Rhine, “CTE is fundamentally an education program.” He added that Congress should maintain the existing structure of Perkins with ED to ensure CTE “continues to deliver opportunity for students.”

A recording of this hearing can be found here.