Date: 2006-07-27
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also thank her for all of her work on this legislation. along with Chairman- BOEHNER and Chairman McKEON and Chairman Castle. And. of course. with the diligent work of our staffs on both sides of the aisle. I think we have crafted a measure that maintains the integrity of the program while responding to the changes in the career and the technical education programs across the country. While the President has chosen to put forward a proposal to dismantle this critical program. we saw an opportunity to make high school matter for many young people. offer college students pathways into productive employment. and new hope for displaced homemakers and workers reentering the workforce. The conference report before us signals that we will not retreat on our investment in career education and training. The global economy demands a high skilled workforce. and the Perkins Act. has been instrumental in building todays workforce and the workforce of the future. Today. these programs are changing in the face of secondary and postsecondary education. and they equip Americas workforce with the skills they need to compete in a global economy. More important. career tech programs acknowledge that we must be preparing students and adults for high wage. high skill jobs that exist in this new economy. To do this. however. we need a system that is challenging and academically sound and a system expands the secondary and postsecondary programs. offering students a pathway toward those kinds of careers. I am pleased that the conference agreement mirrors the recommendations we have heard. that we must pay more attention to math and science and technology to increase our competitiveness. We also know that this is what the high paying jobs require. with these advanced skills. The conference agreement continues the TechPrep program. TechPrep has been a model of career and technical education with demonstrated outcomes. In California. students. teachers. and administrators benefit from the connections made between secondary and postsecondary programs. and career and technical programs. Successful TechPrep programs offer a challenging and rigorous coursework at the high school level that is coordinated with postsecondary career technical programs. And TechPrep students obtain better paying jobs because they have the academic and technical credentials that businesses want for their workforce. We made important strides in the area of professional development. This conference agreement strengthens the instructional connection between academic and career technical programs. We heard from numerous teachers that successful career tech programs allow academic and vocational teachers to develop curriculums together to teach together so that students can apply the academic content to the real world context. This conference agreement contains new measures of accountability for career and technical education systems. I do not doubt that some programs may have difficulties in meeting this new system. However. there have been too many programs that have chosen the status quo. to the detriment of our workforce competitiveness. Successful career and technical education programs produce students that outperform their counterparts and make higher wages. We must demand that all programs work toward this same goal. The accountability systems move us in that direction. I want to point out two other areas where the conference agreement improves upon the House passed bill: Graduation and career plans. Under the agreement. local programs may use Perkins funds to create graduation and career plans for students. These plans can be tools for students and parents to help focus the student on the students future goals. making sure that the actions that we take will lead to the outcome they desire. And. also. the special populations and nontraditional careers. The conference agreement also strengthens the provisions. and the gentlewoman from California has been a hawk on these issues for her entire career on this committee. and that is to improve the opportunities for women and men to gain access to nontraditional careers. and ensures that displaced homemakers and individuals with disabilities have access to career and technical education. In this global economy. we cant afford to waste the potential of any of our people. and these provisions will help ensure that that doesnt happen. Mr. Chairman. the Perkins Act is a critical workforce development tool. and the bill before us represents a sound career and technical education policy. I want to thank our staff again for their efforts in bringing this conference agreement together. and I look forward to a quick passage of this conference report. And I also want to comment that this continues a long tradition in this committee where we have been able to work on a bipartisan basis on the most critical education issues confronting this. country. both in the development of high performing students and professional individuals and high performing career opportunities for those individuals. and I want to thank all of my colleagues for their efforts on this legislation and urge a passage of this conference report.