▶ 0:17:49Chair Mullin: Good morning. The senate health committee on education the american family will come to order. Before we get started I would like to let everyone know we are out back and forth. The hearing will probably last about an hour and a half. It is a busy day. We are glad you're are here.
▶ 0:18:17Chair Mullin: Our witnesses and hopefully we can shed light on an important topic. Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today. It is always nice to see a couple of my fellow alabamans. Mr. cox and Mr. stadtlander, thank you for coming. We called the hearing to discuss something important happening in every state, red or blue, it makes no difference, it hits everybody.
▶ 0:18:45Chair Mullin: To see what works in addressing workforce development needs in our country we need more emphasis on this. There is a skills gap epidemic in our country right now and it is time to find solutions. President trump made a bold and much-needed declaration to close skills gaps in this country through historic investments in america's re-industrialization and economic growth.
▶ 0:19:15Chair Mullin: The goal to have one million new active apprentices in this country and to grow opportunities in career and technical education. Fortunately the one big beautiful bill included the passage of workforce bill which will allow students to follow different career paths they did not have prior.
▶ 0:19:37Chair Mullin: We can celebrate the wins our country and state is having due to big manufacturers and industrialization moving back to the U.S., but it does not matter if we don't have the workforce to fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs created by this. Too many people are more comfortable sitting at home than learning a skill in being part of america's labor workforce. We are here to discuss how we can make that happen.
▶ 0:20:07Chair Mullin: It starts with investing and empowering technical education as early as possible. One of the biggest hurdles is teaching our kids and their parents that you do not have to go to a four year university to have a successful career.
▶ 0:20:23Chair Mullin: Opting into classes to learn a skill or being part of an apprenticeship in high school are options every school should have at k-12 level and it should start, early not when students are about to graduate. Our witnesses are well-equipped to discuss these issues and the look forward to hearing from them. I yield now to my ranking member, senator rochester, for her opening statement.
▶ 0:20:51Sen. Rochester: , thank you chair tuberville for holding this important hearing in thank you to our witnesses today. America's workforce is the glue that holds our economy together. Our global leadership and national security and even our health are all tied to the strength of our workforce. From biotech professionals to construction workers to nurses. Without prepared workers, our national goals cannot become a reality. It is not just about today.
▶ 0:21:23Sen. Rochester: We also need to foster the workforce of the future. Right now there are scientists and engineers in head start classes who will be charged with changing the world. We have young people in apprenticeships who will build and maintain the infrastructure their children will rely on, not to mention the future health care professionals taking their very first science classes and developing a passion for helping others.
▶ 0:21:50Sen. Rochester: We need to prepare young people for the critical roles that keep our economy moving. As you said we need to start young. Yet persistent and growing workforce shortages remain one of the top headlines of the day. From forbes, the health care workforce shortages growing. States are rushing to fix it. From bay news in florida, U.S. agriculture industry faces labor shortage of 155,000 employees.
▶ 0:22:21Sen. Rochester: We can't forget there are unmet needs in nearly every emerging I/o tech role. A critical industry for national security. If building a robust and skilled workforce is our goal, we need to invest in career and technical education and strong national workforce development programs. I'm sure we will hear more from our witnesses about the incredible work states are doing withcte.
▶ 0:22:51Sen. Rochester: My home state of delaware has built one of the most successful pathways programs in the country that enrolls nearly 70% of high school students, more than 80% of middle school students and graduates 98% of its participants on time.
▶ 0:23:10Sen. Rochester: I hope we will also hear constructive feedback from witnesses about where we are missing the mark and how congress can help support pathways that are meaningful, integrated and well-rounded academic instruction to prepare all students with skills that will set them up for success. I want to emphasize as well that career and technical education is just that, education.
▶ 0:23:39Sen. Rochester: Congress intentionally designed cte to align with the broader k-12 academic standards with the understanding that these students also needi have to sayt the administration is not recognizing the value of cte as part of an integrated academic instruction.
▶ 0:24:04Sen. Rochester: In july they announced an interagency agreement transferring the administration of cte programs from the department of education to the department of labor. That is a unilateral move and illegal that undermines congress and creates confusion and inefficiency at the state level so let me be clear, greater alignment of workforce and education programs is needed.
▶ 0:24:34Sen. Rochester: I say this is a former secretary of labor. I love labor, I love the department of labor, but I know firsthand the power of partnership in this space. But greater alignment to promote better outcomes is really a focus.
▶ 0:24:53Sen. Rochester: Rather than shut down the department of education entirely , and getting out of the picture entirely, what we should be doing is deepening our investment in cte and supporting state programs that lead the young people toward meaningful high-quality careers.
▶ 0:25:14Sen. Rochester: In a moment where ai and advanced technologies are transforming our economy, we must ensure students have awareness and guidance on what jobs are out there, what jobs are coming, and have the skills and academic foundations they need to unlock their full potential. Thank you again Mr. chairman for this important and timely hearing. Thank you to our witnesses and I yield back.
▶ 0:25:38Chair Tuberville: Thank you, senator. We will start with opening statements. Our first witness is Dr. chris cox, he serves the alabama community college system as director chancellor of development, proven leader with three decades of k-12 experience and has served as a president of the shelton community college, interim president of community colleges throughout the state.
▶ 0:26:08Chair Tuberville: Former principal and assistant principal and started out as a teacher and coach at a high school in midland city. He has been at the forefront of career and technical education through his work at accas. Your opening statement? Thank you for being here.
