GOP leaders on the House Education and the Workforce Committee want the U.S. Education Department to withdraw its proposed changes to Perkins V state plan guides, which they argue would unnecessarily burden career and technical education (CTE) programs, state agencies, school districts and higher education institutions.
In an October 15 letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, committee chair Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) and Aaron Bean (R-Florida), who leads the committee’s K-12 panel, said the department appears to be exceeding its authority with some of the proposed changes.
“While Perkins V deliberately removed the Department from the setting of performance levels and placed this responsibility solely in the purview of the States, the proposed revisions to the State Plan Guide are a blatant attempt to re-insert the Department in the process by requiring states to justify the performance level for each indicator to the Department,” the letter says.
The lawmakers wrote that instead of pursuing changes, the department should focus on monitoring, providing technical assistance and collecting data through the law’s national survey to ensure participating organizations are in compliance.
They added, “If the Department believes changes to the law are warranted to improve administration of Perkins V, such changes should be communicated to Congress and considered during the legislative process.”
The changes to state plan requirements and related annual data collections aim to standardize how states and local Perkins V recipients collect and report information related to CTE student performance. CTE advocates say the revisions would require states to submit new or substantially amended four-year Perkins V plans by 2026. Several states recently completed their four-year plans.
Public comments on the proposed changes are due November 12.
