On June 25, President Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law. The legislation contains several new education investments designed to support the mental health and wellbeing of students in addition to higher-profile gun safety provisions.

The bill’s education-related funding includes:

• $1 billion for states through ESSA Title IV-A, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program
• $500 million for competitive grants through the School-Based Mental Health Services (SBMHS) Grant Program
• $50 million for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program

Read more about the legislation here.

In addition, President Biden signed into law the Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022, which extends flexibilities for child nutrition programs and provides temporary increases in reimbursement rates for school meals and meals provided at child care centers.

On June 21, the Department of Labor (DOL) in collaboration with the Families and Workers Fund held a summit focused on improving job quality and access to good jobs. Speakers represented federal agencies, Congress, state and local government and the workforce.

To start off the Summit, Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su introduced the DOL and Department of Commerce’s Good Jobs initiative, which aims to improve job quality by engaging employers, strengthening workforce pathways and creating partnerships. As a part of this initiative, the DOL identified eight principles of a good job related to the following topics:

• Recruitment and hiring
• Benefits
• Diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility
• Empowerment and representation
• Job security and working conditions
• Organizational culture
• Pay
• Skills and career advancement

Following Deputy Secretary Su, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh highlighted the importance of workforce pathways; Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg explained how transit employers are using federal grants to provide high-quality workforce training; and Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk shared how the Department of Energy is prioritizing funding for employers that provide evidence of how they’ll create good jobs.

On the local and regional levels, Kathleen Culhane of Nontraditional Employment for Women, a New York City organization that prepares women for skilled trades careers, discussed how her organization partnered with the North America’s Building Trades Unions to offer child care services for women in apprenticeships. Speakers from Portland, Oregon, highlighted the Regional Workforce Equity Agreement, which jurisdictions can sign to hold contractors accountable for creating an equitable and safe work environment for people of color and women. So far, eight jurisdictions have signed on.

Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) served as another keynote speaker at the Summit and discussed the importance of the COMPETES Act, specifically how its passage could create one million additional registered apprenticeships and expand Pell Grants to cover short-term job training. ACTE supports expanding Pell grant access to high-quality short-term education programs as they can help Americans earn credentials and enter the workforce in high-wage, in-demand industries like manufacturing, health care and transportation.

You can view the recording of the summit here and view the Summit’s agenda here.

On Wednesday, June 22, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies released the first draft of its fiscal year (FY) 2023 appropriations bill, which includes funding for the Department of Education and the Department of Labor. While a full, detailed funding table has not yet been released, according to the committee’s initial summary, the legislation proposes a $45 million increase to the Perkins Basic State Grant program – a year-over-year increase equal to what was enacted in FY 2022.  Overall, the bill provides a 15% increase to the Department of Education and a 12% increase to the Department of Labor.  

Encouragingly, this bill provides more funding to the Perkins Basic State Grant program than was requested by the President. However, at a time of record inflation and a growing skills gap in areas such as healthcare and infrastructure, this proposal does not currently provide enough funding to meet the needs of CTE programs and learners. ACTE and Advance CTE have requested that Congress increase Perkins funding by $200M and will continue to work with partners on Capitol Hill to fight for the largest investment possible.  

In addition to Perkins funding, the bill proposes substantial investments across the education spectrum, including:  

Primary & Secondary Education 

• 17% increase for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Title I state grants to local education agencies 
• 123% increase for Teacher Quality Partnership Grants 
• 6% increase for ESSA Title IV-A Student Support and Academic Enrichment state grants 
• 20% increase for magnet school programs 
• $1 billion for grants to increase access to school-based mental health professionals 

Postsecondary Education & Workforce 

• 100% increase for Strengthening Community College Training Grants 
• 8% increase for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Grants 
• 29% increase for Apprenticeship Expansion Grants 
• 5% increase for Adult Education 
• $500 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award 

The subcommittee marked up the bill on Thursday, June 23, advancing it for consideration by the full House Appropriations Committee scheduled for the morning of June 30. We will continue to update you as the bill is updated and inches closer toward passage. If you have any questions, please contact ACTE’s Government Relations Manager, Zach Curtis (zcurtis@acteonline.org).  

Last week in Washington, lawmakers focused on negotiations surrounding gun safety legislation, economic issues, holding additional January 6 committee hearings, approving pending nominations and marking up the first of several Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills. Both chambers will be in town this week following the Juneteenth federal holiday, and we expect that the FY 2023 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill will be marked up by the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations subcommittee on June 23. ACTE is also continuing to monitor the negotiations on America COMPETES/USICA. As we await more action, here is the latest from Washington:

• Secretary of Labor Testifies to House and Senate Committees on FY23 DOL Budget Request: On June 14 and 15, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh testified before the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, respectively, to discuss the Department of Labor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request for the Department of Labor. Both hearings included discussion of registered apprenticeship programs and other workforce development issues. Read more about the hearings here.

