• During the Bush Administration, the White House had consistently targeted separate Career and Technical Education funding for elimination at the federal level.  However; despite this there had been consistent support in both the House and the Senate.
• Under the Obama Administration ACTE is expecting White House support for Perkins (including being hopeful for an increase in funding) and other initiatives that have the potential to support Career and Technical Education (such as the National Service Bill and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act AKA the Stimulus Package).
• The Perkins Act was (finally) reauthorized in July, 2006.  The new Act, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, replaced the 1998 Act (Perkins III) and will be referred to as Perkins IV. 
• Workforce Investment Act is still in the process of reauthorization. According to ACTE "Even though bills have been introduced and hearings have taken place during the past few years (WIA was originally scheduled for reauthorization in 2003), there has not been enough momentum to carry a reauthorized WIA to completion. That may be changing as Congress refocuses on domestic issues and the economy. The House is aiming to finalize a bill by late summer and the Senate by the fall, meaning newly reauthorized legislation could be released before 2010."
• The Welfare Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) - which includes provisions for education was reauthorized in February of 2006.

Details

The Perkins reauthorizations was finally completed during the Summer of 2006. However, the WIA reauthorization process has been going on since 2003!  The Bush Administration had been focusing on its "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) legislation, which should be noted has many critics including the National Education Association.  The most significant complaints of NCLB are that it is an unfunded national mandate and that puts control at the federal level that belongs at the state or even local level of education.  The Bush Administration was also very critical of the Perkins funded programs.  As a result, the administration had proposed (in February 2003) replacing Perkins with a new secondary and technical education state grant and doing away with the Tech Prep State grants.  The administration had backed down from this original position and then proposed their own version of Perkins reauthorization titled "Carl D. Perkins Secondary and Technical Education Excellence Act of 2004."  In the mean time, both the house and senate created their own versions of reauthorization that were approved in committee.  However, neither bill reached the floor for a vote prior to the end of the session in 2004.  They were introduced during the 2005 sessions and both were passed.  A joint conference committee finally worked out the differences between the bills and the final  Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 was passed in the summer of 2006.  As I watched this process unfold from 2003-2006 I was reminded of the old Saturday morning "Schoolhouse Rock" segment "I'm just a bill..." Perkins spent a lot of time "sitting on Capitol Hill"(and WIA is still there)!

Although ACTE is hopeful for an increase in Perkins funding under the new administration, Obama's proposed budget (released May 7, 2009) "level funds" Perkins. A letter campaign was launched by ACTE this spring to show support for an increase in Perkins funding.

Hearings for WIA reauthorization have begun. Four hearing have been held this year as committee address issues related to this legislation. However, on May 8 Obama discussed "rethinking job training programs" and this may have an effect on the WIA reauthorization. ACTE provided the following information in their May 11 legislative update:

On Friday, May 8, President Obama announced plans to "lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education and community college programs" in the coming weeks. The president continued, "It's time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems—we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges." While it is still unclear exactly what the implications of this rethinking might be for CTE, ACTE will continue to work closely with the Obama Administration, especially Dr. Jill Biden, who has been asked to lead a national effort to raise awareness about the Administration’s work for community colleges, during this process.

Representative George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, addressed the delay of WIA reauthorization recently. See http://www.acteonline.org/legupdate_101209.aspx#WIAfor his comments.

It is important here to point out the difference between reauthorization and funding.  Even though Perkins had not been reauthorized - it had continued to be funded through the appropriations process.  Same for WIA.  The TANF bill actually had its authorization extended until 2010 in an appropriations bill.  “Authorizations” and “Appropriations” run on different timetables and Appropriations Committees can continue to allocate funding to programs even in the absence of a new bills. CTE programs around the country received federal funding for the 2005-2006 school year from FY 2006 federal appropriations (in the absence of a reauthorized Perkins).  They also received funding for the 2006-2007 school year from the FY 2007 appropriations bills (despite the Bush Administration continuing to recommend not funding Perkins as a separate funding stream there is strong support for Perkins funding in both houses of Congress).  Technically, Congress has an unlimited amount of time to complete work on the reauthorization, as long as appropriations bills continue to include funding. 
 

When the first Bush administration began proposing changes to Perkins the result was many advocates of CTE coming forward.  You may wish to read the article " Advocates Criticize Bush Vocational Education Proposal" from Education Weekly.   This is optional reading.  Note that advocacy had a positive result - as the final 2006 Perkins Bill showed!

What does all of this mean for you and for CTE?  1)  Your voice can make a difference!  2)  You have a responsibility to stay abreast of the changes.  One of the ways you can do this is by joining your association, ACTE, and receiving their bi-monthly update newsletter.  Below are web page links to ACTE update pages that contain recent information regarding these issues.  BOOKMARK THE PAGES - and revisit on a regular basis to stay current on these topics.  You also have a responsibility to advocate for your programs.  Contact your senators and congressional representative.  Let them know what your program is doing - they need to hear local success stories.  Let them know how federal funds are being used in your program to benefit student success.  You cannot count that someone else will do it.  Everyone needs to educate themselves and then advocate for the support of their programs.  If we all said someone else would do it then no-one would.

The Bush administration created a Web site that gives educators and others a centralized location to weigh in on federal proposals with relative ease. Users can search for, review, and submit comments on federal proposals on issues ranging from school reform to technology integration. Users can express their comments on specific regulations being considered by lawmakers as well as pose questions to specific agencies. Regulations are searchable using a keyword or the agency name. The site also includes a section that explains how comments are solicited, received, and reviewed by the various departments.  http://www.regulations.gov

You do not have to be a member of ACTE to access their "issues and advocacy" pages. 

One of ACTE’s most critical roles is representing the CTE field through advocacy activities, including direct lobbying, media relations and public awareness. This work promotes the value of CTE and the policies that are needed to support CTE practitioners, advance the field and improve student learning, but it has little value if it lacks a strong and consistent grassroots voice. That is why ACTE educates members and the general public about relevant and timely policy issues. We encourage you to use the information on these pages to become an active and engaged advocate for CTE! ( http://www.acteonline.org/issues.aspx)