The U.S. House of Representatives on May 4 voted to save the Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, a $1.3 billion vo-tech program that President Bush's proposed budget targets for elimination. The 416-9 vote in the Republican-controlled chamber was telling both for the support it shows for the popular program and for the message it sends to the administration.

"It's a clear case of the [Republican-controlled] House telling Bush 'we don't agree with your budget' and it throws into question support for other parts" of the president's budget as well, says Gabriella Gomez, an AFT legislation department senior associate.

The Senate bill reauthorizing the Act, S. 250, passed 99-0 in March. The program provides funds for vocational and technical education in high schools and two-year colleges. Both the House and Senate bills indicate that the program will be funded at least at its current level in the next fiscal year.

Unfortunately, the House bill, HR 366, has a measure that would endanger the Tech-Prep program portion of the program. Currently, the funding is broken down into two categories—$1.2 billion in state education block grants and $105 million for the Tech-Prep program, which supports technical training spread out over four years in high school and college. "With the separate funding stream, we know for sure the money will go to Tech-Prep," says Gomez. If it gets moved into the block grant line, it's a short step to Tech-Prep disappearing altogether.

The House and Senate committees will be working on reconciling differences in the bills in the next two months.  At this time, it is essential for AFT members to call their representatives and insist that the final reauthorization keeps Tech-Prep program funding separate, as it is in the Senate bill. [Barbara McKenna]

May 6, 2005