TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce strongly supports the bipartisan “Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act.” The Chamber will consider including votes related to this bill in our annual How They Voted scorecard.
This long-overdue reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Act would help to ensure that America's students acquire the skills necessary to succeed in today’s high-skilled workforce.
The bill would align career and technical education (CTE) programs to the needs of regional, state, and local labor markets; support effective collaboration between employers and secondary and postsecondary institutions; increase student participation in work-based learning; foster industry-recognized and postsecondary credentials; and improve accountability and data transparency to ensure that CTE programs are adequately preparing students for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
With the American economy near full employment, and with more jobs available than there are workers to fill them, the time to reauthorize CTE is now.
Sincerely,
Suzanne P. Clark
Senior Executive Vice President
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
