Efforts for Perkins Paying Off – Still Work to Do

Alert received from National ACTE

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have released their allocations for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. Due to the advocacy efforts of ACTE and the entire CTE field, Perkins funding has been maintained in both bills! This is a great victory for the CTE community. However, level-funding for Perkins is not “in the bag.” Negotiations on how to complete work on the appropriations bills are still taking place and we have to remind Congress how crucial Perkins funds are to our students, communities and businesses.

While it is fantastic that Perkins funds have been maintained, it is important to note that a number of other programs that connect closely to CTE were reduced in either the House or Senate bills. For example, the House bill dramatically cuts Workforce Investment Act programs. Significantly reducing or eliminating these funds will impact the number of students and workers that have access to job training and CTE programming.

TAKE ACTION:

Continue to reach out to your representative or senators and encourage their support for CTE programs. Use student success stories, businesses and data to demonstrate how essential CTE programs are for the community and the workforce.

• If one of your senators or representative is on the Appropriations Committee, thank him or her for maintaining funds for Perkins and encourage him or her to support funding for workforce and education programs, including the Workforce Investment Act.
• If your senator(s) or representative is not on the Appropriations Committee, please reach out to them and encourage their support of Perkins and other education and workforce programs, like those under WIA.

Be sure to get your business partners involved as well. ACTE is circulating a business sign-on letter; please see this alert for additional information and ask businesses to sign the letter.

For tips on how to effectively advocate, please visit ACTE’s Action Center. On this site you can find tips on how to contact your legislator, how to host a site visit and how to contact the media. All of these activities are crucial to gaining congressional support. Thank you for all of your work!

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the ACTE Public Policy Department.