Last week in Washington, Congress worked to wrap up loose ends before adjourning for a two-week recess for Easter and Passover. The biggest focus was the final confirmation vote for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, which was held in the Senate on Thursday. In addition, a new Russian sanctions and trade-related bill was passed and signed into law. Congressional leaders also continued working on negotiating additional COIVD-19 pandemic funding, but no agreement was reached on that package before they left town.  As we await lawmakers’ return to Washington after recess, here are a few news and notes relevant to CTE:

• House Approves WIOA Reauthorization Bill: On April 5, the House Education and Labor Committee approved the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022 (H.R. 7309) on a party-line vote of 29-21. In advance of the markup, ACTE and Advance CTE sent this letter to committee leaders outlining positive aspects of the bill and areas where we think more work is needed. To read more about the bill, read our blog post here.

• CTE Caucus Holds Membership Drive: The CTE Caucus highlights the importance of CTE in preparing a well-educated and skilled workforce throughout Congress. It is a great opportunity for Members of Congress to show their support for CTE students, educators and business partners in their states and districts. You can help ensure the continued strength of the House and Senate CTE Caucuses by encouraging your Members of Congress to join their caucus if they have not already done so! Read more about the campaign here.

• Department of Education Opens Grant Program for Educator Workforce: The Department of Education’s Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant program is now accepting applications for efforts that increase the pipeline of highly effective educators. Learn more about the SEED program here. Applications for the grant program will close on June 3, 2022.

• Biden Administration Extends Student Loan Pause Through August 31: The Department of Education has announced an extension of the pause on student loan repayment, interest and collections through August 31, 2022.

• House and Senate Appoint Conferees on America Competes/USICA: Both the House and Senate named conferees to negotiate differences between the House-passed American COMPETES Act and Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA). A list of House conferees can be found here and Senate conferees here (Democrats) and here (Republicans). Of particular importance to CTE will be negotiators working on the education portions of the bill, where the House included short-term Pell provisions and the College Transparency Act, two of our top legislative priorities.
   
• White House Addresses School Infrastructure and Transportation: On April 4, the White House released a Fact Sheet on their plans for addressing school infrastructure issues, including a toolkit of resources, best practices and information about available funding. Be on the lookout for a new grant opportunity from the Department of Energy coming this summer!

Landscape of Non-degree Workforce Programs: Recently, the Education & Employment Research Center at Rutgers University published an issue brief that provides an overview of non-credit workforce education programs at community and technical colleges. Using interviews with administrators of non-credit divisions from 29 colleges in 28 states, the brief examines the following components of non-credit workforce programs:

• Focus: Most colleges focus on adult learners and have a comprehensive model for noncredit education, combining workforce training alongside adult basic education. Some colleges report recently shifting away from the comprehensive model to focus solely on workforce education.
• Organization: Typically, noncredit workforce education fell under a college’s Continuing Education division. However, some offered it alongside credit-bearing workforce and CTE offerings, or in partnership with other colleges and vendors.
• Structure: Colleges cited speed and flexibility as the most common reason for offering noncredit workforce education programs. In addition, nearly all colleges reported that pathways exist between some noncredit and credit programs, or that they’re currently developing linkages.
• Quality: To ensure noncredit programs are high quality, most colleges used labor market analysis to align programs with employer needs. Despite the importance of labor market data, only two of the 29 colleges studied reported tracking graduates’ labor market outcomes.

Relatedly, New America published a paper that outlines funding models commonly used by community colleges to support non-degree workforce programs. In partnership with the Nonprofit Finance Fund, researchers interviewed leaders in postsecondary education, workforce development and community college administration between 2020 and 2021. This paper analyzes their findings to summarize current funding practices, innovative approaches and how funding policies can support a college’s mission.

All About Certifications: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, Workcred and the George Washington Institute of Public Policy recently produced a series of five reports aimed at helping policymakers, employers and funders better understand the characteristics and labor market value of certifications. Using 2019-2021 research on 16 certifications in cybersecurity, healthcare, IT and manufacturing, the reports cover the current landscape of certifications, certifications as economic mobility tools, accreditation standards, recertification and the future of certifications. Read the full collection here.

