Congress is back from their two-week recess and held two education-centric hearings this week. 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 the challenges students, families and financial aid officers are experiencing with the rollout of the Department of Education’s new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, which was released in December of 2023. 

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s hearing reviewed the difficulties that students and financial aid offices are struggling with related to the new FAFSA as college admissions deadlines approach. There have been challenges both with the form submission and processing, leaving many colleges without the information they need to issue financial aid offers. Lower rates of FAFSA submission (about 40% down from the previous year) have led to concerns about postsecondary attendance in the Fall.  

Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson, co-chair of the House CTE Caucus, asked witnesses about the root cause of certain difficulties the platform has faced and expressed concern about students whose aid would be potentially limited or eliminated by overall changes to the FAFSA. Witnesses noted it was too soon to tell how formula changes were impacting students because of the other issues with the process 

 Lawmakers also raised the issue of student debt, debating whether recent efforts focused on relieving student loan debt might be drawing resources away from solving FAFSA obstacles. These concerns were echoed in the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Committee’s Hearing on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget request. Secretary Cardona discussed the aforementioned concerns by reassuring lawmakers that no other project was redirecting resources from FAFSA, and that it remains a top priority for the department.  

Secretary Cardona also discussed some areas in the budget that the Department of Education is working on, including but not limited to their Raise the Bar Initiative, academic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the accessibility and affordability of various career and college pathways to ensure students have more opportunities for rewarding careers. Other concerns that members surfaced in this hearing included  absenteeism and the availability of support services for students, including mental health support and assistance for food insecurity. 

Secretary Cardona will continue discussing these issues with lawmakers in the coming months, likely testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee as well, while Congress works on their budget for FY 2025. The President’s FY 2025 Budget Proposal was released earlier this year, and ACTE’s analysis of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill is posted on our blog. We will continue to share updates and important information pertaining to this process, and advocate for robust funding for CTE at the federal level. 

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).  

Specifically, this bill requires that 50% of the adult and dislocated worker funding go toward upskilling workers through individual training accounts (ITAs), streamlines the eligible training provider list requirements to focus on outcomes and ensure eligible programs are aligned with the skill and hiring demands of employers, establishes a demonstration authority to provide several states and local workforce boards the flexibility to reimagine their workforce system, and facilitates skills-based hiring by validating workers’ competencies gained through prior experience and authorizing state and local boards to provide technical assistance to employers on implementing skills-based hiring practices. However, ACTE did have some concerns with the bill, notably the lack of mandatory inclusion of CTE leaders on workforce boards and lack of specific dedicated funding for the one-stop system.  

The ball is now in the Senate’s court, and lawmakers there are currently working on their own bipartisan legislation with the stated goal of a bill passing out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee by Memorial Day.  

The Senate is expected to craft its own legislation, though there may be many similarities between the two bills. Final enactment of a WIOA reauthorization bill this year will depend on the Senate acting, and the degree to which the Senate and House bills differ. It will be challenging for the chambers and parties to come to an agreement in an election year.  

ACTE recently participated in a briefing for Senate staff on the links between WIOA and CTE programs where we answered questions and outlined our WIOA priories. ACTE will continue to work with Senators on a WIOA proposal that builds more meaningful connections between CTE and workforce systems. 

The co-chairs of the House CTE Caucus, Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), are circulating an important “Dear Colleague” letter addressed to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House 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. It is critical that the letter garners strong backing in the House to show support for Perkins funding in this year’s challenging federal fiscal climate. The deadline for sign-ons is April 17, 2024!

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

Note: Senators will have a similar letter opportunity soon, but this one is just for House members! 

NCES Data on CTE Offerings in Public Schools: NCES has published the results of its January 2024 edition of the School Pulse Panel, the U.S. Department of Education’s monthly data collection effort of vital information in public education.

The results include the following:

• 86% of public high schools reported offering CTE.
• Schools comprised of more than 75% students of color were the least likely to report offering CTE courses.
• Schools in rural settings are more likely to report offering CTE.
• 62% of public high schools reported having graduation requirements that include college and career milestones.