• America COMPETES/USICA Update: According to a report from Punchbowl News, the conference committee negotiators for America COMPETES/USICA are still working toward a July 4 deadline to complete the process of resolving differences in the House and Senate versions of the legislation. Several provisions may be cut from the bill to expedite passage of the bill prior to the November midterm elections, making it crucial that ACTE members in several key states weigh in with their Members of Congress to urge them to include ACTE priorities in the bill.

• Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Funding: The Department of Labor has announced $201,798,000 in funding to provide training and employment services through the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers Program in 45 states and Puerto Rico to eligible workers affected adversely by foreign trade.
• Administration Announces Talent Pipeline Challenge: On June 17, the Administration launched a Talent Pipeline Challenge to encourage employers, education and training providers, government leaders, philanthropic organizations, and other stakeholders to make tangible commitments that support equitable workforce development in critical infrastructure sectors.

• White House Issues New Executive Order on LGBTQI+ Equality: In an Executive Order released on June 15, the President directed the Secretary of Education to use his agency’s authority to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) students and promote promising polices and practices to support their safety, well-being and rights. The potential impact on education is described in this Education Week article.

COVID-19 and CTE Perspectives: This March, EdChoice conducted a national survey of high school students and their parents to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has shifted their views on post-high school plans and learning experiences. The following highlight the survey’s CTE-related findings:

• Since the pandemic started, the number of students planning on attending an in-state technical school increased from 3% to 6%.
• More than half of parents and students agreed that learning skills for future employment is the main purpose of high school education.
• Roughly 20% of parents stated that CTE is the most important subject for their child to learn before graduating high school.
• About 40% of students and 64% of parents say that apprenticeships would be useful right now.

K-12 Pandemic Learning: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report that discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted K-12 learning during the 2020-21 school year. Researchers surveyed teachers and parents to uncover the following findings about learning obstacles and strategies to prevent learning loss:

• Virtual and hybrid learning teachers were about 21 percentage points more likely than in-person teacher to state that their students had more difficulty learning than a typical school year.
• Nearly 75% of all teachers had more disengaged students than a typical school year, with high school teachers and virtual teachers experiencing higher levels of disengagement.
• Teachers that used live in-person instruction were significantly more likely to say it improved academic progress for at least half their students than teachers that used live virtual instruction or asynchronous instruction.

Relatedly, the Institute of Education Sciences released new data for the School Pulse Panel, a study that surveys K-12 public schools each month to assess the impact of the pandemic on a variety of topics. Detailed below, the latest survey findings from March and April touched on mental health, staff concerns and updates to school health policies:

• K-12 staffs’ top concerns included getting their students to meet the school year’s academic standards, a shortage of substitute teachers, and students’ social, emotional and mental health.
• About 70% of schools said that the percentage of students seeking mental health services has increased since the start of COVID-19 and 29% of schools reported the same for K-12 staff.
• In April, 30% of schools needed to quarantine one or more students due to COVID-19 exposure, symptoms or a positive test, which is a 64 percentage point decrease since January.

Postsecondary Pandemic Impacts: Recently, the Federal Reserve Bank released its annual Economic Well-being of Households report, which contains survey findings about adults’ financial challenges and opportunities related to employment, education and income. This year’s report included the following findings related to postsecondary education, the workforce and the COVID-19 pandemic:

• While K-12 schools largely returned to in-person instruction, more than 75% of postsecondary students said their classes were partly or completely virtual.
• Technical college and associate degree students prefer virtual education more than bachelor’s degree students, likely due to a greater adult population who may have other responsibilities.
• Around 31% of those with some postsecondary education said the benefits from their education exceeded the cost compared to 46% of associate degree and 67% of bachelor’s degree holders.
• Although the percentage of adults aged 25 to 54 that are not working increased, adults who said they were not working because they couldn’t find work returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Supporting Community College Students: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt students’ academic and personal lives, the Hope Center published a study that demonstrates how community colleges can raise awareness of support services. Throughout the 2020-21 academic year, researchers sent two types of text messages to Dallas College students: one offering information about resources and another offering both information and language to reduce stigma. The information-only texts increased emergency aid applications by five percentage points and outreach to college navigators by one percentage point. In contrast, the texts reducing stigma were successful at empowering students but did not increase support-seeking behaviors.