▶ 0:26:28Dr. Cox: Thank you, senator tuberville and drinking member rochester. It is a privilege to be here today to talk about as both of you said what is so important in our country and I will speak to the state of alabama and things we are doing that I think are very innovative in making great change in the state of alabama.
▶ 0:26:52Dr. Cox: The alabama community college system, we have 24 colleges with 24 presidents around the state. We serve 160,000 students every year. Over the course of the last eight years we have been somewhat of an anomaly where we are growing year-over-year over the last eight years. We are proud of the work of all of our colleges.
▶ 0:27:20Dr. Cox: One thing about the alabama community college system, we have changed over time. We are pretty agile. I was speaking with industry this morning. If we don't prepare schools or skilled workers we are not doing our jobs and it puts us out of business so we have to be agile, and I think we have done that pretty well. It is not just about academics, it is about training and economics.
▶ 0:27:52Dr. Cox: I want to give a few examples in a minute that I think are really important that show the great work happening across the state of alabama. We believe we cannot have people sitting on the sidelines. We need everybody engaged in the workforce. Part of what we are doing is, we are putting the word out to every citizen in alabama that they are college material. What does that look like?
▶ 0:28:20Dr. Cox: We believe that looks like anywhere from two weeks of training at the college or two years of training which we think are important. I want to talk quickly about a few of those programs that might consist of two-week training compared to an associate degree training. Surprisingly, in our state, because of workforce, whether it be manufacturing, health care, cdl programs, such as that, pose logistics as a major problem in alabama for truck drivers.
▶ 0:28:52Dr. Cox: If we can get a student trained in as few as two weeks and get them a good livable wage job which I think is very important. A couple programs I would like to mention that I think are important. We have a program called the alabama technology network that works within our system. This can be for new or expanding industry in alabama. Uniquely qualified when those industries are coming in as technology changes, equipments change, robotics comes in.
▶ 0:29:23Dr. Cox: Our atn leaders can go into the industry and train employees on how to use the new programs so if it is new equipment, new technology, simple things also like polity control, safety, also leadership training. We have a unique program, one of the only in the nation, called skills for success.
▶ 0:29:48Dr. Cox: This was put together, we worked with an organization that represents small business in alabama and told us, there is no training for small business. A major problem in alabama is in my time on the gulf coast, there was a shortage of employees to wait tables, to work in restaurants, hospitality, hotels because of the gulf coast.
▶ 0:30:14Dr. Cox: We got with them and put together five subject matter experts around the state and built training program that lasted about two weeks to get people trained to go in the industry. We then can advertise to get people into the programs and place them into work. Those jobs, some of them were not livable wage, but it was on a pathway. That is what we are here to talk about. We got them off the couch and put them into a pathway where they could go into management.
▶ 0:30:45Dr. Cox: We can train them and more of our programs. I think that is huge. Also, apprenticeships in alabama . We have done great things with it, whether in the manufacturing world. We manufacture automobiles to rockets in huntsville to ships and submarines in mobile. Apprenticeships have been a huge part of what we do.
▶ 0:31:10Dr. Cox: Some of them being registered, others not, but it is a work based learning model which we think is very important to the state of alabama. We are making sure that when a student goes through a program, it is not the start -- it is just a start, not the finish. Whether it is a two week program or to your program in industrial maintenance, one they can grow in, mercedes-benz or whatever industry they are training for.
▶ 0:31:40Dr. Cox: Last thing I will mention, I'm running short on time and don't want to go over much. I think coach mentioned in his opening statement enrollment. I think senator rochester also mentioned that. We have increased enrollment I believe 230% increase over the past few years. We have rural alabama schools which I think is important. Almost half of their students are graduating from high school with an associates degree.
▶ 0:32:12Dr. Cox: Not quite as new as other states, however, we are making progress, getting better. We are proud of that work. I think also I will mention rural alabama. Health care is a major problem. We have hospitals that closed down. Getting employees is a major problem. One of the things we have done is, we went into rural alabama, opened new campuses on hospital sites.
▶ 0:32:40Dr. Cox: In bibb county, alabama we worked with the hospital in administration to there to open an lvn program on site. We had to go through accreditation, it was a lot of work, but now that hospital is able to train people in their community, the small rural hospital and they are becoming nurses. They don't have to travel 30 miles when they have children, transportation issues.
▶ 0:33:07Dr. Cox: And that is just one example of how we are taking the training to the people of alabama, even in rural alabama, which I think is a huge problem all over the country. I go back to the agility which I think -- us, we have to pride ourselves on being great at what we do. I have said this time and again, we are getting better each day.
▶ 0:33:36Dr. Cox: We still have a long ways to go because there are people still not in the workforce. We are not going to quit until it happens. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today on the topic. It is not only important to the alabama community college system, but it is face -- setting future prosperity for future generations.
▶ 0:33:59Dr. Cox: We stand ready to partner with this committee and congress to ensure community colleges across the nation receive support necessary to continue driving economic competitiveness and strengthening of the american workforce. Thank you for the opportunity to be here.
▶ 0:34:16Chair Tuberville: Thank you. Our next witness is Ms. chelle travis, exec of director of skillsusa, the nation's largest career and technical student association focused on the U.S. having a skilled workforce across the board. Of all the skill pathways they also have nearly 400,000 teachers and students involved in cte. Ms. travis has over 25 years experience in career technical education.