Student Perceptions of American Postsecondary Education: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in collaboration with HCM Strategists and Edge Research recently published a study on recent trends in postsecondary enrollment. The data is composed of survey responses from 18- to 30-year-olds who did not complete or never enrolled in postsecondary education (referred to as non-enrollees) as well as high school juniors and seniors.

Key insights are listed below:

• Non-enrollees are increasingly seeing “excellent or good value” in coursework that leads to a certificate or license.
• Both cohorts of respondents (non-enrollees and high schoolers) believe that in today’s market a good job requires certification as proof of someone’s skills (65% and 69%, respectively).
• Among supports that would be extremely helpful, both cohorts cited debt elimination as the most important support, followed by guidance to navigate the college experience (high school students) and help identifying career skills and interests (non-enrollees).
• High schoolers get most of their information about postsecondary education from school counselors (47%), parents (44%), college websites (37%) and teachers (34%). Non-enrollees obtain most of their information from Google searches (39%), college websites (34%), social media (29%) and peers (23%).

Transfer and Progress Report, February 2024 Edition: The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has released more data from its transfer and progress report, which was created to serve educational leaders and policymakers addressing enrollment impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic through detailed and readily available data in the clearinghouse platform.

Key insights from the report below:

• Overall upward transfer enrollment along all pathways increased by 7.7% with over 39,000 students moving up a level in their educational journeys.
• The 2022 cohort of students enrolled at the community college level grew by 851,000 new students, representing an increase of 7% compared to the 2020 mid-pandemic cohort. This increase impacted most racial and ethnic groups, particularly Hispanic students. Gains were also high among students aged 20 and younger.
• Over two-thirds of students who started at community college and completed an upward transfer earned a credential within six years, compared to only 30.7% of lateral and 22.7% of non-transfer students.

This week, the House and Senate were relatively quiet as both are on recess, expected to return next week. When they return, House members are likely going to vote on a new chair of the Appropriations Committee, just as talks on the budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 take form. The Administration has been busy this week, with the Department of Labor announcing several new funding opportunities. Read on for more details!

• U.S. Departments of Education and Labor Continue Biden-Harris Administration’s Push for Better Pay and High-Quality Pathways into Education : The Depts. of Education and Labor announced a set of Good Jobs Principles for Education as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Good Jobs Initiatives, along with other efforts to recruit and retain teachers. 
• OCTAE Releases Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) on Advancing Gender Equity in CTE: The Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) released a Dear Colleague Letter on recent progress around gender equity within CTE programs and areas of success. 
• U.S. Department of Labor Announces $49.2m in Available Funding to Support Career Training and Connect Rural Workers with Good Jobs: The Dept. Of Labor announced over $49 million available under the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities Initiative to provide career training and supportive services to workers in rural communities. 
• U.S. Department of Labor to Award Over $67 million to Help Youth, Young Adults with Disabilities Join the Workforce:  Dept. of Labor announced funding for the first of four, five-year cooperative agreements aimed at developing strategies to assist youth and young adults with disabilities in successfully transitioning to the workforce.  
• Reps. Owens, Wilson to Hold Hearing on Ramifications of New FAFSA Program: The Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development will hold a hearing, “FAFSA Fail: Examining the Impact on Students, Families and Schools” on April 10. Visit the Committee’s website to view the hearing.  
• House Committee Leaders Applaud Bipartisan Bills to Align Education Opportunities with Workforce Needs: Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott of the House Education and Workforce Committee attended a bipartisan panel discussion “Building America’s Every-Ready Workforce” and talked about legislation such as the “Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act” and “A Stronger Workforce for America Act,” which is a reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act that could be voted on by the full House as early as next week.  
• Ranking Member Cassidy Rebukes Biden’s Proposed Apprenticeship Rule: Ranking Member Cassidy of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, rebuked the Dept. of Labor’s proposed apprenticeship regulations. 

The Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE) at the U.S. Department of Education has released a letter designed to share recent progress around gender equity within CTE programs and highlight areas of success. The Perkins Act continues to place a priority on encouraging students to pursue programs that lead to careers that are non-traditional for their gender, making this a critical issue for CTE leaders as well as the economy, as many fields are struggling with staffing shortages due to a lack of employment interest and retention among one gender.  

