Silver Spring, MD – September 13, 2016 – Today, Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) applauded the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of H.R. 5587, the “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.” This comprehensive legislation would reauthorize and make important updates to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins). The bill received wide bipartisan support and was overwhelmingly passed by the chamber in a 405-5 vote following unanimous approval by the House Education and the Workforce Committee earlier this summer.
The following statement can be jointly attributed to LeAnn Wilson, ACTE Executive Director, and Kimberly Green, Advance CTE Executive Director:
“The passage of H.R. 5587 is an important step toward reauthorizing the primary federal legislative investment in Career Technical Education (CTE). The bill would afford states and local secondary and postsecondary recipients the flexibility to build upon their existing efforts to deliver high-quality CTE programs while also promoting innovation and program alignment, all within a framework of streamlined administrative requirements and a more intentional focus on local needs. The legislation will ultimately help fuel the talent pipeline and prepare workers for the high-skill, high-wage, high-demand careers of the 21st century.
“While the bill represents a major step forward for CTE across the nation, we do have a remaining concern related to the bill’s proposed definition for a secondary CTE concentrator. As currently structured, the definition would result in inaccurate measurements of CTE’s impact and influence on student success. We look forward to working with congressional leaders to resolve this important concern as the process moves forward.
“Nevertheless, we applaud this bipartisan effort to reauthorize Perkins, which will help ensure that our nation’s 11 million CTE students are prepared for lifelong education and career success. With this strong showing of support from the House, we urge the Senate to build upon this momentum by reauthorizing Perkins before the end of the year.”
Media Contacts:
Katie Fitzgerald, Advance CTE
301-588-9630; kfitzgerald@careertech.org
Jarrod Nagurka, ACTE
703-683-9312; jnagurka@acteonline.org
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The Association for Career and Technical Education is the nation’s largest not-for-profit association committed to the advancement of education that prepares youth and adults for successful careers. ACTE represents the community of CTE professionals, including educators, administrators, researchers, guidance counselors and others at all levels of education. ACTE is committed to excellence in providing advocacy, public awareness and access to resources, professional development and leadership opportunities.
Advance CTE: State Leaders Connecting Learning to Work is the longest-standing national non-profit that represents State Directors and state leaders responsible for secondary, postsecondary and adult Career Technical Education (CTE) across all 50 states and U.S. territories. Established in 1920, Advance CTE supports visionary state leadership, cultivates best practices and speaks with a collective voice on national policy to promote academic and technical excellence that ensures a career-ready workforce.
