Federal Legislative

September 14, 2009

Harkin Announced as Senate Education Committee Chair
click here for the original article

On September 9, it was announced that Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) would assume leadership of the powerful Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The position became vacant after the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy last month.

In an official statement, Sen. Harkin said:

"I was honored to accept the chairmanship of the Senate HELP Committee. To serve in this capacity is to carry on the legacy of Senator Ted Kennedy, who dedicated his life to ensuring that our economy works for all Americans, guaranteeing every child the opportunity to pursue a quality education and, of course, the cause of his life: access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans."

There had been speculation that the committee chair would go to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who has been leading the committee work on health care, but due to restrictions on the number of committee chairmanships any individual senator can hold, Sen. Dodd elected to stay as chair of the Senate Banking Committee. Upon assuming the chair of the HELP Committee, Sen. Harkin will have to leave his leadership post on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

Sen. Harkin will now have leadership over both the education and workforce development authorizing legislation handled by the HELP Committee, such as the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act, and the funding of all education and workforce programs through his role as chair of the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

In past years, Sen. Harkin has been a key CTE supporter, receiving the ACTE Policymaker of the Year award in 2007. He was active in the 2006 Perkins reauthorization and has been instrumental in restoring proposed cuts to Perkins funding. He will now be in an even more critical position to impact policy affecting CTE.

CTE Policy Watch Blog

Click here to go to the original blog

Glenn Cummings

CTE Discussion: "NOT AN ACCIDENT"

By: Alisha
Yesterday, OVAE Deputy Assistant Secretary Glenn Cummings opened the first Webinar in a series being produced by the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium on CTE programs of study.
Cummings expressed the Administration’s support for the program of study concept and CTE in general. He said it was “not an accident” that President Obama, Vice-President Biden, and Secretary Duncan have all talked positively about CTE and included it in conversations about reforming secondary and postsecondary education. He said it was an important topic to them personally, and that the Administration feels very strongly that CTE is essential to engaging students and providing relevance and to getting students the skills they need to make the country successful. He mentioned work the Department is doing across agencies to develop programs of study in green technologies and health informatics as evidence of its commitment to the effort.
The Webinar went on to feature an overview of the key elements of rigorous programs of study from noted experts such as Corinne Alfeld from AED National Institute for Work and Learning, Steve Klein and Jim Schoelkopf from MPR Associates, and Kim Green from NASDCTEc. Future Webinars will delve more in depth into the topics raised, but once this one is archived on the NASDCTEc Web site, it would make a great intro piece to share with other teachers and administrators.