NAPE
Releases Position Paper on Perkins
On February 26,
NAPE released a Position Paper
regarding the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act,
which is designed to increase the quality of career and technical
education (CTE) and is set to be reauthorized in 2013. NAPE promotes the
ideals of the Act and advocates for closing equity gaps and providing
all students the opportunity to obtain skills and training necessary
for the jobs of today and the future. NAPE believes that the federal
government and states should work together to ensure that local
education agencies provide high-quality CTE programs based on strong
standards that will provide youth and adults with the skill-sets to
be competitive in the 21st century. Read Press Release
Budget
The sequester
will go in to effect on March 1 unless the Administration and
Congress reach an agreement on a deficit reduction plan. The
sequester, i.e., mandated federal cuts, will mean automatic
across-the-board cuts for defense and discretionary funding. The
discretionary cuts will impact the programs of most concern to NAPE's
membership. Discretionary spending cuts will be at a rate 9 percent
for all programs. Visit the White House and
the Center for American
Progress websites for more information on the
sequester and state-by-state analyses of its impact.
On February 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing
to highlight the damaging impacts of the sequester. The chair Barbara
Mikulski (D-MD) requested information from federal agencies on the
impacts of sequestration. Their responses are available on the committee website.
The continuing
resolution (CR), which is currently funding the federal government,
is due to expire on March 27. Discussions about extending the CR
continue to occur. On February 15, Hal Rogers, Chair, House
Appropriations Committee, discussed his plan for extending the CR in
order to avoid a government shutdown on C-Span.
On
February 19, former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former
Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) released a new plan titled A Bipartisan Path
Forward to Securing America's Future, designed to
reduce the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
Adopting the plan will require a great deal of political compromise.
The new plan calls for more cuts to Medicare and Medicaid than the
Administration has supported and recommends more revenues from taxes than
House Republicans have agreed to consider.
At this time, there is still no date for the official release of the
President's FY 2014 budget request.
State of the Union
On February 12, President Obama gave the State of the Union
address, which centered on economic recovery and job creation. The
President incorporated career and technical education into the speech
by discussing the preparation of students for good jobs and the
Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH). P-TECH, in
New York City, works in partnership with New York Public Schools, the
City University of New York and IBM. Students graduate with a high
school diploma and an associate degree in computing or engineering.
President Obama stated, "Four years ago, we started Race to the
Top--a competition that convinced almost every state to develop
smarter curricula and higher standards, all for about 1 percent of
what we spend on education each year. Tonight, I'm announcing a new
challenge to redesign America's high schools so they better equip
graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy. And we'll reward
schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers,
and create classes that focus on science, technology, engineering and
math--the skills today's employers are looking for to fill the jobs
that are there right now and will be there in the future."
In his response
to the State of the Union address, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) discussed
offering student's skills needed in today's job market. See:
Other items of interest to NAPE's membership raising the minimum wage
to $9.00 per hour, ensuring equality for women and underrepresented
minorities, and expanding access to early childhood education.
Obama's blueprint for the economy is outlined here in Business Insider.
Congress
This
month is Career and Technical Education Month. Reps. Jim Langevin
and Glenn Thompson,
co-chairs of the Congressional CTE Caucus, recognized the importance
of CTE on February 13. Representative Langevin noted, "The most
important step I believe we can take this year to support CTE is to
fully reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Act. Currently, the Perkins Act is authorized at a level set in 2010,
which does not reflect the reality of a modern economy." Rep.
Thompson added, "I join with a bipartisan group of my colleagues
in not only recognizing the importance of maintaining these federal
investments for our country's future but also saying thank you to the
countless men and women who make these programs possible."
On February 14,
Reps. John Tierney, George Miller, and Ruben Hinojosa reintroduced the
Workforce Reinvestment Act (HR798). According to CAAL,
the bill is substantially the same as last year's WIA HR4227, which
has support from national adult education and workforce skills
development leaders. On February 22, 2013, the Education and
the Workforce Committee Republicans, led by Higher Education and
Workforce Training Subcommittee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC),
released Supporting Knowledge
and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act. Rep.
Foxx will chair a hearing on Tuesday, February 26, at 10 a.m. Senate
intentions are not yet known.
Reps. Polis and DeLauro are planning to reintroduce H.R.
4830, the Women WIN
Nontraditional Jobs Act. The Act was originally
introduced by Barbara Mikulski in 2011 and was designed to provide
women with a pathway to higher paying job fields in which they are
currently underrepresented. "Women are a crucial part of our
country's workforce, but many are overrepresented on the bottom rung
of the pay ladder," Senator Mikulski said. "The Women WIN
Jobs Act will help us grow and diversify our innovation economy by
recruiting and training hard-working women for industries where they
make up less than a quarter of the workforce. Putting women on the
path to economic success helps families and businesses succeed by
building the highly skilled workforce of tomorrow."
Political Office Changes
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) announced that he will not seek re-election in
2014. He recently served as chairman of both the Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee and the Appropriations subcommittee that
handles Health and Human Services funding. Click here for a full list
of Harkin's Senate
committee assignments.
On February 5, Subra Suresh, Director of the National
Science Foundation since October 2010, announced his
resignation effective the end of March. Suresh has
accepted a position as President of Carnegie Mellon University on
July 1.
NAPE Meetings
On February 20,
Mimi Lufkin and Yolanda Comedy met with Thomas Showalter, Senate
Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to discuss the
Carl D. Perkins Act. There is no set timeframe for the
reauthorization.
On January 29, Yolanda Comedy attended the NDD Town Hall at the
National Education Association (NEA). The Town Hall featured
Congressman Steven LaTourette,
President and CEO, Main Street Partnership; Sharon Parrott,
Vice President for Budget Policy and Economic Opportunity, Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities; and Ellen Nissenbaum,
Senior Vice President for Government Affairs. Following the town
hall, on February 8, NEA President Dennis Van Roekel sent a letter
to President Obama.
The National Alliance
for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) is a national,
nonprofit consortium of state and local agencies, corporations, and
national organizations that collaborate to create equitable and
diverse classrooms and workplaces where there are no barriers to
opportunities. Through its Education Foundation, NAPE has been
involved in a number of initiatives to increase diversity in
America's workforce and to increase opportunities in high-skill,
high-wage, high-demand careers. Among these is the National Science
Foundation-funded STEM Equity Pipeline
Project, which works with educational systems to increase the
participation of underrepresented populations in STEM education.
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