The Degree Reset: A report by EMSI and Burning Glass examines how bachelor’s degrees are increasingly no longer requisites for many middle-skill and some higher-skill roles. Researchers analyzed over 51 million job postings in 2017, and again from 2019 to March 2021, to determine whether this trend is temporary due to pandemic-related labor shortages, or a permanent shift toward skills-based hiring that began before the pandemic. The following outlines key findings from the report:

• From 2017 to 2019, 46% of middle-skill and 31% of high-skill occupations experienced declines in degree requirements, representing a shift that began before the pandemic.
• About 63% of occupations that removed degree requirements were shifts that occurred before the pandemic and have been maintained, while 27% were short-term responses to the pandemic.
• Based on trends found in the report, an additional 1.4 million jobs could become open to workers without degrees over the next five years.
• When employers removed degree requirements, job postings became more closely tied to specific skills, notably employability skills such as communication, writing and being detail oriented.

You can help ensure the continued strength of the congressional CTE Caucuses by encouraging your Members of Congress to join their caucus if they have not already done so! 

Congressional caucuses are groups of Members of Congress that come together to pursue shared goals or interests. The CTE Caucus highlights the importance of CTE in preparing a well-educated and skilled workforce throughout Congress. The CTE Caucus is a great opportunity for Members of Congress to show their support for CTE students, educators and business partners in their states and districts.  

The House CTE Caucus was launched in 2007 by former Congressmen Brain Baird (D-WA) and Phil English (R-PA) in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is now chaired by Congressmen Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Jim Langevin (D-RI), and serves to raise awareness of and support for the CTE community and lead on legislation related to these issues. 

In February 2014, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) partnered to launch the Senate CTE Caucus. Those two senators are now joined by Sens. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Todd Young (R-IN) as co-chairs.  

To find out if your Members of Congress have joined the Caucus, you can review House and Senate membership lists.  

If your members are not on the list, please ask them to join! To join the Senate CTE Caucus, or for more information, Members' offices can contact Karishma Merchant (karishma_merchant@kaine.senate.gov) in Sen. Kaine’s office or Nancy Martinez (nancy_martinez@young.senate.gov) in Sen. Young’s office. To join the House CTE Caucus, or for more information, House members can contact Nick Rockwell (nick.rockwell@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Thompson’s office or Nick Pennington (nick.pennington@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Langevin’s office. Copies of the House CTE Caucus and Senate CTE caucus membership recruitment letters can be found here, and can be shared with your Members of Congress. 

ACTE’s Action Center can help you send messages to your Members of Congress encouraging them to join the CTE Caucus – follow these links for the House and Senate to send a message today!

At our recent National Policy Seminar, ACTE was pleased to recognize two policymakers who are retiring this year that have had a tremendous impact on CTE during their time in office—Rep. Jim Langevin and Sen. Rob Portman. Both were honored with Special Lifetime Achievement Awards for their policy work in support of CTE.

Sen. Portman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 to represent Ohio. He has served as co-chair of the Senate CTE Caucus since its launch in 2014. Since that time, Sen. Portman has been a tireless advocate on behalf of CTE, and co-sponsored numerous pieces of legislation representing CTE priorities. Perhaps most notably, he has worked with Sen. Kaine to lead efforts around the JOBS Act to provide Pell grants to students in short-term postsecondary CTE programs. Sen. Portman appeared at NPS remotely, and a video of his comments is included below.

Rep. Langevin has represented Rhode Island in Congress since 2000, and assumed the role of co-chair of the House Congressional CTE Caucus in 2011. Since that time, Rep. Langevin has served as an outspoken advocate and key leader in Congress on CTE issues. He has co-sponsored legislation, lead sign on letters, hosted events, and been a constant voice in support of CTE. Rep. Langevin was not able to join NPS live, but shared a video with attendees that is also included below.

Last week in Washington, the focus was on the release of President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request. We have developed several blog articles this week on funding-related processes, including a full recap of the president’s budget and what it means for CTE, which can be found below. Each chamber will return to Washington this week for one more week before adjourning for the Easter recess. There could potentially be action on the America COMPETES Act/USICA this week as we await the naming of conferees, as well as broader action on the Supreme Court nomination and COVID emergency funding. Stay tuned to CTE Policy Watch for any upcoming advocacy opportunities! In the meantime, here are some news and notes from Washington:

• President Releases FY 2023 Budget Request: On March 28, the Biden Administration released the president’s FY 2023 budget request. The request, which serves as a blueprint for Congress to appropriate federal funds, included a disappointing $25 million cut to the Perkins Basic State Grant compared to FY 2022 levels. Read more about the president’s budget request here.

• WIOA Reauthorization Bill Formally Introduced: On March 31, Democratic House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Higher Education Workforce Investment Subcommittee Chair Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced a new bill to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The bill, H.R. 7309, is titled the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022. Read more about the bill here.

