Congress took recess most of last week after the final passage of the emergency foreign aid supplemental to provide funding for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and other security interests. As Capitol Hill was quiet, the media focused largely on growing protests on college campuses and Supreme Court activity. The Administration was also busy, announcing several new grant programs and federal regulations while hosting the Attaining College Excellence and Equity Summit. 

• Senate Appropriations Committee Announces Hearing to Review the Administration’s Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Bill Request: The Senate Appropriations Committee announced a hearing this week, during which Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will testify on the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget request for the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Bill. 
• House Committee on Education and the Workforce Announces Full Committee Hearing: The House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced a hearing for this week, “Examining the Policies and Priorities of the Department of Labor,” to hear testimony from Acting Secretary of Labor, Julie Su.  
• Biden-Harris Administration to Create National Recognition Program for Institutions that Increase Economic Mobility: Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced that the Department of Education will develop a new Postsecondary Student Success Recognition Program to uplift higher ed institutions that support student success. 
• Department of Labor Announces Funding for Career Training Services: The Department of Labor announced $49.2 in available funds for career training services in the Appalachian, Lower Mississippi Delta and Northern Border regions. This is part of the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) Initiative. 
• The Department of Education’s Office for Career and Technical Adult Education (OCTAE) Updated their Community College Page: OCTAE updated their website to provide more community college facts and resources. Information regarding current initiatives, funding opportunities and other background facts and information are readily available. 
• Department of Education Announced Semifinalists for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program: The Department of Education announced the semifinalists for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, including nearly 60 students enrolled in CTE programming. Finalists are normally announced in early summer. 
• Department of Agriculture (USDA) To Invest in Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s (AFRI) Education and Workforce Development Program: USDA has $49.5 million to invest in the AFRI Education and Workforce Development program, and will expand job-based experiential learning opportunities to prepare students for the workforce. 
• Department of Labor Adds New Federally Funded Projects to Promote Equal Access to Good Jobs, per the Investing in America Agenda: The Department of Labor announced the addition of 16 large infrastructure projects, funded through the Administration’s $2 trillion Investing in America agenda, to the Mega Construction Project Program. 
• Department of Labor Announces New Overtime Rule: The Administration announced a final rule updating overtime rules for millions of lower-income salaried employees. The new rule raises salary thresholds required to exempt a salaried executive, administrative or professional employee from federal overtime pay requirements. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog. 

This week, the Administration announced a final rule updating overtime rules for millions of lower-income salaried employees. The new rule raises salary thresholds required to exempt a salaried executive, administrative or professional employee from federal overtime pay requirements. Acting Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, shared that, “This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time.”

The new rule takes effect July 1, 2024, and will increase the overtime salary threshold from $35,568 to $43,888. The salary threshold will increase again to $58,568 on January 1, 2025. Additionally, the rule will adjust the threshold for highly compensated employees, and salary thresholds will be updated every three years by applying current wage data to determine new levels. The Department drafted this new rule after consulting and engaging with employers, workers, unions and other stakeholders and received approximately 33,000 comments in developing its final rule – although not all stakeholders supported the increases

This rule will take effect for some school district employees, including school nurses, athletic trainers and librarians. However, both secondary and postsecondary teachers and school administrators are exempt from the federal overtime rule.

The Department of Labor received a request from the National Education Association to end exemptions for teachers, given that they do not currently qualify for mandatory overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Department shared that they would require a separate rulemaking process to consider a change of that nature.

Proponents of the rule argue that employees should have the predictability of guaranteed overtime pay, and that it will benefit those who are currently overworked and underpaid. Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-PA) on the House Committee for Education and the Workforce shared, “This rule is good for workers, good for businesses, and good for our economy.”

Opponents of the rule argue it will force secondary and postsecondary institutions to come up with millions of dollars in increased wages. This poses difficulties for postsecondary institutions struggling with constraints on tuition revenue and state funds, and for secondary school districts with limited budgets. Education leaders have been preparing for this shift for months, but may need to redirect efforts/resources toward recordkeeping and tracking hours for more employees. Ranking Member Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee argued that, “The new overtime rule forces businesses to make a choice: eliminate jobs, gut wages, or raise prices on families already feeling the affordability crunch under President Biden.”

The new rules are likely to be challenged in court, so could be delayed during that process.

This week, the main focus in Congress was on efforts to pass a foreign aid supplemental spending bill. While those discussions were occurring, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education subcommittee continued with their budget hearings, welcoming testimony from Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su. Meanwhile, the Department of Education continued to work on the challenges presented with the new FAFSA as well as other projects. 

