Legislation reauthorizing and updating the Perkins Act was introduced in Congress today. The legislation, the Strengthening Career And Technical Education For The 21st Century Act, is similar to an AGC-supported bill that passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly last year but failed to advance in the Senate.

AGC remains hopeful that Congress will finally finish reauthorizing the legislation this year. AGC’s priorities have centered around: aligning education with local and regional economic needs, encouraging and promoting work-based learning, and spurring development and acceptance of industry recognized credentials. AGC has also advocated for an increase in federal funding for the CTE programs and reverse the trend over the last several years of level funding.

The Perkins bill authorizes funding for career and technical education programs, providing more than $1 billion annually to high schools and post-secondary vocational training programs. The bill was last authorized over a decade ago, and it no longer addresses the skills gap in today’s workforce. This new legislation gives greater flexibility to states on how they spend their allotments, improves performance metrics and aligns the programs with other education and workforce training legislation: the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

Similar to other education and workforce training programs, the success of the program rests on how it is ultimately implemented and how well employers collaborate and engage with educators in their local and state communities. Additional information on the bill can be found here.

For more information, contact Jim Young at youngj@agc.org.