• Movement on America COMPETES/USICA: Last week, the House and Senate both took additional procedural steps to move forward on a bipartisan innovation bill. First, the Senate took up the House version of the bill (the American COMPETES Act) and amended it with the text of their bill, the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, or USICA. Following Senate approval of their bill, the House approved a motion to instruct conferees to begin negotiations to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the legislation. Speaker Nancy Pelosi added that conferees were expected to be formally named this week.

• Latest Information on Earmarks: The recently signed FY 2022 omnibus appropriations bill marked the first spending bill in a decade to include earmarks. If you have a project that might be eligible under the guidelines highlighted in this blog post, please reach out to your elected officials in the House and Senate to inquire about their request process for FY 2023. Readers can use this spreadsheet created by ACTE to learn more about which CTE-related projects in their state received FY 2022 earmarked funding. Read our full earmark analysis here.

• ACTE Releases Spanish Translation of “CTE Works!” Fact Sheet: This week, ACTE released a Spanish-translated version of our “CTE Works!” fact sheet to help CTE supporters inform learners and families in the Spanish-speaking community about recent research on CTE’s benefits. Read more here.

• House Small Business Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Upskilling and Reskilling: On March 31, the House Committee on Small Business’s Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Workforce Development Subcommittee held a hearing titled, “Skill, Upskill, and Reskill: Analyzing New Investments in Workforce Development,” featuring witnesses from across the workforce development and business spectrum. Each Member of Congress in attendance and the witnesses emphasized the need to expand skills training to fill workforce gaps through CTE. Read more about the hearing here.

• Department of Labor CTE-Related Grant Opportunities: The Department of Labor currently has several open competitive grant opportunities for CTE stakeholders to apply for and obtain funding. We’ve reported on many of these grants as they were announced, but wanted to provide them here again all in one place! Read the rundown here.

• GAO Releases Report on CTE Challenges and Strategies: The U.S. Government and Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a study on how CTE programs are supporting learners. Researchers interviewed state education officials in Delaware, Georgia, Ohio and Washington; representatives from eight CTE program providers; 14 stakeholders such as employer partners; and individuals from six national CTE organizations. Read more about the study findings here.

• Secretary of Education Cardona Statement on Teacher Shortages: Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is calling on states, higher education leaders and schools to tap federal resources to address the nationwide teacher shortage. Among the proposals the Secretary suggested is the establishment of teaching as a registered apprenticeship at the state and district level. Read more from the Department of Education here.

On March 31, Democratic House Education and Labor Committee Chair Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Higher Education Workforce Investment Subcommittee Chair Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced a new bill to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The bill, H.R. 7309, is titled the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022.

WIOA was last reauthorized in 2014, and Congress has been working on new legislation for quite some time, including by holding Committee hearings and negotiating potential language. This is the first comprehensive proposal to be introduced this reauthorization cycle, and it is tentatively scheduled to be considered by the House Education and Labor Committee on Tuesday, April 5.

In introducing the legislation, Chairman Scott said, "For decades, WIOA programs have strengthened our economy and helped workers find more sustainable and better-paying jobs. Now, as Americans across the country are getting back to work, it is more critical than ever that we expand access to high-quality job training opportunities. This legislation would finally invest serious federal funding in our nation’s workforce development and help ensure that all workers—including women, people of color, and justice-involved individuals—have access to the resources they need to find rewarding careers.”

We are still working to analyze the legislation and will be weighing in with the Committee with more detailed comments before the markup. However, early reviews indicate that there are some positive changes included in the legislation in line with our priorities. For example, the new bill:

• Eliminates the requirement to spend the majority of youth funds on out-of-school youth, which could make it easier for CTE programs to coordinate with WIOA youth programs.
• Proposes a potential solution to funding the one-stop system's infrastructure costs, replacing the cumbersome memorandum of understanding provision in current law.
• Codifies the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants, Workforce Data Quality grants, and a new sector strategies program.

We will be providing more details as the bill moves through the legislative process!

April 6 Update:

The House Education and Labor Committee considered the WIOA reauthorization bill on April 5 and approved it on a party-line vote of 29-21. In advance of the markup, ACTE and Advance CTE sent this letter to committee leaders outlining positive aspects of the bill and areas where we think more work is needed. 

Today, ACTE released a Spanish-translated version of our “CTE Works!” fact sheet to help CTE supporters inform learners and families in the Spanish-speaking community about recent research on CTE’s benefits.

This resource provides an evidence-based overview of CTE’s impact on student achievement, education and employment outcomes, and the skills gap and economy in the Spanish language.

We encourage you to share this fact sheet with Spanish speakers currently involved or new to CTE as well as those who interact with the Spanish-speaking community, including students and families; educators, counselors and administrators; and federal, state and local education and workforce leaders.

Click here to access the English version of this resource.