▶ 0:34:45Chair Tuberville: She leads a staff of 40 that oversees a federation of more than 50 states and territorial usa associations. She was a former senior director of workforce and economic development at the tennessee higher education commission. Her passion came from her mother, who was a cte educator for 40 years. Thank you for being here. You can begin your opening statement.
▶ 0:35:09Ms. Travis: Thank you for that wonderful remarks. Chairman tuberville, senator rochester and members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to discuss the vital role organizations like mine have in preparing america's next generation of skilled talent. My name is chelle travis, and I serve as executive director of skillsusa. The nation's largest career and technical student association insuring the U.S.
▶ 0:35:38Ms. Travis: Has a skilled workforce across the full spectrum of the skilled trade pathways. As emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, automation, cybersecurity and new energy systems reshape our shared economy, coupled with the existing workforce needs and other sectors like manufacturing, construction and health care, the need for a strong, reliable skilled workforce has never been more urgent. Today's workforce challenges are not simply economic.
▶ 0:36:07Ms. Travis: They are a national security issue. With millions of unskilled positions, and america investing less than -- less in technical education than any other industrialized nation we face a short-term crisis and a long-term threat. To maintain global competitiveness, we must complement not compete with each other.
▶ 0:36:36Ms. Travis: Skillsusa's mission is to empower students to become professionals, career ready leaders and responsible community members. We serve more than 444,000 students in all 50 states, territories and D.C. supporting middle schools, high schools and college post secondary classrooms and more than 130 occupational areas. One of our most powerful strategies in our system, the competitions.
▶ 0:37:05Ms. Travis: These operate at the local, state, national and international levels, giving students opportunities to demonstrate their abilities under real-world conditions. The skillsusa championships are the largest showcase of talent in america with more than 6800 state champions competing in 115 events all developed and judged by industry.
▶ 0:37:32Ms. Travis: Ctso's are where classroom learning transforms into worker readiness. Students don't just learn skills, they apply them, compete with them and prove they can deliver under pressure. Central to why we are here today, ctso's are fundamentally different from other afterschool or extracurricular clubs and related activities.
▶ 0:37:52Ms. Travis: They are designed to be integral to cte instruction aligning with cte programs and allowing learners to purchase a bait and reinforce content learned in the classroom and in the workplace yet only 17% of the nations 12 million cte students participate with ctsos.
▶ 0:38:14Ms. Travis: Scaling access is one of the highest impact and most cost-effective ways to strengthen our workforce pipeline and a study of more than 20,000 cte students shows skillsusa members outperform nonparticipants across eight key dimensions that set them up for career success. These findings hold true across gender, race and socioeconomic status.
▶ 0:38:40Ms. Travis: A strong signal that expanding ctso access is a powerful strategy for student success. Victoria ingram is a skillsusa virginia student and our national college post secondary parliamentarian. There her engineering program in leadership experiences, she has developed planning, organizational and collaborative leadership skills that now guide her national service.
▶ 0:39:07Ms. Travis: Her father met ingram, a veteran cte instructor and longtime skillsusa advisor, is joining her today. He spent two decades preparing students for meaningful careers. Her story is one of thousands but represents the power of what happens when policy, programming and partnerships come together to support america's future workforce. It is rare to find something that students, educators and fortune 500 companies can all agree on.
▶ 0:39:38Ms. Travis: Skillsusa is that rare thing. Ctso's like ours deliver exactly what we need, students were ready to work, businesses that can compete, and communities that benefit from stable, rewarding career pathways. Put simply, expanding ctso access must be a core component to the nation's wider workforce development strategy.
▶ 0:40:07Ms. Travis: As this subcommittee considers how to strengthen america's workforce efforts, I respectfully offer several recommendations which are also expanded within my written testimony. Strengthen the federal investment in career and technical education, expand infrastructure supporting youth work-based learning opportunities, reauthorize the national apprenticeship act, and grow the pipeline for skilled cte instructors because without them, there will be no pipeline of skilled workers.
▶ 0:40:40Ms. Travis: At --skillsusa is in good hands because it is in skilled hands. With strengthen federal support and policy improvements we can ensure students have access to pathways they need to build successful careers and support our nation's economic and national security. Remember at skillsusa, the future is in good hands because it is in skilled hands.
▶ 0:41:08Ms. Travis: I want to thank you for your time and answer any questions you may have and look forward to the conversation today.
▶ 0:41:15Chair Tuberville: Thank you. Our next witness is Mr. joel stadtlander, director of human resources at arcelormittal calvert. One of the most advancedsteel manufacturing facilities in the world and a major staffer of alabama.
▶ 0:41:36Chair Tuberville: He has a years of leadership in human resources and is role includes workforce develop partnerships and strategies for a workforce of nearly 2000 employees at the culvert si -- calvert site. Their commitment to workforce development is what makes them a valuable piece of alabama's economy.
▶ 0:41:58Chair Tuberville: Joel is committed to ensuring young people see a future in high skilled good paying careers and we thank you for being here today. Your opening statement, please.
▶ 0:42:08Mr. Stadtlander: Thank you, Mr. chairman and members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today on workforce development and partnerships that are strengthening alabama's manufacturing talent pipeline. Arcelormittal is the leading steel company with 126,000 employees, including more than 3000 in the U.S.
