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WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. House of Representatives this morning voted to renew a vocational and technical education law that prepares high school students for careers and helps adults upgrade their job skills so they can find better-paying, higher-quality jobs. U.S. Representative George Miller (D-CA), who worked on the agreement, praised Congress’ strong support of the bill, which now awaits President Bush’s signature.
“I am pleased that Congress recognized that it is more critical than ever to provide our workforce with the training and education it needs to participate in a global economy and worked to pass this bill on a bipartisan basis,” said Miller, the senior Democrat on the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Last year, President Bush urged Congress to eliminate the law, which was last reauthorized in 1998 as the Carl. D. Perkins Vocational Education Improvement Act and is now called the Career and Technical Education Improvement Act. Miller said that Congress was right to ignore the President’s proposal to eliminate the law.
“President Bush wanted to eliminate this program entirely, which would have cut $1.3 billion from programs that train today’s workers and future workers for high- wage, high-skill careers,” said Miller. “It is outrageous, but not surprising, that the administration once again tried to shortchange students and workers of critical training resources, especially during a time when our global competitiveness depends on developing a skilled and well-educated workforce.
“I am glad that, for once, Republicans in Congress realized that the administration’s callous attempts to destroy these programs were the wrong direction for our country,” said Miller. “The bill passed today will strengthen education and technical career programs and expand the capabilities of our workforce.”
The reauthorized law greatly strengthens career and technical education programs by:
• Supporting connections between secondary and post-secondary career and technical education programs;
• Integrating technical education with academic instruction that is based on high quality standards;
• Improving accountability systems to ensure that programs are successful;
• Allowing programs to use funds to create career plans that help students map out and achieve their career goals; and
• Improving opportunities for women and men to gain access to non-traditional careers.
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