Tuesday’s State of the Union address by President Biden highlighted several initiatives relevant to CTE, including the necessity of recruiting and retaining workers to fill many of the jobs created by legislation such as the CHIPS and Science Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the importance of increasing teacher salaries.

Most notably, President Biden called out the importance of connecting students to career opportunities. “Let’s finish the job, connect students to career opportunities starting in high school and provide two years of community college, some of the best career training in America, in addition to being a pathway to a four-year degree.”

Giving the GOP response, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a plan to increase Arkansas teacher pay, stating that the plan “improves career readiness and helps put a good teacher in every classroom by increasing their starting salary from one of the lowest to one of the highest in the nation.”

Spotlighting CTE even further, Rep. Marie Glusenkamp Perez (D-WA) hosted CTE teacher Cory Torppa as her guest at the speech. He is a construction, engineering design and manufacturing teacher at Kalama High School in Washington and a 2022 grand prize winner of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.

Kate Foley, a 10th grade computer-integrated manufacturing student at Rolling Meadows High School in Illinois High School District 214, also attended the speech as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden. Rolling Meadows is a public high school that prepares students for future careers through partnerships with the local community college, work-based learning opportunities with employers and career advising programs.

You can read the full State of the Union speech here.

February 1 began CTE Month 2023, kicking off the annual celebration of CTE nationwide. ACTE’s CTE Month social media toolkit will help you share your celebrations online and in your communities! The Department of Education also joined the CTE Month celebration with a blog post on some of its Perkins grantees. Both chambers of Congress are currently circulating CTE Month resolutions to recruit cosponsors throughout the next several weeks, so be sure to reach out to your Members of Congress and urge them to cosponsor these CTE Month resolutions! You can do so via ACTE’s Action Center. Beyond CTE Month, Congress spent most of the week working on additional committee organizing activities. Both chambers will be in session next week. In the meantime, here are some notes from Washington:

• Ask Your Representative: Cosponsor the 2023 House CTE Month Resolution: The co-chairs of the House CTE Caucus, Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) are leading the House’s annual CTE Month resolution marking February as CTE Month. These House members are currently circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking their colleagues to cosponsor the resolution, which is set to be introduced on February 8.  CLICK HERE to ask your representative to cosponsor this year’s CTE Month resolution.
• JOBS Act Reintroduced in Senate and House: The Jumpstart Our Businesses by Supporting Students Act of 2023 (S. 161/H.R. 793) or the “JOBS Act of 2023” has been reintroduced in the Senate by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mike Braun (R-IN) and in the House by Reps. Bill Johnson (R-OH), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Mike Turner (R-OH) and Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ). This bipartisan legislation would extend federal Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term workforce training programs between 150-600 clock hours. This is a longtime priority of the CTE community, and ACTE has endorsed the bill. View bill text for the JOBS Act of 2023 here for the House and here for the Senate. Read the accompanying press release here.
• Additional Committee Assignments Announced: Additional Senate and House committee announcements were made this week, leaving only the Senate Appropriations Committee to complete their full subcommittee assignments for the 118th Congress. Democratic Members named to the House Appropriations Committee can be found here; senators named to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee have not been publicly listed on the committee’s website. ACTE will provide a full recap of the committee assignments for CTE-related committees once these members have been named!

• Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) Introduces Bill to Support Youth Apprenticeship: On February 1, Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) introduced the Strengthening Youth Apprenticeships Act. This legislation would create an interagency agreement between the Secretaries of Labor and Education to provide publicly available guidance and best practices to support youth apprenticeship programs in secondary and postsecondary education programs. You can read the press release here.

• House Education and the Workforce Committee Holds Organizational Meeting: The Committee met for the first time on January 31 to adopt rules for the year as well as an oversight plan. In her opening statement, Chair Virginia Foxx emphasized workforce development, “We will also strengthen our workforce development programs. We must close our nation’s skills gap and prepare the next generation of workers for our evolving economy.”

• President's Budget Release Announced: The Administration has announced that the President's Fiscal Year 2024 budget proposal will be released on March 9 – about a month later than originally expected. 

