By David W. Burns, USCM Intern
August 7, 2006

By a vote of 399 - 1 July 29, the House of Representatives, just prior to adjourning for summer recess, approved the conference report on S. 250, the “Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006.” This clears the bill for the President’s signature.

“Congress recognized that it is more critical than ever to provide our workforce with the training and education it needs to participate in a global economy and worked to pass this bill on a bipartisan basis,” Rep. George Miller (CA) said upon House passage of the bill.

The Perkins Act has traditionally funded vocational educational programs in high schools and community colleges. In an effort to update the program to reflect 21st century employment needs, Congress changed its title from “Vocational and Technical Education” to “Career and Technical Education,” which better reflects the educational programs and training it supports. This renaming was one of the sticking points that held up its reauthorization.

The reauthorized program is seen as essential to supporting the education and training of students who may go on to postsecondary education, not four-year college programs, but community and technical colleges, and other career certification programs.

The other outstanding issue that held up a conference committee session was the administration of Tech Prep program. After lengthy negotiations, this issue was resolved prior to the July 20 conference between the House and Senate meeting. Tech Prep supports partnerships in workforce training between high schools and colleges. At issue was whether Tech Prep remained a free standing program or was to be incorporated into the Perkins state grant program. In the end, Tech Prep remains a separate program, but the states do have some flexibility to combine funding for the program with federal grants to states. The continuing partnerships will face more rigorous academic reporting requirements.

“This bill will help support lifelong learning opportunities for students to gain technical skills and knowledge that will help them find and hold a high skill, high wage job and for others, participation in these programs can mean the difference between jobs with no possibility of advancement and a successful career,” said Senator Mike Enzi (WY), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Other changes in the reauthorized bill include new requirements for measuring academic performance and completion rates of these programs at the local and state levels. It also requires states to obtain input from students, schools, teachers, parents, business, labor groups, and community members to create a six-year plan that links high school with postsecondary training.

The United States Conference of Mayors has always supported these programs as part of the larger strategy to improve workforce training and employment opportunities for students. This legislation provides only about ten percent of the total money devoted to career and technical education nationwide with states and local governments contributing the majority of funding.

The new bill will strengthen technical and career education programs by:

• Supporting connections between secondary and post'secondary career and technical education programs;

• Integrating technical education with academic instruction that is based on high quality standards;

• Improving accountability systems to ensure that programs are successful;

• Allowing programs to use funds to create career plans that help students map out and achieve their career goals; and

• Improving opportunities for women and men to gain access to non-traditional careers.

“This legislation gives an opportunity and expands the horizons for many students who would otherwise not get that chance,” said Rep. Ralph Regula (OH).