CTE Programs to Benefit from Build Back Better Act

The House Education and Labor Committee is marking up its portion of the House’s $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill, known as the Build Back Better Act. The Committee’s portion of the bill contains a total of $761 billion in new funding, and in a significant victory, $4 billion for career and technical education (CTE) programs through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V)! 

The bill also includes a significant number of other investments in programs or initiatives that could benefit CTE programs, students and institutions. Relevant components of the bill include: 

• Perkins Basic State Grant/Innovation and Modernization: $3 billion in funding through the Perkins Basic State Grant funding stream, with an additional $1 billion in funding for the existing Innovation and Modernization fund, for a total of $4 billion to be distributed through Perkins V. 

• Tuition-Free Community College: Beginning in financial aid year 2023-24, the bill provides two years of tuition-free community college for eligible students. 
• WIOA Allocations: $16 billion for dislocated worker employment and training; $15 billion for adult worker employment and training activities; $9.05 billion for youth workforce investment activities; $3.6 billion for carrying out ex-offender activities. 
• Registered Apprenticeships, Youth Apprenticeships and Pre-Apprenticeships: $5 billion for grants, cooperative agreements, contracts or other arrangements to create or expand registered apprenticeship programs, youth apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs. 
• Community College and Industry Partnerships Grants: $2 billion for grants to community colleges to expanding workforce development and employment opportunities in high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations. 
• Industry or Sector Partnership Grants: $10 billion for competitive grants to partnerships to expand workforce development and employment opportunities for high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand industry sectors or occupations, including information technology, clean energy, infrastructure and transportation, advanced manufacturing, public health home care and early childhood care and education. 
• Direct Care Workforce: $1.48 billion to award competitive grants to provide competitive wages, benefits, and other supportive services to direct care workers, and for the recruitment, retention and training of direct care workers.
• Adult Basic Education: $3.6 billion to support adult education programs under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. 
• Rebuild America’s Schools Grant Program: $81 billion from FY 2022-24 for grants to state educational agencies (SEAs), with $39.6 billion awarded in each of FYs 2023 and 2024. Funds would be awarded to local educational agencies to create and implement facilities plans to address health, safety, educational equity, enrollment diversity, environmental sustainability and climate resiliency of public school facilities. 
• “Grow Your Own” programs: $197 million to address teacher shortages in high-need subjects and locations and to increase the diversity of the education workforce. 
• Retention and completion grants: $9 billion for retention and completion grants to institutions of higher education. 
• Pell Grants: increase the maximum aid amount by $500 per year through the 2029-30 school year.