Advance CTE and the Association for Career Technical Education (ACTE) release the following statement regarding the recent staffing and funding actions for the U.S. Department of Education and their impacts on the Career Technical Education (CTE) community:
ACTE and Advance CTE collectively represent state and local Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders and practitioners. We have always championed robust state and local decision-making about key issues related to CTE programs. In fact, Congress explicitly and intentionally moved more decision making into the hands of state agencies in the most recent reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V).
However, we also appreciate and understand the need for a clear federal role in supporting states, local school districts, and postsecondary institutions as they take on the work of program implementation and ensure every learner can meaningfully benefit from a CTE pathway. The significant layoffs announced at the U.S. Department of Education (ED) yesterday run counter to the need for a balanced federal-state partnership that we believe is essential to ensuring all learners have access to high-quality CTE programs and related opportunities.
Our organizations and the wider CTE community have worked with ED since its inception. CTE’s role as a key component of the educational continuum has been strengthened and supported through collaboration and partnership with ED in the last several decades, particularly as CTE has matured and evolved to meet the needs of today’s learners. ED plays a critical role in supporting both CTE and the broader educational community in which it resides, providing leadership, funding, data and research, and coordination across programs that cannot be easily replaced. This work will be greatly harmed by reducing ED’s workforce by half and diminishing or eliminating the agency.
Recent decisions related to funding and staffing at ED will disrupt state and local efforts to deliver effective CTE programs that work for all learners. We are extremely concerned that staffing cuts at ED are likely to hinder the distribution of Perkins grants, disrupt data collection on CTE participation and outcomes, reduce essential guidance, and jeopardize access for vulnerable learners. These recent actions also appear to essentially eliminate all functions at the Institute of Education Sciences and National Center for Education Statistics, halting critical research and data collection, including the Congressionally-mandated National Evaluation of Career Technical Education Programs (NECTEP), limiting our ability to assess K-12 and postsecondary education quality and direct resources effectively and efficiently.
We struggle to see how these actions support the stated goals of the Administration to improve governmental efficiency and increase student achievement. These are goals we share and support, but the latest actions at ED will diminish their capacity to effectively administer federal funding and hold the public education system accountable through the collection and analysis of student outcomes data.
Education plays a central role in every American’s life, but efforts to eliminate ED send a deeply troubling message about the value our nation places on education. With most current and future careers requiring increasing levels of academic, technical and employability skills, including at least some form of postsecondary education, now is the time to strengthen– rather than undermine– federal support for education, including CTE.
As organizations dedicated to preparing all students for career and lifelong success, we stand ready to work with policymakers to protect and strengthen our public education system. We urge the Administration to reconsider these actions, which do not meet our nation’s needs and will be harmful to millions of CTE students enrolled in middle schools, high schools, area technical centers, and community and technical colleges throughout the country.”
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The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) 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, school counselors, guidance and career development professionals 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 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 state CTE leadership to advance high-quality and equitable CTE policies, programs and pathways that ensure career and college success without limits for each learner.