▶ 0:42:34Mr. Stadtlander: We are a leader in major steel markets like construction, household appliances and packaging. I come today from south alabama at our facility called arcelormittal calvert, which is recognized as one of the most advanced skill finishing's facilities in the world --steel finishing facilities in the world. There are coal mills, galvanizing lines in supporting and for structure.
▶ 0:43:00Mr. Stadtlander: Our facility meets increasing automotive demand for steel needed to produce lighter weight and more fuel efficient and safer vehicles. We started construction of a new electrical steel facility in calvert to create opportunities and demands for a skilled workforce. This is suspected to create up to 1300 jobs in the construction phase and as many as 200 permanent positions to support the plant's ongoing operations.
▶ 0:43:32Mr. Stadtlander: As a human resources leader in mobile, alabama area, we are in a competitive market. Employers draw from the same limited pool of skilled workers. Whether shipbuilding, aerospace, construction, chemical plants or manufacturing, we are all expanding at the same time. There are too few new qualified workers with the right skills so we often end up hiring from one another.
▶ 0:44:02Mr. Stadtlander: Applicants come to us with enthusiasm and good foundation but often lacks skills such as math, troubleshooting abilities and electrical knowledge. These are essential skills for success in modern manufacturing. We are proud to lead in workforce development efforts in strong partnerships with schools, community colleges, universities as well as other private and public groups.
▶ 0:44:28Mr. Stadtlander: We offer an apprenticeship program where students are in an associates degree while gaining hands-on experience in advanced manufacturing. Similarly we work with coastal community college to support a registered apprenticeship in industrial maintenance and electrical instrumentation. We also offer scholarship so students can graduate debt free. Our commitment extends beyond those entering the workforce.
▶ 0:44:55Mr. Stadtlander: We have community programs to educate and inspire kids hoping to see opportunities they might not have imagined before. Workforce development does start early and we support initiatives and outreach not just in high schools but across the middle and elementary to prepare future talent and create awareness of good jobs in manufacturing. As a steel industry leader we are working to change the perception regarding the trades. Steelmaking is innovative, technologically advanced.
▶ 0:45:25Mr. Stadtlander: We are creating good paying careers that offer stability, growth and benefits, that allow individuals to build a future for themselves and their families. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:45:36Chair Tuberville: Thank you drinking member?
▶ 0:45:40Sen. Rochester: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I'm pleased to introduce Mr. luke rhine, vice president for post secondary success at rodel, a delaware based nonprofit strengthening delaware's public education system and workforce. Luke has worn many hats in the cte space.
▶ 0:46:04Sen. Rochester: At the federal level he served as the acting assistant secretary for the office of career technical and adult education at the U.S. department of education. He also has extensive state-level experience, including in delaware where he was the director of cte and stem initiatives and later the associate secretary of workforce support, and helped create the delaware pathways initiative, a national model for cte excellence.
▶ 0:46:33Sen. Rochester: Luke is also well respected across the continuum from educators to employers to community members. I'm honored to have him here. Thank you for being with us and sharing your testimony. I turn it over to you for your testimony.
▶ 0:46:50Mr. Rhine: Good afternoon, chairman tuberville, ranking member braun chester. Is that better? The red light is on, is that better? It is an honor to be here today. I will talk about the importance of federal and state leadership in advancing workforce development.
▶ 0:47:17Mr. Rhine: Our country continues to confront a troubling paradox, employers across every major sector are hiring yet cannot find enough qualified workers. This is frustrating because americans have the talent to succeed, yet many lack the skills and increasingly the combination of skill and work experience required in today's labor market. High-quality career and technical education is how we solve this challenge. In an era defined by rapid technological change, cte is not optional, it is essential.
▶ 0:47:47Mr. Rhine: By integrating technical skills, rigorous academics and real-world work experience, cte helps students build competencies employers expect. Congress recognize this in its 2006 reauthorization of the perkins act and reinforced it in its 2018 reauthorization.
▶ 0:48:07Mr. Rhine: Congress affirmed a simple but powerful principal, students learn best when academic instruction, technical training and authentic work experience are integrated into a pathway that connects education into good job. We are seeing states lead the way. Delaware's career and technical education system is nationally recognized as a model for how states can build education to workforce pipelines, operating one of the largest career explanation models of the high school level.
▶ 0:48:35Mr. Rhine: They have positioned cte as the core driver of its postsecondary and career readiness efforts. The state's youth apprenticeship initiative aligns cte to register to print a ship. The state also supports students and families through key postsecondary transitions and offers an of the nation's most comprehensive post secondary promise programs. These accomplishments are the result of bipartisan support for career and technical education at the federal, state and local levels.
▶ 0:49:05Mr. Rhine: Delaware leveraged perkins because it created new opportunities for the state to build coherent, high-quality pathways. Delaware's progress would not of been possible without consistent federal leadership. Stable federal leadership allow states to align funding, go across partnerships and integrate perkins as congress intended, to position states to lead and deliver durable results for students, families and employers. That is why the recent federal certainty is so concerning.
▶ 0:49:35Mr. Rhine: Earlier this year, the administration signed an agreement transferring the administration of perkins from the department of education to the department of labor. This raises legal, operational and strategic concerns and the administration has now done the same with various educational programs, citing the success [indiscernible] cte is fundamentally an education program anchoring k-12 and post secondary education informed by research and
▶ 0:50:06Mr. Rhine: Supported by bipartisan leadership. Moving perkins todol cte cte threatens the alignment between and the educational title programs it is designed to connect with. I believe the intent behind the interagency agreement is to dismantle the U.S. department of education and not to improve alignment between education and workforce systems. Major federal shifts require public input, transparency and a basic estimate of the administrative fiscal burden states, institutions and taxpayers will bear.
