House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-Health and Human Services Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) sent a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon calling out the Education Department’s (ED) “illegal efforts to attempt to transfer responsibility over career and technical education (CTE) programs to the Department of Labor (DOL).”
The lawmakers noted that in addition to being illegal, ED’s attempt to transfer administration of grant funding for CTE programs to DOL while maintaining some policy functions at ED would actually create more inefficiency and trouble for everyone who depends on the programs, saying “this likely would mean states, institutions of higher education, and school districts would have to work with two federal agencies in the administration of these programs, leading to delays in agency decision-making and grant administration.”