A House hearing on Wednesday focused on high school career and technical education (CTE) programs included discussions about dual enrollment and innovations around “degree apprenticeships” that include community colleges.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-California), chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education, started the hearing by highlighting how CTE can help bridge the skills gap and support further education, noting CTE programs that connect to dual enrollment. He said more than 40 states allow students to take dual-enrollment courses at technical or community colleges.
“This can lead to associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees and industry-recognized credentials,” Kiley said.
Rep. John Mannion (D-New York) asked the witnesses, comprising CTE advocates and teachers, about the most effective models of apprenticeships at high schools and community colleges, especially ones that serve fast-growing industries.
Braden Goetz, a senior policy advisor at the think tank New America, who served 26 years at the Education Department until late last year, noted Surry Community College in rural North Carolina, which has created a CTE dual-enrollment program in healthcare. Upon graduation, students receive a nursing assistant credential and then enroll at the college in a registered apprenticeship program that is combined with a nursing degree program.
Because the state waives tuition for apprenticeships, students earn an associate degree while they get paid for their work in apprenticeships, Goetz said.
“It’s an outstanding program, and we need more of them,” he said.
Goetz continued that, given the strong bipartisan support now for CTE, the time is right to increase Perkins funding. In his written testimony, Goetz called for ramping up federal investment in Perkins by $1 billion over four years. With an annual appropriation of $2.4 billion, more school districts and community colleges would have the equipment and resources needed to stay current with employers’ needs and provide counseling and wraparound services to students. The funding increase would be particularly important to rural schools, he said.
Targeting ED’s plans
Democrats on the subcommittee focused most of their attention during the hearing on the Trump administration’s plan announced this week to move the management of a chunk of programs from the Education Department to other agencies, including the Department of Labor (DOL). While the administration contends the move will streamline programs and give states more authority, Democrats argued it would only add red tape and confusion.
Subcommittee Ranking Member Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) pointed to the administration’s shift earlier this year of CTE and adult education programs from ED to DOL. She said DOL is not equipped to handle the programs and that the move violates federal law, such as the Perkins Act. Plus states and localities must now navigate through two different agencies — ED would still oversee the programs — with delays in grant decisions and awards being reported during the transition.
“It’s pretty chaotic,” she said.
Bonamici continued that CTE programs are more than just job training programs.
“Under the Department of Education, the programs were aligned with academic standards, focused on academic success and embedded into the education ecosystem at the state and local level. The Department of Labor’s job training programs, by contrast, are often short-term, disconnected from education systems and focused on immediate employment, rather than sustained learning,” she said.
She added: “This shift risks turning CTE into the type of narrow vocational training that we worked for decades to move away from.”