▶ 0:50:38Mr. Rhine: These procedures exist to ensure the federal government does not misalign existing systems or add costs to the communities we are trying to serve. It is my understanding none of these steps occurred in this transition. Based on the operations and staffing outlined, there is reason to believe this transition may increase federal administrative costs. Without a transparent fiscal estimate, congress and the public cannot determine if this saves money, cost more creates a duplicate of structures across agencies.
▶ 0:51:09Mr. Rhine: The goal of better aligning education and workforce is the right one. To accomplish that congress should reaffirm cte is an integral part of our public education system and ensure the administration of perkins remains within the U.S. department of education. That commitment will create bipartisan gains of the last two decades and ensure cte continues to deliver opportunity for students and a competitive workforce for our nation. I appreciate the time.
▶ 0:51:36Chair Tuberville: Thank you, very good opening statement. I think we would all agree, we have a lot of pressing problems in our country but workforce is something that if we don't address it in the next year or so, we won't be able to build a residential home or a commercial building. It won't happen, because we don't have the skilled labor. We will start with questions. I want to yield my opening time.
▶ 0:52:07Chair Tuberville: >> thank you, Mr. chairman. Reiterating your point, we have the situation with an aging population, low birth rates, and a broken immigration system.
▶ 0:52:25Chair Tuberville: You combine those together and the idea that we will make more things in america, which will require more people and in an emerging technology like ai will be integrated, so your point is well made about the crisis situation we are in. I come to this job as a U.S.
▶ 0:52:49Chair Tuberville: Senator from serving as lieutenant governor of ohio where I was for the past six years, oversaw workforce development efforts in our state. I have been involved in these issues for a long time. That is why I was glad that in the budget reconciliation bill that we added workforce pell, so we are taking the pell grants and putting them toward short-term credentials because employers are hiring skills, not degrees.
▶ 0:53:20Chair Tuberville: That is very important. What I learned in that time, who is your customer is always a good thing to think about when deciding how to fund something. Is it the student, the employer, or the provider? The more that we pay for completion and less for participation, the better off we will be. I'm a big fan of giving more federal funds to the states because this is where it happens.
▶ 0:53:51Chair Tuberville: It is hard to deliver a one-size-fits-all system from the federal level. I will talk with Mr. stadtlander . Did I say your name correctly? You are a customer of the system meaning, you are the ones purchasing the skills of the people in alabama, and you are with a company that has places all around the world.
▶ 0:54:22Chair Tuberville: So, where do you get, what programs work best, what services work best? When you say, this is what works for us, what is your perspective as an employer on who delivers the best product?
▶ 0:54:41Mr. Stadtlander: Thank you, senator, for the question. All of these workforce development products are engaged with and have significant impact. It is hard to say what works best. One program we work with the most that colleges in the alabaa two-year college program.
▶ 0:55:07Mr. Stadtlander: We have an apprenticeship that is registered with the coastal community college, and we have a work learn model apprenticeship with bishop state community college. Both of these programs graduate ready to work technicians that are skilled on day one of graduation because they have that model of working real time with applied knowledge in the facilities, as well as getting the education.
▶ 0:55:35Sen. Husted: So you want to have -- when you hire somebody, you would like them to have some work experience, to have a work experience where they are learning and earning at the same time and that is the best outcome for you?
▶ 0:55:53Mr. Stadtlander: Yes, that works well. Dual enrollments, printer ships are successful.
▶ 0:56:00Sen. Husted: Which can happen at k-12 career center, through committee colleges. Typically not at a four-year institution, though, right? We have some co-ops, some internships, but that is not the model.
▶ 0:56:14Mr. Stadtlander: Correct.
▶ 0:56:16Sen. Husted: One of the programs we put together when I was in the administration as lieutenant governor something called tech credit. How this worked was, you had the employer pick the individual. The current employee or future employee.
▶ 0:56:38Sen. Husted: They identified the credential they wanted them to earn, they enrolled them with the provider they thought would do the best, once that was completed the state of ohio would reimburse them for the cost of that credential. Essentially in our state we created a program where everybody, every adult in our state, could get free job training but paid for completion not participation, and that led to so much more of an efficient outcome.
▶ 0:57:10Sen. Husted: I share that with you because your company has used its in our state. I know we have had hundreds of thousands of individuals that have now used it and tens of thousands of employers and it works very well.
▶ 0:57:29Sen. Husted: I would conclude by saying my experience with workforce is, the closer you have the employer connected to the individual, where you see the clear pathway between the job training you're doing, the education you're getting, and the end game of an employer, a job, an employer who will hire you, the stronger these models work. I appreciate you having a hearing today and getting us all to talk about it.
▶ 0:57:57Sen. Husted: In conclusion, every state has a different economic situation, different jobs, different culture. It is regional and we have to empower the state and local folks to have these resources to do with the way they want.
▶ 0:58:15Chair Tuberville: Thank you, senator kaine.
▶ 0:58:19Sen. Kaine: Thank you for holding this hearing. I appreciate it and all the witnesses. Ms. travis, your ground is in tennessee. I know you are now operating in virginia and all over the country but from a virginia base. I have been a mayor and governor and very focused on career and technical education, involved in efforts to restructure and simplify a system that sometimes is too complicated to use dollars the best way possible.