• Energy CLASS Prize Available: The Department of Energy has launched a competition for $4.5 million in funding to support energy management professional-in-training programs in local school districts. The deadlines is February 28 and more information is available here. 

• Administration Releases Data on Impact of Postsecondary COVID-19 Relief Funds: On February 1, the Administration released a new fact sheet and report on the impact of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). The aid provided by HEERF impacted an estimated 18 million students directly, including 6 million community college students, helping them stay enrolled. 

• New Senate HELP Committee Chair Sanders Participates in EdWeek Interview: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the new Chair of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently participated in an interview with Education Week, where he highlighted his concerns about the teacher pipeline, among other priorities. 

The co-chairs of the House CTE Caucus, Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) are leading the House’s annual CTE Month resolution marking February as CTE Month. These House members are currently circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking their colleagues to cosponsor the resolution, which is set to be introduced on February 8. 

CLICK HERE to ask your representative to cosponsor this year’s CTE Month resolution. 

The resolution raises awareness about the many benefits associated with high-quality CTE programs. By requesting support for the resolution, you are continuing to elevate the benefits of CTE to policymakers at a critical time for CTE advocacy. Please contact your House representative today! If you have a direct contact in your Member of Congress’s office, we urge you to call or email them directly. The deadline for original House cosponsors to sign on is February 8, 2023, but cosponsors may join at any time throughout February – the House attempts to pass the resolution at the end of February through unanimous consent.

This week in Washington included a lot of CTE-related news items, which you can read about below! Beyond happenings in CTE, Washington was focused on debt limit conversations, negotiating on potential immigration changes, debating and passing a bill on oil and gas reserves and assigning more Members of Congress to committees. The Senate left Washington yesterday without formalizing its committee assignments, so we will continue to monitor the key players on relevant committees as they are named. Next week, both the House and Senate will be in town. It is soon to be a busy time for CTE as CTE Month arrives on February 1! Here are the biggest updates of the week:

• ACTION ALERT: Ask Your Senators to Cosponsor the 2023 Senate CTE Month Resolution: The co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Todd Young (R-IN) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), are once again leading the Senate’s annual CTE Month resolution marking February as CTE Month. These senators are currently circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking their colleagues to cosponsor the resolution. CLICK HERE to ask your senators to cosponsor this year’s CTE Month resolution.

• ACTE Launches 118th Congress Freshmen Advocacy Guide: Every two years, a new crop of federal policymakers enters Congress for the beginning of the next congressional session. ACTE has developed this resource to help you effectively develop relationships with new Members of Congress and urge them to support policies that will help advance high-quality CTE for all learners. Read the guide here.

• PELL Act Introduced by Education and Workforce Committee Leaders: On January 25, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairwoman Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), along with Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), introduced H.R. 496, the Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning (PELL) Act. Specifically, the bill would create a Workforce Pell Grant to expand Pell Grant eligibility to high-quality, short-term programs, require detailed return-on-investment outlooks for these programs and increase reporting requirements for the Department of Education. This bill is a competitor to the JOBS Act, which has yet to be re-introduced in the 118th Congress and is an ACTE priority.

• Education Secretary Cardona Prioritizes CTE in Major Policy Speech: On January 24, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced a new Education Department initiative called “Raise the Bar: Lead the World” in what was called a “major address” at the Department’s headquarters. Read more about the speech here.

• Secretary of Education Tours CTE Programs at Francis Tuttle Technology Center: Following the announcement of the new “Raise the Bar: Lead the World” initiative, on January 27, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona toured programs and spoke with Information Technology, Broadcast Production and 3D Design students at Francis Tuttle Technology Center in Oklahoma City, OK. The Secretary spoke in a roundtable session with the students about the ways in which Francis Tuttle is preparing students for successful careers through CTE. Read more about the visit here.

• Election Watch: Key House Freshmen of the 118th Congress: As the 118th Congress gets underway, ACTE has created a list of some of the freshmen members in the House of Representatives with established connections to education or education policy, based on publicly available information. Several of these new Members of Congress have discussed CTE-related issues and priorities in their campaigns. Read more about these new Members of Congress here.

