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CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION MONTH
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize February as Career and Technical Education Month. Each year, this month highlights the benefits of a skills-based education and the valuable contributions that CTE students make to the American workforce.
A one-size-fits-all approach to education is not an effective way to prepare students for the workforce. We are doing students a great disservice when we only promote what is considered a traditional college experience.
My appreciation for CTE came at an early age. My father, after leaving the Navy, went through a CTE program, which led him to a job as a tool and die maker. Eventually, he decided to start his own business, which became quite successful.
As co-chair of the Career and Technical Education Caucus, and a senior member of the Committee on Education and Labor, I have also supported, and will continue to support, CTE programs that provide learners of all ages with career-ready skills.
From agriculture to the arts, from marketing to manufacturing, CTE programs work to develop America's most valuable resource, its people.
CTE has established itself as a path that many high-achieving students choose in pursuit of industry certification and hands-on skills that they can use right out of school, in skill-based education programs, or in college.
Congress recognized the importance of CTE when we passed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which helps close the skills gap by modernizing the Federal investment in CTE programs and connecting educators with industry stakeholders. This bill was later signed into law by President Trump in 2018.
While this is a major milestone, there is still more work to be done. That is why I am supporting additional pieces of legislation on the horizon to keep updating and promoting workforce development throughout our Nation. These include:
The Skills Renewals Act, which creates a flexible skills training credit in the amount of $4,000 per person that may be applied to cover the cost of a wide range of training programs that build skills expected to be in high demand by employers in the coming months.
There is also the Skills Investment Act, which enhances the Coverdell education savings accounts--tax-advantaged savings accounts for educational expenses--so American workers can use the accounts to pay for their skills-based learning, career training, and workforce development.
And lastly, the Cybersecurity Skills Integration Act, which creates a
$10 million pilot program within the Department of Education to award competitive grants to education-employer partnerships for the development and implementation, and/or expansion of postsecondary CTE programs that integrate cybersecurity education into curricula preparing students for careers in critical infrastructure sectors.
COVID-19 has demonstrated the need for CTE. Many of those who have been deemed as life-essential employees are those who have made their way to those jobs through the Career and Technical Education pathway. It gives people from all walks of life an opportunity to succeed and restores rungs on the ladder of opportunity.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to encourage my colleagues to join my co-chair and I, Mr. Langevin, on the bipartisan Career and Technical Education Caucus, to help us equip individuals of all ages with the skills necessary to fill jobs now and in the future.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 35
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