▶ 0:58:49Sen. Kaine: I don't mind reform efforts but I don't want chaos. If you are going to do reform, do it carefully and thought it -- thoughtfully, not chaotically. I worry the administration is pursuing, I will call them reforms, but in a chaotic way. I think they made a pledge to destroy the department of education so they have to do things chaotically to achieve that. Ctecte we shared how that affects.
▶ 0:59:15Sen. Kaine: On may 21, officials within the department of ed and labor acted unilaterally and in secret to transfer key career and technical education functions away from the department of education to the department of labor and you can imagine you could have the two secretaries talk to the committee and say we thought about this and this would be better to operate these functions in the department of labor and here's a plan for a way to do that transition.
▶ 0:59:43Sen. Kaine: A decision was made unilaterally and in secret to do the transfer. The trump administration did not formally announce this until july 15 about six weeks later after the decision was made. They did get tipped off because there were court cases where it came out in court documents that this was being done.
▶ 1:00:05Sen. Kaine: Since then this transfer has led to significant chaos for states and districts, learning to comply with new policies, learning to even become aware of what the policies are. In september, grantees were abruptly informed that they had six hours to draw down federal funds for the remaining fiscal year, and no clear timeline was given to them for when remaining funds would be available.
▶ 1:00:36Sen. Kaine: States were informed that payments would be transferred to a new software system. Of course there was a host of administer eta issues that left states unable or less able to set up their new accounts successfully. For whatever reason, virginia's school districts are still waiting on their federal perkins loans due to them in the beginning of the fiscal year in october.
▶ 1:01:01Sen. Kaine: The administration is celebrating this as a successful implementation, saying 43 states are now on boarded to the latest administrative payment system, but just saying someone is on boarded to a new payment system is not a measure of whether this is successful. I want to ask Mr.
▶ 1:01:18Sen. Kaine: Rhine, how does the federal government's abrupt and often unclear guidance and changes affected the ability for programs to be run successfully for students to succeed?
▶ 1:01:33Mr. Rhine: Absolutely. From the state perspective there are two clear things they rely on the federal government from, granted administration should and data collection reports. As you noted grant administration has not been as effective as in years past. Many states do not have access to their july or october allocations as they were.
▶ 1:01:59Mr. Rhine: Many were able to resolve those issues and others are still waiting the same concerns will apply next month to data collection. Next month states are required to submit their consolidated report under perkins. To my knowledge states have yet to receive guidance on how the data will be collected or which agency they should be submitted to. Ed and dol manage granted administration and data collection differently.
▶ 1:02:26Mr. Rhine: If states are to be expected next month to submit data under dol's format it will require extensive work over the next month to ensure the file formats and data architecture reflect dol's required materials. These delays and uncertainties make it harder for states to plan and the lack of ability to plan requires additional staff time so essentially in dealing with federal bureaucracy and inability to project what should
▶ 1:02:57Mr. Rhine: Be routine payments as well as routine data collection, states will need to adjust and account for their staff and apply staffing differently.
▶ 1:03:05Sen. Kaine: One more question if it is ok, to underline the point. You said in your testimony you think this should stay with the department of education. I'm a little agnostic on that. If there is a better way, I'm open to it, but how about justifying that it should go to dol and having a transition plan so it is not just up-to-the-minute and states are left without money?
▶ 1:03:30Sen. Kaine: You could have done this in a way that was careful, rather than just dismantling it. My second question is about something senator tuberville and many of us worked for. Finally pell grants can be accessed for high-quality career and technical education. It seems like such a basic idea.
▶ 1:03:49Sen. Kaine: I cosponsored legislation to do that since I got here, it was included in the reconciliation bill, but that will be implemented, and regulations need to be written by the department of education for this to happen, at the same time we are dismantling the department of education, dramatically reducing staffing at the department of education. Many staffers were lost, some have returned.
▶ 1:04:22Sen. Kaine: How can this wonderful advance, pell grant for high-quality cte, be effectively implemented by a department that has pledged to eliminate itself?
▶ 1:04:32Mr. Rhine: I think it will be very difficult. Workforce pell needs sit integrate with existing cte and degree programs as well as state registration systems. Clear guard rails, expectations and accountability will help states implement effectively and ensure these programs align and taxpayer dollars are well spent.
▶ 1:04:53Sen. Kaine: Thank you, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:04:56Chair Tuberville: Thank you, senator kaine. I worked for years in higher educational programs. I don't think there is any doubt that, if we are going to make workforce development work, it has to start into your universities, also.
▶ 1:05:12Dr. Cox: Yes, sir. I absolutely believe starting with us. A couple things I would like to mention. Every student in alabama, we want the opportunity to get a quality education. If they are wanting to be a doctor or lawyer, whatever it may be, they can get it in their community, at a price that is reasonable for them.
▶ 1:05:37Dr. Cox: Going back to the workforce, we are very supportive of the workforce pell opportunities in getting people to work, being able to use skills and training to articulate into career technical education programs. It is very important. As I said earlier, our agile and working -- it goes back to the senator's point of working with industry. Our job is to know what the industry needs.
▶ 1:06:06Dr. Cox: We have to be agile, change what we do. That is what the community college system, all of our colleges in alabama, have done a great job of changing how we are operating from just being transfer schools to being workforce training, career tech training and getting people prepared to go to work.