• House Education and Workforce, Appropriations Committees Begin Member Assignments: Throughout the last two weeks, the respective House Republican and Democratic Steering Committees have named some of their choices to serve on the House Education and Workforce and Appropriations Committees. House members who have been named to the Education and Workforce Committee can be found here and here. House Appropriations Republican Subcommittee members can be found here. More decisions coming soon! 

The co-chairs of the Senate CTE Caucus, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Todd Young (R-IN) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), are once again leading the Senate’s annual CTE Month resolution marking February as CTE Month. These senators are currently circulating a “Dear Colleague” letter asking their colleagues to cosponsor the resolution.

CLICK HERE to ask your senators to cosponsor this year’s CTE Month resolution. 

The resolution raises awareness about the many benefits associated with high-quality CTE programs. By requesting support for the resolution, you are continuing to elevate the benefits of CTE to policymakers at a critical time for CTE advocacy. Please contact your senators today! If you have a direct contact in your senator’s office, we urge you to call or email them directly. The deadline for Senate cosponsors to sign on is Thursday, February 9, 2023.

Note: More details about a House CTE Month Resolution will be available soon – this resolution is just for senators!

On January 27, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona toured programs and spoke with Information Technology, Broadcast Production and 3D Design students at Francis Tuttle Technology Center in Oklahoma City, OK. The Secretary spoke in a roundtable session with the students about the ways in which Francis Tuttle is preparing students for successful careers through CTE. 

”I came here because I heard this program is great, and it’s providing real-world learning opportunities for employment,” said Secretary Cardona after visiting Francis Tuttle’s programs and learning about the projects that they are currently working on.

”This is an example of what we want to see across the country,” said Cardona. “If we can, what I call ’blur the lines’ between our high school systems, our college systems and our industry, I think our students are going to have better opportunities throughout the country.”

The Secretary also noted his desire to expand CTE in comprehensive high schools nationwide. “Students need to have real-world experiences in the industries that are prevalent in their communities.”

On January 24, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona announced a new Education Department initiative called “Raise the Bar: Lead the World” in a what was called a “major address” at the Department’s headquarters.

The new initiative outlines the Secretary’s priorities and direction of the agency for the coming year in three major areas: achieving academic excellence, improving learning conditions and creating pathways for global engagements. The Department emphasized that these were not new priorities, but rather “a call to strengthen our will to transform education for the better, building on approaches that we know work in education.”

CTE was featured prominently in the section of the speech focused on global competitiveness and college and career pathways, and we’ve included the text of that portion of the speech below for reference. It is a positive sign to hear the Secretary speaking specifically about CTE as a key education and economic solution, and over the coming weeks, we will be working closely with the Department on ways to strengthen their work. Stay tuned for more information about this new initiative!

Excerpt from Secretary’s speech:

Currently, our Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 system and college systems are disconnected. 

For too many students, the gaps between the systems are too big to cross. 

For example, the skills for the high paying jobs that will be made available through the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act must be better infused into our K-12 education system, especially STEM and Career Technical Education courses, so our students graduate with options for success.

This means that dual enrollment courses for local colleges should start at 11th grade and that ambitious high schoolers can graduate with an associate’s degree or credential without paying a penny.

Already, we’ve secured over a billion dollars in funding for career and technical education through the Perkins Grant program and $25 million for career-connected high schools.  Now is the time to build on that.

To help get there, in November, we launched a new pathways initiative called Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success – together with the First Lady and the Secretaries of Labor and Commerce.  As we roll out this initiative, it will include very specific plans on how our high schools should be evolved to meet the career and college pathways of today and tomorrow.  Look out for our plan:  Better yet, put it to good use. 

It also means that Career Pathways in high schools can lead to micro credentials for the jobs of today and tomorrow.  We have the students for the careers needed to build America. We just have to better align our systems and clear the path for our students.

We must challenge our myopic view that emphasizing the importance of career pathways is about limiting students, or the view that it’s four-year-college or bust. 

Advancing career pathways in high schools is about more options for students, not less. What it does is prepare them for the careers of today with options, and in some cases, their employer will pay for their future education.

If we do this well, our graduates will be able to compete on a global stage. 

It’s my intention to Raise the Bar so we can lead the world in advanced career and technical education.