• The Federal Student Aid office at the Department of Education Announces Corrections Availability on FAFSA: The Department of Education made student corrections broadly available for FAFSA applicants last week, now processing almost 100,000 corrections. To make corrections to a FAFSA form, visit StudentAid.gov. 
• Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su Testifies before House Appropriations Committee: Acting Secretary of Labor, Julie Su, testified before the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education on Wednesday. She addressed concerns with the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget request, including some concerns for the new regulations and funding for registered apprenticeships. 
• House holds hearing on WEP and GPO: The House Subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing on the Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset, debating effective ways to reform the system and ensure equity in social security support provided to public service workers. This directly impacts teachers who began their teaching careers after working in the private sector in some states. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog.  
• ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Senators to Support Funding for Perkins CTE in FY 2025: Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), longtime CTE advocate, is currently circulating an important “Dear Colleague” letter addressed to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The letter requests robust funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog. 
• Skills-based Hiring for Contractors Advances in the House: The House Oversight and Accountability Committee advanced legislation to remove degree requirements for many federal contract employees, expanding the federal government’s recent shift toward skills-based hiring to include federal contractors as well.  
• Department of Education Added New Trainings and Design to Registered Apprenticeship Academy: The Registered Apprenticeship Academy now has new training modules and has been redesigned for user-friendly accessibility.  
• First Lady Visits North Carolina to Discuss the State’s Dual Enrollment Model: First Lady Dr. Jill Biden visited North Carolina this week to discuss innovative learning programs, like dual enrollment, to build partnerships and pathways between academics and careers. 
• Biden-Harris Administration Releases First Set of Draft Rules to Provide Debt Relief: The Biden-Harris Administration released a set of draft rules to propose student debt relief.  
• Department of Education Releases Final Title IX Rules: On April 19, the Department released a final revised rule under Title IX, related to how educational institutions receiving federal aid must ensure they are prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex. More details on this new rule will be coming soon.  

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), longtime CTE advocate, is currently circulating an important “Dear Colleague” letter addressed to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The letter requests robust funding for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. Committee members view these letters as a critical part of the process because they show the breadth of support for a specific program. Now more than ever, it’s imperative the letter amasses strong backing in the Senate to show support for Perkins funding and CTE at the federal level.

CLICK HERE to ask your Senators to sign the letter and support strong CTE funding in the FY 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill!

Building Robust District Work-Based Learning Data Collection Systems: A recently published report by the CTE Research Network showcases the promising practices of six school districts across the nation that have gone well beyond the minimum for work-based learning (WBL) data collection and use.

Recommendations on how school leaders can improve WBL data collection below:

• Begin data collection as early as possible by creating records of learner career interests and activities.
• Systematically capture learner skill gains so they can be assessed as an outcome measure through tagging predefined sets of skills or using a structured employer evaluation form.
• Track student career interests and WBL participation through individual learning plan databases.
• Minimize data collection errors by implementing formal systems that restrict entries to first-hand sources such as teachers, students, employers and school-level WBL coordinators.
• Prioritize data quality and integration across systems.

Researchers also emphasized the need for longitudinal data systems that link education and employment records.

ACTE is one of the lead organizations in the CTE Research Network.

Geographic Variation in Equitable Postsecondary Value Among Community Colleges: The American Institutes for Research has released a report that quantifies the value that postsecondary institutions provide to students by using publicly available data to measure learners’ earnings against the Postsecondary Value Commission’s Postsecondary Value Framework. Experts determined that community colleges hold a positive value for students from the 2008-09 and 2009-10 beginning cohort with a median economic return of $2,800 compared to people whose highest attainment is a high school diploma. In particular, pathways that result in employment within health care and manufacturing were associated with increased economic value for students.

Understanding Dual Enrollment: The Community College Research Center recently published a policy fact sheet on dual enrollment (DE) summarizing what we know from the research. Researchers noted that 82% of high school students nationwide report attending a school that offers DE courses.

Top-level findings, insights and recommendations below:

• Unequal access to DE is prominent with White students participating in these courses at twice the rate of their Black and Hispanic classmates. Individuals with disabilities and English learners are also significantly underrepresented.
• Over 1.5 million learners annually enroll in DE courses nationwide with more than a million of those individuals taking them through two-year institutions. In fact, secondary students account for approximately 20% of community college enrollments.
• Standardized placement tests are the main method for determining eligibility, although researchers question their validity and whether they perpetuate inequities.
• The most frequent model for DE delivery is college-level coursework taught at the high school. Students who take courses on a college campus are less likely to pass the DE course but more likely to enroll in community college after high school.­
• Traditional DE models are less costly overall than Early College High School (ECHS) models despite ECHSs being designed to offer programing at low or no cost to learners.

On Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on Social Security held a hearing to discuss the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). Originally developed in order to ensure that workers having non-covered pensions did not receive higher social security benefits provided to long-time, low-wage earners, this provision has had negative effects on workers who originally did pay into social security and then switched over to a public pension fund in approximately 15 states. This directly impacts workers who become teachers after a career in the private sector – like many CTE teachers, as well as other public service workers. H.R. 82, the Social Security Fairness Act of 2023, has been introduced to repeal WEP and GPO.

During the hearing, lawmakers shared their ideas on several initiatives to help simplify social security, to generate more money for the fund, and to ensure truly fair treatment amongst workers who are and are not covered by social security. Witnesses were divided on whether the repeal of WEP and GPO would solve the countless problems with the current provision, which, as noted by several lawmakers and witnesses, is reflective not of the current workforce but of the intent of lawmakers 40 years ago.

Jason Fichtner, Chief Economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center explained to lawmakers that both WEP and GPO are overly complicated, and that the unfairness is derived in part from the provision itself, and in part from the over-complexity that makes communication with beneficiaries extremely difficult.

Witnesses and lawmakers debated whether the solution is to amend or overhaul the current provisions. Some argued that eliminating WEP and GPO would result in more inequity for the impacted communities, noting that it was created to address an issue that will be left with no solution if the provisions are discarded. Others believe that the solution is to get rid of these provisions and instead work to impose taxes on higher-income individuals to make up for any money lost and provide benefits to lower-income individuals and those with marginalized identities, including women and People of Color.

Despite these differences, lawmakers unilaterally agreed that action needs to be taken. Rep. Pascrell (D-NJ) argued that, “What’s most depressing is that over two million Americans who paid their dues have suffered – police officers, retired first responders, firefighters, teachers – they have seen a reduction in social security benefits.” Representative Estes (R-KS) later agreed, sharing with the committee that, “Every instance of WEP and GPO negatively impacting a teacher, police officer or public servant is troubling. Simply because of the profession they choose, they are bearing the brunt of a policy’s negative, unintended consequences.”

Last week, Congress returned from recess and kicked things off with education hearings to discuss FAFSA and the President’s budget request. There was also some movement within House leadership as Rep. Cole assumed his position as the new Appropriations Committee Chair. Administration activities continued, keep reading for more details! 

• House Passes WIOA Reauthorization: On Tuesday, the House, in a 378-26 vote, overwhelmingly passed H.R. 6655, A Stronger Workforce for America Act. This bill would reauthorize the Workforce, Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).  
• Congress Holds Hearings on FAFSA, President’s FY 2025 Request: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education held a hearing on the President’s budget proposal and heard testimony from Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona. Meanwhile, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing to discuss challenges with the Department of Education’s new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which was released in December of 2023. Read more on the CTE Policy Watch Blog. 
• Rep. Tom Cole Elected as House Appropriations Committee Chair: House Republicans elected Rep. Cole to chair the House Appropriations Committee for the rest of this Congress. Rep. Cole will also be promoting the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee clerk, Susan Ross, to be staff director. This will be interesting to follow as FY 2025 Appropriations are underway.  
• Department of Education Publishes Additional Gainful Employment Information: A new “Topics Page” and FAQs are now available on new financial value transparency and gainful employment regulations that are scheduled to go into effect this summer for all postsecondary certificate programs.  
• NIST Awards $3.6 Million for Community-Based Cybersecurity Workforce Development: The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded cooperative agreements totaling nearly $3.6 million aimed at building the workforce needed to safeguard enterprises from cybersecurity risks. 
• Department of Labor Announces $6M in Grants to Retain Women in Registered Apprenticeships: The U.S. Department of Labor announced a funding opportunity of $6 million for up to 17 grants to attract and keep women in Registered Apprenticeship programs and industries where they are underrepresented, including manufacturing, construction and cybersecurity. The deadline to apply is June 10.  
• Secretary Xavier Becerra Tours Healthcare Career Pathway Programs: Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visited Rio Americano High School to learn about career and technical education medical pathways and facilities. 
• Department of Labor Awards Community College Grants: This week, DOL announced the 16 winners of the latest round of Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants. The grants are designed to help colleges prepare students for jobs and meet local workforce needs.