Senate Passes Portman's Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen Career and Technical Education

Statement

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), co-chair of the Senate CTE Caucus, applauded Senate passage of the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Important components of the bill include better alignment with workforce needs and preserving accountability measures designed by states and localities. This legislation includes the Educating Tomorrow's Workforce Act, legislation Portman crafted with Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) to allow states and localities to use Perkins grant funding to establish CTE-focused academies. The bill encourages schools to incorporate key elements of high-quality CTE programs and promotes partnerships between local businesses, regional industries and other community stakeholders to create work-based learning opportunities for students. The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for its approval.

"When I travel Ohio, employers of all sizes stress the urgent need to bridge the skills gap," said Senator Portman. "Ohioans should have the chance to acquire the training needed for today's jobs, and this legislation ensures that is possible, regardless of economic standing. I'm also pleased that this legislation includes my Educating Tomorrow's Workforce Act, which will improve the quality of CTE programs so kids get a better education using the equipment and the standards of today's industry. This legislation also includes important accountability information for our most vulnerable students on how well CTE programs are performing so we can ensure quality information and access to programs that meet the needs of students and parents. I want to thank my colleagues in the Senate for joining me in supporting this legislation and look forward to swift passage in the House so that we can get this on the president's desk soon."

NOTE: As co-chair of the Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus, Portman has led efforts to close the skills gap and put more Ohioans to work. Earlier this year, Portman introduced the bipartisan CTE Excellence and Equity Act to support re-designing the high school experience to include courses more relevant to the 21st century workforce to better prepare students for future careers. Last year, he led the bipartisan effort to raise the quality of CTE and joined Senator Kaine to introduce the bipartisan JOBS Act to help students access training for the 5.5 million vacant jobs that are unfilled in part because of a shortage of qualified workers. Recently, Portman introduced the Creating Quality Technical Educators Act that will create a teacher residency grant program to help address the CTE teacher shortage in schools.

Source