▶ 1:06:27Chair Tuberville: Thank you. Mr. travis -- Ms. travis, you are executive director for one of the most successful organizations, skillsusa. This cannot be achieved without a solid understanding of what students want and need in the cte space. One of the biggest hurdles we face with how students and parents think of a career that does not involve a four-year degree?
▶ 1:06:56Ms. Travis: Thank you for this important question. One of the most important things is we have not only a skills gap, but a true connection gap in our country. That connection gap is, we have to meet students where they are so they can be aware of the programs available to them. That is why I'm so excited about a new program we started at skillsusa.
▶ 1:07:23Ms. Travis: It is called skillsusa path, all-inclusive career awareness work-based learning program in virtual. The advantage is, it can reach every single skillsusa member across the country regardless if they are rural or urban, or socioeconomic status. It puts the tools in their hands so they can help make those decisions. It also connects students directly with employers.
▶ 1:07:53Ms. Travis: One of the other members mentioned earlier about how important it is to connect with business and industry so you can see how what you're learning in the classroom is relevant. If we can connect students with business and industry, and they are able to discover their occupational identity.
▶ 1:08:11Ms. Travis: What we know is, students by the time they leave middle school in eighth grade, they don't know what they want to do necessarily, but have already rolled out many of the careers we serve at skillsusa. The reason is, they are not aware of those programs and all the opportunities and options available to them. It is truly education and meeting students where they are.
▶ 1:08:37Ms. Travis: Our education system many times, we want to use systems we grow up with, but it is a different day and age. Our students, we need to meet them through social media, instagram, tiktok and other ways they are learning. I was talking to a student the other way and the way she chose her career pathway was through instagram, because she developed a pathway that knew what she was wanting. Those algorithms predicted what would be good for her.
▶ 1:09:08Ms. Travis: It was a way she could relate and connect to career technical education. What skillsusa pathway and learning programs do is give students an opportunity early, on to try on careers see what they are interested in before they get into the workplace.
▶ 1:09:31Ms. Travis: It allows them to see a clear pathway, about the stackable credentials available for them and to actually respect and formalize technical and career education in all pathways whether it is certification, nondegree credential, technical or community college, or whether it is that cte program that leads to a four-year bachelor's degree and beyond.
▶ 1:09:58Ms. Travis: It helps parents make important decisions that will make our workforce stronger.
▶ 1:10:02Chair Tuberville: Thank you. Senator rochester.
▶ 1:10:05Sen. Rochester: Thank you, Mr. chairman. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement on career and technical education from the united steelworkers.
▶ 1:10:16Chair Tuberville: Thank you, so done.
▶ 1:10:19Sen. Rochester: As you are speaking Ms. travis, I was thinking about my father who was in the field of education. Before he passed away, as I was running for this seat, he gave me, he wrote on the back of a business card, you become what you see unless you see what you want to become. That crystallizes for me why this is so important.
▶ 1:10:48Sen. Rochester: Many kids may never see occupations that they never heard about. For him he was the first to graduate from high school and college and his family. Now I sit here as a U.S. senator. This is really vital for not just our country, but for people's well-being and living there purpose. Again I'm glad to have Mr. rhine here. You highlighted delaware's excellence in cte.
▶ 1:11:19Sen. Rochester: I've been able to visit many of delaware's exceptional tech schools as well as traditional public schools that have engaged students and pathways. Can you expand on what makes delaware's pathways program so effective?
▶ 1:11:33Mr. Rhine: I would be happy to. First and foremost it starts with strong executive leadership every delaware has been fortunate that the governors have each made career and technical education a key part of their policy platform.
▶ 1:11:49Mr. Rhine: Second, the state has a troop public pride of partnership or state department of education and labor work with employer and community organizations to offer dual enrollment in advanced pathways across a variety of programs. The third is delaware benefits from exceptional local leadership. Our area superintendents are three schools, they have each led key work products that move the field forward quickly.
▶ 1:12:20Mr. Rhine: The results show it is working. Today 70% of students in high school are. Last reporting year, the fastest growth rate in the country. Youth apprenticeship -- enrollment in registered apprenticeship programs doubled in the last two years.
▶ 1:12:42Sen. Rochester: Thank you. One of my biggest priorities is to prepare our workforce for the future of work. It is clear that ai and advanced technologies are dramatically reshaping our economy and even how we think about work. Last week I introduced legislation called the workforce of the future act to better understand ai's impact on our economy and support, continue to support our efforts in that space.
▶ 1:13:11Sen. Rochester: I have a question for both you Ms. travis, as well as you Mr. rhine. It is ironic because as I'm looking at my questions, it skipped because I'm using technology, which goes to show there is nothing like a human being. How can cte promote future stem workforce and complement rigorous stem academies?
▶ 1:13:42Sen. Rochester: I will start with Ms. travis.
▶ 1:13:42Ms. Travis: Thank you for that important question. Cte and stem economics are sent -- academics are central partners. It makes stem academics meaningful and relevant. Cte is one of the most powerful tools we have for building stem pathways and encouraging those, and creating the awareness you are talking about.
▶ 1:14:11Ms. Travis: If your parents are those in your sphere of influence were not involved in those cde really does connect academic knowledge with actually real world application. And develops career ready skills that traditional classrooms just really cannot sustain and scale and it makes the learning relevant for our students.
