The budget proposes $300 million for a High School Redesign initiative. It would support a new competition funding district partnerships with postsecondary institutions as well as business, industry, non-profits or community based organizations to redesign high schools. Redesigned high schools will ensure that students graduate from high school with college credit and career-related experience, putting them on a path to career and college success. Special consideration would be given to partnerships that focus on areas with limited access to quality career and college opportunities, such as high poverty and rural districts, as well as to partnerships with employers
OVAE’s Programs
For specific budget information related to OVAE’s programs, visit here. In the coming days, both OVAE Connection and the OVAE blog will post further analyses of the budget proposed for OVAE.
The career, technical, and adult education programs the Department’s budget funds are intended to further the efforts of states and communities to improve their CTE programs and their adult education and literacy systems. The overall objective of these programs is to develop the academic, career, and technical skills of students in high schools, community colleges, adult education programs, and correctional institutions by (1) helping states to develop challenging standards; (2) promoting the integration of academic, career, and technical instruction; and (3) supporting state and local program improvements. Adult education programs support local efforts to provide educational services to adults who lack the basic or English literacy skills needed for them to benefit fully from job training, obtain better jobs, complete secondary education, succeed in postsecondary education, and become full participants in their children’s education. The career and technical education programs are authorized by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. The 2014 budget request would support their implementation under a reauthorized Perkins Act as outlined in the proposal the Department published in April 2012, Investing in America’s Future: A Blueprint for Transforming Career and Technical Education. Adult education programs would be included in the pending Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization.
The administration has requested a total of $1.8 billion for OVAE, as follows,
$1.123 billion for Career and Technical Education State Grants
$17.8 million for Career and Technical Education National Programs
$595.0 million for Adult Education State Grants
$14.3 million for Adult Education National Leadership Activities
The request for the Career and Technical Education (CTE) State Grants program would support the first year of activity under a reauthorized Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act that would seek to ensure that all CTE programs become viable and rigorous pathways to postsecondary and career success. The administration’s reauthorization proposal would increase the alignment between CTE and labor market needs; strengthen collaboration among secondary and postsecondary CTE programs, and business and industry; create a better accountability system; and provide competitive funding modeled after the Investing in Innovation (i3) program to promote innovation and reform in CTE. The request for CTE State Grants includes up to $100 million to fund competitive grants under a CTE innovation fund, including $10 million for “Pay-for-Success” projects. The proposal would also support the Department’s secondary school agenda and the president’s 2020 college completion goal.
The request for Career and Technical Education National Programs would support implementation of a reauthorized Perkins Act through research, evaluation, data collection, technical assistance, and other national leadership activities aimed at improving the quality and effectiveness of career and technical education. The request includes $10 million, along with up to $32 million that the Department is requesting in the Higher Education account. This would create a $42 million fund to help establish or expand dual-enrollment programs for high school and adult students that target local workforce needs.
The $509.9 million request for Adult Education State Grantswould support the Department’s ongoing efforts to assist adults in becoming literate and in obtaining the knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency. It would also assist adults who are parents in obtaining the educational skills necessary to become full partners in the educational development of their children, and assist adults in the completion of a secondary education. The Adult Education State Grants request also includes continuation of a set-aside of $74.7 million for English Literacy/Civics Education State Grants to support the unmet needs of immigrants learning English. The program helps states and communities provide limited English proficient adults with expanded access to high-quality English literacy programs linked to civics education. In addition, up to $10.4 million is proposed for incentive grants.
The request for Adult Education National Leadership Activities would continue to support programs intended to increase the literacy and workforce skills of our nation’s native-born adult population, as well as meet the ongoing need to address the English language acquisition, literacy, and workforce skills gaps of the immigrant population. The $3 million increase proposed for 2014 would support the expansion of the Department’s reentry education model demonstration initiative for the country’s formerly incarcerated citizens. This will help develop evidence of effectiveness in a variety of institutional contexts and build on the Department’s recent Promoting Reentry Success through Continuity of Educational Opportunities competition.
The total 2014 budget request for OVAE comes to $1.75 billion, some $12 million more than the 2012 budget request.
In addition to the OVAE-specific accounts, the Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE) includes a proposed $10 million for a cross-agency Disconnected Youth Initiative to strengthen services to individuals ages 14-24 who are neither employed nor enrolled in an educational institution or who are at high risk of dropping out of school. The initiative is slated to receive additional support from the Department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and from the Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovation Fund. The funds would be used to support Performance Partnership pilots that would provide states and localities with flexibility in administering federal youth-serving programs in return for greater accountability for results, as well as “Pay for Success” projects and evaluations. Some of the Department’s funds would be used to expand understanding of effective program models in helping disconnected youths achieve positive goals.
The FIE budget also proposes $5 million for a Youth Data Pilot that would enhance communities’ tracking of and performance on multiple outcomes for at-risk youths using existing data sets. This initiative would support communities that seek to gain a comprehensive picture of the progress of their youths toward healthy, productive lives. It would provide them the means for looking across multiple data sources at a variety of outcomes, such as high school attendance and graduation rates, postsecondary enrollment and credentials, employment, incarceration rates, birth outcomes, and shelter stays.
Remeber to check out the OVAE blog for up-to-date information about events, OVAE presentations, highlights from visits to the field, and more.
