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On August 4, National Skills Coalition joined with almost 50 members of the Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce submitted a letter to Senate appropriators urging them to pass a Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) bill that includes adequate investments in job training and adult education as you work to complete the FY 2018 appropriations process.
Despite the growing demands for skills, the President proposed draconian cuts to vital workforce and education programs in his FY 2018 Presidential Budget Request. The House did not fully accept these proposals, but the Labor-HHS bill approved by the full House Appropriations Committee would still cut hundreds of millions of dollars from funding for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Pell Grants for low-income and working students, apprenticeship strategies, the Senior Community Service Employment Program, and other key investments in our economic competitiveness.
These cuts couldn’t come at a worse time for our economy. Ongoing state and local implementation of WIOA, as well as the upcoming reauthorizations of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and the Higher Education Act, provide unprecedented opportunities to develop the skills of America’s workers through access to effective workforce education and training. Realizing this potential, however, requires sustained funding. And the proposed cuts in both the President’s budget request and the House Labor-HHS bill would come on time of historic disinvestments: since 2001 WIOA state training grants have been cut by 39%, CTE grants to states have been cut by 34%, and Adult Education funding has been cut by 22% when adjusted for inflation.
CIAW urged the committee to reject cuts to education and workforce programs, and instead mark up a Labor-HHS appropriations bill that will restore investments in our nation’s workers.
The organizations below, almost 50 members of CIAW, signed on to the letter.
Advance CTE
American Association of Community Colleges
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
American Federation of Teachers
Association for Career and Technical Education
Arapahoe/Douglas COLORADO Workforce Development Board
Association of Community College Trustees
Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
California Workforce Association
Coalition on Adult Basic Education
Corporation for a Skilled Workforce
Council for Adult and Experiential Learning
Easterseals
Goodwill Industries International, Inc.
Heartland Alliance
Indiana Workforce Board Association
Jobs for the Future
Maryland Workforce Association
Michigan Works! Association
Minnesota Workforce Council Association
National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity
National Association of Counties
National Association of Development Organizations
National Association of Regional Councils
National Association of State Workforce Agencies
National Associations of Workforce Boards
National Association of Workforce Development Professionals
National College Transition Network at World Education, Inc.
National Council of State Directors of Adult Education
National Job Corps Association
National Youth Employment Coalition
Network of Jewish Human Services
New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals
North Carolina Association of Workforce Development Boards
Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board
Oregon Workforce Partnership
Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association
Rocky Mountain Workforce Development Association
Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
The Corps Network
The National Council for Workforce Education
Texas Association of Workforce Boards
Washington Workforce Association
Workforce Data Quality Campaign
Workforce Southwest Washington
Young Invincibles
YouthBuild USA
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