[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 101 (Thursday, July 27, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8371-S8372]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CARL PERKINS CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2006

  Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise today to support final passage of 
S. 250, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement 
Act. This legislation represents a bipartisan effort to enhance and 
strengthen career and technical education programs across the United 
States.
  In my home State of Nevada, career and technical education programs 
enjoy strong support. Recently, career and technical educators from 
across the State came together to come up with common course standards 
for students that focus on certain career and technical education 
programs. Nevada also has a Career and Technical Education Plan that 
links these course standards with the academic requirements of the No 
Child Left Behind Act.
  I have always supported the Perkins Career and Technical Education 
Program because I believe that these programs often catch students that 
slip through the cracks in traditional education programs. Career and 
technical education programs provide students with real world 
applications for what they are learning in the classroom. Students in 
Nevada have the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art technology in 
their classrooms to learn the skills they need in the workforce. Too 
often these are students that would have dropped out of school had 
career and technical education courses not been available.
  During the conference committee on this important legislation, I was 
honored to work with my colleagues to strengthen this legislation. We 
worked to ensure that career and technical education programs have 
strong performance indicators that are linked to meet industry 
standards as well as academic achievement. The tech-prep grant program 
was maintained as a separate program to encourage continued innovation 
in career and technical education programs. This legislation also 
encourages states to develop articulation agreements and sequences of 
courses, something Nevada has already worked hard to develop. Finally, 
this legislation recognizes the importance of strong partnerships 
between high schools and institutions of higher education that support 
these programs.
  During the conference I worked hard to ensure that funding for the 
Perkins programs continued to flow to fast-growing States. It is 
vitally important that funding follow students to their new homes. To 
that end, we maintained the current hold harmless level at the 1998 
level. This allows millions of dollars to move from State to State 
according to student population counts. As a Senator for one of the 
fastest growing States in the country, it is my duty to ensure that 
each of the children in Nevada, whether they were born in Nevada or 
just recently moved there, are accounted for when Federal funds are 
allocated to States.
  I am pleased that all of my colleagues supported final passage, and 
look forward to working with career and technical educators in Nevada 
to implement this important law.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to applaud the passage of 
the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 
2006. Perkins, the Federal Government's largest investment in our 
Nation's high schools, provides critical resources for students 
pursuing career and technical education at the secondary and 
postsecondary levels. Although the President has proposed eliminating 
the program in recent budget requests, Perkins has enjoyed a long 
history of bipartisan support. More than 11 million students are 
currently enrolled in some form of career and technical education and I 
am confident this reauthorization will improve the programs and 
services available to help them realize their goals.
  I am particularly heartened by this bill's heightened focus on 
individualized student counseling and the use of graduation and career 
plans. For too many students, high school graduation and postsecondary 
education seem out of reach. That is why I have introduced my Pathways 
for All Students to Succeed, PASS, Act. The PASS Act provides 
assistance for schools to hire and train mathematics and literacy 
coaches; supports the collection and reporting of accurate graduation 
rates; and targets funding for struggling schools to implement reforms. 
It also dedicates resources to increase the number of academic 
counselors working in schools. Research has shown that providing early 
high school students with guidance boosts the likelihood that they will 
graduate with a diploma. Early, individualized planning also helps 
students obtain the coursework and training they need to achieve their 
professional aspirations. I applaud the increased focus on 
individualized student counseling and planning in Perkins, which will 
reach career and technical education students earlier in their 
schooling and put them on a track to graduate.
  This Perkins reauthorization retains and strengthens the Tech Prep 
program, which encourages states to design and implement innovative 
programs that combine secondary and postsecondary activities into a 
coherent set of courses. In my home State of Washington, it is 
estimated that workforce training at community and technical colleges 
increases a student's lifetime earnings by more than $150,000.

[[Page S8372]]

Federal Perkins dollars, matched by States and localities, are 
precisely the kind of government investment that pays off over a 
lifetime and I salute the continuation of these important programs.
  In addition, I am heartened by several of the major changes we made 
to update the bill. We strengthened the emphasis on assisting students 
in preparing for high skill, high wage or high demand occupations, 
ensuring that we provide our students with skills they need to remain 
competitive in today's global marketplace. We promoted partnerships 
among high schools, community colleges, local workforce investment 
boards, business and industry, with the twin goals of providing 
students with pathways toward skilled occupations and producing the 
trained workers that employers need. We promoted professional 
development opportunities for career and technical education teachers, 
counselors, and administrators, so that those leading our classrooms 
and schools remain on the cutting edge of ever-changing workplaces and 
economy.
  I commend this bill for bolstering the reporting requirements for 
Perkins programs, extending this level of transparency to the local 
level and requiring disaggregation for important population subgroups, 
including individuals with disabilities; students from economically 
disadvantaged families, including foster children; people preparing for 
nontraditional training and employment; and single parents, including 
single pregnant women. I am pleased that States now are required to 
report on student rates of attainment of diplomas and GEDs, as well as 
annual graduation rates. Valid and reliable data serves both an 
accountability and diagnostic function, and I am pleased to see that 
this reauthorization requires states to collect and publicize this 
information.
  I would like to thank Senator Kennedy, Chairman Enzi, Chairman 
McKeon, and Congressman Miller for their leadership on this bill. I 
also want to thank Carmel Martin, Jane Oates, J.D. LaRock, Beth 
Buehlmann, Scott Fleming, Whitney Rhoades, and Denise Forte for their 
hard work. The time and effort dedicated by members and staff is 
evident in the quality of the final product and I am pleased to support 
the reauthorization of the act.

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