The U.S. Senate education committee is planning to consider a bill to renew a long-stalled reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, the biggest source of federal funding for high schools.
And just before the markup was announced, Ivanka Trump, the president鈥檚 eldest daughter and his adviser, let it be known through a White House spokesman that she will be on Capitol Hill urging senators to move on the legislation.
鈥淎dviser to the President, Ivanka Trump, will meet with several Democrat and Republican Senators on Capitol Hill this week to discuss the urgency of reauthorizing the enhanced Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which just passed the House,鈥� said Hogan Gidley, a deputy White House press secretary. 鈥淭he important legislation benefits more than 11 million Americans across the country and is integral to the administration鈥檚 working families and workforce development agenda.鈥�
Quick fact check on that statement: The in 2006. But that happened last summer. The bill didn鈥檛 鈥渏ust鈥� pass. The House also .
And notably, the president鈥檚 first budget request in 2017 sought to cut the CTE program, which represents the biggest source of federal funding for high schools. He sought to cut the $1.1. billion by $168 million. Congress rejected that cut, and Trump didn鈥檛 ask again in his most recent request.
So what鈥檚 in the bipartisan House bill? The House legislation would give states more control over how to spend money obtained through Perkins. And states and districts would get more leeway to tailor CTE programs to the needs of the local economy. It also measures new subgroups of students that match those required in the Every Student Succeeds Act when assessing CTE program performance.
So if the House acted on CTE in a bipartisan way all that time ago, what鈥檚 the hold-up on the Senate side? The biggest stumbling point has been secretarial authority, advocates say. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the top Democrat on the Senate education committee and others in her party, want to make sure the secretary has sufficient muscle to oversee state programs. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee wants to rein in the federal role through prohibitions that sound somewhat similar to the ones on the secretary鈥檚 authority in ESSA.
Democratic and Republican staffers have been trading language for weeks, in the hopes of getting to a bipartisan deal. That鈥檚 still the goal, although lawmakers aren鈥檛 there yet.
鈥淪enator Enzi, R-Wyo., and Senator Casey, D-Pa., have been making good progress, and I hope the bill the committee considers next week is bipartisan,鈥� Alexander said in a statement. Alexander, though, has told Bloomberg News that the bill will be marked up whether Democrats are on board or not.
An advocate expressed skepticism that Alexander would give up on the prohibition issue. 鈥淭his really is his decision whether or not this is workable,鈥� the advocate said. But, she added, that if the Senate committee is able to come to a bipartisan agreement, there鈥檚 an 鈥渆xcellent chance鈥� the legislation will pass this year.
Photo: Ivanka Trump, second from right, speaks with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., right, before President Donald Trump鈥檚 signature of a memorandum expanding access to STEM education. (Alex Brandon/AP)