On June 14 and 15, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh testified before the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, respectively, to discuss the Department of Labor’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 budget request for the Department of Labor. Both hearings included discussion of registered apprenticeship programs. 

Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) discussed the bipartisan signing of Perkins V into law in 2018 and called for updates to the registered apprenticeship system. 

“As you know, apprenticeships can help states fill open jobs, but the 85-year-old registered apprenticeship system needs to be updated to provide employers more flexibility,” said Thompson.  

Sec. Walsh responded that the Department of Labor is seeking to expand the Department’s apprenticeship initiatives to include more industries and is leaning on the Department's advisory board on apprenticeship for recommendations, which includes community colleges, workforce development boards, businesses and labor organizations. 

Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) pointed to employer partnerships with community colleges as critical to training workers to meet local workforce needs. 

“What we have seen here in the Lehigh Valley is that the community colleges can quickly pivot to design programs to meet the needs of employers, manufacturers, and the like, and it happens on a regular basis,” said Wild. “But, of course, community colleges need funding so that they can develop those partnerships that you spoke of.” 

Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) inquired whether the Department of Labor has partnerships with HBCUs or MSIs to recruit and host registered apprenticeship programs. 

Sec. Walsh added, “The budget request that we're asking for here is $303 million for registered apprenticeships. And quite honestly, it's to expand, modernize, and diversify registered apprenticeships by investing in high quality youth and pre-apprenticeship programs, historically Black colleges, community colleges, organizations and community workforce development boards.” 

Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) discussed the Job Corps Scholars Program, which allows Job Corps-eligible youth to enroll in CTE at community colleges to learn in-demand job skills. 

During the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sec. Walsh was asked by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) about ensuring additional agencies can get involved in registered apprenticeships. Walsh mentioned the German pre-apprenticeship model as an effective solution to involve automobile manufacturers in the apprenticeship pipeline and mentioned the Department’s Good Jobs Initiative. 

You can watch the full House committee hearing here and the full Senate committee hearing here.

Last week in Washington, both chambers of Congress were in session and largely focused on negotiating gun safety legislation, security for Supreme Court justices and employees and hearings on the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. However, several CTE-related items did see movement as well, including the confirmation of Dr. Amy Loyd as OCTAE Assistant Secretary and the passage of a bill to support CTE graduates in starting and being hired by small businesses. Both chambers will remain in session this week. Negotiations on the America COMPETES Act/USICA are also continuing. ACTE is closely monitoring them and will provide important updates as they come. In the meantime, here are some news and notes:

• Amy Loyd Confirmed as OCTAE Assistant Secretary: On June 8, the U.S. Senate voted 57-42 to confirm Dr. Amy Loyd as Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Loyd was nominated to this position in August of 2021 by President Biden, after serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary within the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). With the confirmation vote, Dr. Loyd can now officially assume leadership of OCTAE, which oversees the Perkins Act and other federal CTE-related initiatives. Read more about Dr. Loyd’s confirmation here.

• Ask Members of Congress to Support CTE Provisions in the America COMPETES Act/USICA Conference Negotiations: If you reside in Arizona, New York, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Washington or California, your Members of Congress are in a key position to impact the conference negotiations, making it crucial that CTE advocates in these states weigh in now with these Members of Congress as the negotiations move to the final stages. Read more about the advocacy effort here.

• Secretary Cardona Discusses Funding & Career-Connected Learning Strategy: On June 7, Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona gave testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education regarding the fiscal year (FY) 2023 education budget request. In the hearing, Sen. Braun (R-IN) and Sen. Baldwin (D-WI) both inquired about the Department’s plans for CTE, including the need for more emphasis on high school CTE and the historic federal underinvestment in CTE programs. Read more here.

• Secretary Cardona Speech to Support the Teaching Profession: On June 9, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona gave a speech to elevate the teaching profession, in which the secretary mentioned CTE teachers as an area of need. You can watch the full speech here.

• Bill to Support CTE Graduates and Small Businesses Passes House: On June 9, the Supporting Small Business and Career and Technical Education Act, introduced by Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), passed the House by a vote of 399 to 18. This bill directs Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Centers to assist small businesses with hiring graduates from CTE programs. ACTE has endorsed this legislation.

• FY23 Appropriations Update: The House Appropriations Committee’s Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee announced plans to begin the Labor-HHS-Education Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations bill markup on June 23, followed by the full committee markup on June 30. These dates are subject to change according to the committee’s schedule. ACTE will be closely monitoring the markups and will provide important updates and advocacy alerts as needed.