01-22-18 City Council Agenda Packet

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robust and comprehensive pre -kindergarten through college (P-20) education is the foundation of any thriving community. A high-quality, generalized education is the essential ingredient for 21st -century workplace readiness. Additionally, well-educated, competent citizens are a major draw for bringing high -paying employers to the region. Since the Smith -Hughes Act of 1917 first authorized federal funding for vocational education, the demands of the American workforce and educational system have continually evolved. One hundred years later, the global economic landscape has changed drastically with technological advancements and industry shifts, necessitating equally drastic changes to how the United States prepares its workforce for the job market. First passed in 1984, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act provides federal funds to improve technical education and better prepare Americans for success in the workforce. Since the act's most recent reauthorization in 2006 under President Bush, the labor demands of the American economy have continued to evolve after 10 years of rapid technological advancement. As is the case in Oregon, businesses across the United States struggle to fill vacant technical jobs in the face of shortages of qualified applicants. We urge your support for updating the Carl D. Perkins Act of 2006 to meet the challenges job -seekers face in the modern world. Although it was not signed into law in the last Congress, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act garnered bipartisan support and aimed to: • Simplify the process for local and state governments to receive federal funding, and allow more autonomy for state and local entities in how they allocate funds to Career and Technical Education (CTE) Programs; • Improve the relevance of technical education to in -demand jobs by implementing funds for new learning opportunities, and developing partnerships between employers and educators to better serve the demands of the changing job market; • Increase transparency and accountability by streamlining performance measures to match those in the WIOA and related laws, and by providing more inclusion for local entities in the state funding decision process, and; • Limit federal government involvement in local CTE programs by reducing the authority of the Secretary of Education over state funding, and limiting the government's ability to withhold state funds. Equally important to our communities is the work to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which is now beginning. The new law does away with many "federal mandates" in the areas of assessment, accountability and evaluation. Even so, the Secretary of Education approved the state of Oregon's accountability plan. The state of Oregon will work with local stakeholders and school districts to improve assessments and accountability systems, and will work diligently to identify and fill opportunity gaps. These are steps forward, but it remains unknown whether the new law is better policy. School districts continue to operate on leaner budgets adopted in a tight economy. States are burdened as it is, and although we supported swinging the pendulum away from No Child Left Behind, it remains unclear whether states will have the funding and resources to make their budgets sufficient and implement the new law successfully.