Secretary DeVos to Testify on FY19 Department of Education Budget

On Tuesday, March 20, the U.S. House of Representatives Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. Eastern Time on the President’s FY19 Budget for the U.S. Department of Education. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is scheduled to testify during the hearing, which will be webcast on the subcommittee’s website.

NAPE gratefully acknowledges Advance CTE for the following summary about the President’s recently released proposals that address CTE.

The Fiscal Year 2019 Budget includes the following:

1. Flat funding for the Perkins Basic State Grant at it FY17 enacted level (Congress has not yet finalized its FY18 spending bills). Find Advance CTE and ACTE’s joint press release on the President’s Budget here. It is also important to note that this budget includes cuts to a number of education programs: 29 are eliminated and 13 are consolidated. In addition, it proposes decreasing the Department of Labor’s allocation by 21 percent (which includes over $1 billion in cuts for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act youth, adult, and dislocated worker state grants).
2. The Administration’s Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins) reauthorization principles (on page 42): “ensuring that CTE programs prepare students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and other high-demand areas; promoting partnerships between schools, businesses, and other community organizations; and expanding access to apprenticeship and other work-based learning.”
3. To accompany the President’s Budget, the U.S. Department of Education releases a more detailed summary, which address Perkins on page 26. While the numbers appear to show an increase for the Perkins Basic State Grant, the amount specified for FY19 actually mirrors the final FY17 amount. The amount listed in the summary does not reflect funding that Congress had restored for the Perkins Basic State Grants that they had initially cut to comply with the budget caps. It is important to note that almost all of the identified ideas for reauthorization are already allowed under current law (and the others would be addressed if the Perkins reauthorization bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017 (H.R.2353) were to become law)) and that these ideas are similar, but not the same as those outlined in the Infrastructure proposal (additional details below).

The Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America, which addresses Workforce Development beginning on page 51.

1. Despite the President’s State of the Union address that called on to Congress to “open great vocational schools” and “invest in workforce development and job training,” and repeated acknowledgment of the need for skilled workers, the proposal does not dedicate any funds to workforce development or CTE.
2. The proposal notes that Perkins “is in dire need of reform,” yet outlines amendments to H.R. 2353 (the House-passed Perkins reauthorization bill) that are already included in the bill or allowed under current law.
3. Expanding eligibility for Pell grants and reforming the Federal Work Study programs are also included in the proposal as a way to address workforce development needs. Both of these items are being considered as Congress works to reauthorize the Higher Education Act. Advance CTE is supportive of the Jumpstart Our Businesses By Supporting Students (JOBS) Act, which includes provisions to address program and credential quality.