The first part of the memo includes a review of historical data trends around gaps in CTE and workforce participation by gender. Key insights included:  

• Between 1990 and 2019, there was no major differences in the share of male and female graduates who earned at least one credit in CTE subject areas such as information technology, construction and architecture, all non-traditional occupations for women.  

• In 2021-22, there was more than 2.8 million CTE high school concentrators across the nation, 46.7% of which were female.  

• Between 1990 and 2019, gaps narrowed between male and female participation in architecture and construction; manufacturing; and transportation, distribution and logistics, but largely because male participation declined. The gap also narrowed in human services, although female continue to have stronger participation.  

• Females made progress in closing the participation gap with males in agriculture, food and natural resources between 1990 and 2019, but the gap widened in IT, continued to be large in engineering and technology, and a new gap emerged in business and marketing.  

• During the 1990–2019 timeframe, a gap emerged in male-female participation in health sciences, with females participating at higher rates.  

• In STEM Occupations requiring less than a baccalaureate degree, women comprised only 25% of the workforce in 2021, highlighting the need for more progress in secondary level training efforts. 

The memo then highlighted results from several states that have made progress closing gaps in participation by gender in some fields. Profiles are included of Arkansas’ efforts to expand female participation in computer science, Washington D.C.’s partnership with a national organization to evaluate and take action on male-female participation gaps in STEM and architecture and construction fields and Kansas’ efforts to increase the number of male concentrators in health science pathways to address critical shortages of nurses and other health care professionals.  

 The report emphasizes that these efforts represent a considerable initiative by state leaders to go above and beyond the bare minimum requirements of Perkins V for advancing gender equity, and that significant progress is unlikely if efforts are confined to only legal requirements. 

Following the President signing into law the final appropriations packages of Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 on March 23, Congress began a two-week recess. Both the House and Senate will return to session the second week of April. When they come back, work will begin on FY 2025 appropriations and other high-priority legislation. Recess is a great time for Members of Congress to visit CTE programs in their districts, which we’re already starting to see. Keep reading for more updates! 

• President Signs FY 2024 Appropriations Act into Law: On Saturday, March 23, the President signed into law the final appropriations package for FY 2024, funding the government through the rest of the FY. This includes the Labor-HHS-Education bill. More information regarding the bill can be found on the CTE Policy Watch Blog. Congress now looks toward FY 2025 appropriations, which are supposed to be completed by September 30, but are already behind schedule.
   
• FAFSA FAQs Updated: In response to a myriad of challenges related to the launch of the “Better FAFSA,” the Department of Education has consolidated resources and posted updated FAQs.
   
• Department of Education Delays Required Reporting Under Gainful Employment Rule: On Friday, Department leaders announced they were delaying reporting requirements under the gainful employment and financial value transparency rule from July 31 to Oct. 1, and issued a “Dear Colleague” letter with more details on required reporting.
   
• Secretary Cardona Discusses Importance of Latino Engagement in Career Pathways and Apprenticeship Programs: Secretary Cardona traveled to Pennsylvania to tour various career and technical education (CTE) and apprenticeship programs and discussed the need for increased career pathways, specifically in regard to their positive impact on the Latino community.
   
• Department of Education Announces Cybersecurity Collaborative: On March 28, the Department announced the launch of the Government Coordinating Council for the Education Facilities Subsector to bring together government and technology resources and leaders to protect schools from cyber threats.
   
• USDA Investments in Education and Workforce Development Programs: USDA has announced a $49,500,000 investment in the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Education and Workforce Development Program, looking to strengthen professional development for K-14 education professionals and education that cultivates youth food and agricultural interest.
   
• House Ed and Workforce Committee Advances Four Bills Pertaining to Higher Ed: The House Committee on Education and the Workforce recently approved four bills to address various issues in higher education and the workforce. The majority and minority parties both released comments on the legislation.  

• Mark Schneider Bids Farewell to Institute of Education Sciences following CTE Research Network Meeting: Mark Schneider, Director of the Institute of Education Services, will be concluding his five-year term shortly. In his farewell blog post, Schneider remarks on the accomplishments of the Institute in supporting CTE, highlighted by the recent CTE Research Network convening held in conjunction with ACTE’s National Policy Seminar.