Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL) today questioned the Biden-Harris Department of Education’s (ED) attempt to circumvent Congress and mire key career and technical education (CTE) programs in red tape. The two called on ED to withdraw its ill-advised changes to the State Plan Guide and Consolidated Annual Report for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins V).
 
In a letter to Secretary Miguel Cardona, Foxx and Bean raised significant concerns about revisions by ED that will place major burdens on state education and related agencies, school districts, and postsecondary institutions that implement CTE programs.
 
In the letter, the lawmakers write: “The proposed revisions to the Department of Education’s (Department) State Plan Guide and Consolidated Annual Report for the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins V) are problematic and we write to express our significant concerns with the Department’s action. These proposed revisions make substantive policy changes that exceed the Department’s authority under the law and will pose a significant and unjustified burden on state career and technical education (CTE) agencies, institutions of higher education, school districts, and CTE programs.”
 
The letter continues: “Employers across the country are facing a shortage of skilled workers and now more than ever need robust CTE programs to prepare students for successful careers…In the 2018 bipartisan reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, Congress included multiple reforms intended to enhance state and local control over CTE programs and limit the role of the federal government…Many of the proposed changes to the information collection requests blatantly exceed what is required of states under Perkins V and will insert the Department in activities and decisions that Congress deliberately left to the states.”
 
The letter also highlights the attempts by the executive branch to undercut Congress’s role in creating laws: “And 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. If the Department believes changes to the law are warranted to improve the administration of Perkins V, such changes should be communicated to Congress and considered during the legislative process.”
 
The letter concludes by urging ED to withdraw the proposed revisions. It can be read in full here.