Legislative Alert! House Slashes CTE Funding

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee released an appropriations bill, H.R. 1., for the 2011 fiscal year.  The legislation completely eliminates funding for the Perkins Tech Prep program for the 2011-2012 school year, an 8 percent reduction in overall Perkins funds, and makes drastic cuts across other education and workforce development programs. This bill is separate from the president's budget proposal, released today for the following year, FY 2012, which suggests even deeper cuts to Perkins.


This cut will be felt in all states, regardless of whether your state has consolidated Tech Prep funding with Basic State Grants. In short, this bill slashes funding across many education and labor programs and poses the most serious threat to our funding in years! It is extremely important that you notify as many advocates as possible - FCCLA members and advisers, ACTE members, CTSO advisers, business leaders and anyone else who will contact their Member of Congress to oppose this bill. In addition to the elimination of Tech Prep and the other cuts included in the legislation, we expect an open rule on the House floor as the bill is debated. This means that other amendments are expected to be offered with additional cuts to non-defense discretionary programs. Basic State grants, labor programs and any other discretionary program used by CTE are at risk. 

Act now and call your legislator! Visithttp://www.acteonline.org/legalert_020711.aspx#more for more information, and resources.