▶ 1:14:36Ms. Travis: Cte students, when students are in stemmed academics can understand why stem matters, engagement and achievement really does increase. I was in a classroom not long ago so you really can see how cte can impact those stem academics students.
▶ 1:14:56Ms. Travis: It was an -- in classroom using physics and math and 3d modeling software and biotechnology students were actually doing dna extractions and tied together biology and chemistry with the diocese -- diagnostics they were doing.
▶ 1:15:16Ms. Travis: When you enter in a machining classroom, you see the advanced math skills they are doing such as trigonometry when it comes to measuring tolerances and actually programming machines and what is so exciting to those students in I.t. As well is they are building those networks to make sure that our information stays safe is math and problem solving skills is actually delivered in hands-on learning and it makes it relevant.
▶ 1:15:45Ms. Travis: They can see how the stem academics really does move into that future career for them and it makes it relevant and real. >> thank you. >> first and foremost, thank you for your work, and and stem literacy. It's critically important we understand the impact ai has on the current workforce and our future workforce. That intelligence is going to by its very nature help us inform education and how we offer career and technical education programs.
▶ 1:16:15Ms. Travis: I agree cte is an opportunity to bring together academic, technical instruction in a way in which we can integrate ai education across our country in a way that is meaningful and meets students where they are and I also think that as we think about the integration of ai in our education systems, it should also be taught in an interested -- interdisciplinary manner. It's important students understand how to apply ai both in the classroom and in the workplace. >> thank you. >> Mr.
▶ 1:16:44Ms. Travis: Chairman, I yelled back. >> Mr. salander, can you talk about the partnerships coming from the manufacturer for partnerships you cultivated with high schools, junior colleges, four-year schools, and how to develop that? Pull it a little bit closer, too. There we go. >> thank you for the question, Mr. chairman.
▶ 1:17:14Ms. Travis: Starting with our four year partnerships, the four-year university partnerships, we cultivated relationships where we hire interns every summer to work in various engineering supply chain and business areas of the company and hire new grads from those interns every year.
▶ 1:17:36Ms. Travis: We partner with the university of south alabama on our hourly apprenticeships with some students with two-year technical colleges as we described earlier with the work and learn and registered apprenticeship. Those are very successful in having ready now people come to work on day one on graduating and still rules that exist in our plan.
▶ 1:18:05Ms. Travis: The high schools we partner with , I believe 12 high schools in the surrounding counties in order to get out there, the kinds of things we do in addition to the impact program is we work with the centers for tech and centers at those schools. We do mock interviews. We go out to very important -- it's very important that the students in middle school as well, we do that as well.
▶ 1:18:38Ms. Travis: I can see themselves working in our field. As described earlier on the card, modern manufacturer -- manufacturing is different than what many people believe when they think of a steel company from 50 years ago so when they can envision themselves working there, they see the high-paying jobs are very rewarding and they see it's a clean and safe environment and then they are much more likely to engage with these programs and have that exposure and get those skills.
▶ 1:19:09Ms. Travis: We also partner with groups even outside of schools. We participate in learning about manufacturing and we work with all sorts of other groups to ensure that we are reaching a community where the team members live and can potentially come work for us. >> thank you. Mr.
▶ 1:19:37Ms. Travis: Cox, you mentioned your testimony the partnership that acs has with alabama technology network. What kind of specialized training do they offer to students and is it something other states can implement? >> alabama technology network is really unique. It is a real flexible program and it is not tied to credits or semesters or those type of things so yes, I think it is a great model.
▶ 1:20:08Ms. Travis: It started out as pretty much a manufacturing training program and now, we are starting to see they are so good at doing training in alabama so if someone needs just a quick training to be able to learn how to run a machine in a manufacturing facility, atm can send in their team and they can supply that work anywhere in alabama and we have offices all over the state so that we can supply that training so senator, I believe it's a great -- I think it's one of those things
▶ 1:20:39Ms. Travis: That it's like a swiss army knife. All of the things that we have I think is great for economic development because we can train as easy as plc training and you need to get somebody to be able to run a plc or if that actual plc training is changing because of technology, we can go in there and train students.
▶ 1:21:03Ms. Travis: We call them students but employees a lot of times are already employed and upscaling so it gives them an opportunity to do better, saturday. >> you think that includes ai? What's well, I will mention ai. I think, you know, hearing the other speaker, one thing we believe we are going to have to or we are doing with ai is training our instructors.
▶ 1:21:28Ms. Travis: We have over 10,000 instructors in the state of alabama and if they do not use it, if they don't understand it, then I think that is the most important training so we are doing all we can to partner in ai so that our instructors, 10,000 strong across alabama, you know, we are using our lms, which is our learning management system. There are ai components in there so we have to train for that.
▶ 1:21:55Ms. Travis: That is for our students and for our instructors but if our instructors don't understand it, then it's probably not going to be possible that our students get it so sometimes, students may be ahead of instructors and what we have found, is also across all areas.
▶ 1:22:12Ms. Travis: It is our career tech instructors as well as our physics, math, and science instructors need training on ai so we are doing a lot of digging to get our folks caught up and I will tell you, you know, when you talk about stem, sorry, you did not ask this but somewhat in response with stem and cybersecurity I think it's something, you know, huntsville being right there for us is huge , that we are able to train our students to be good in cyber.
▶ 1:22:41Ms. Travis: So embedding things like ai, cybersecurity, and those things in our computer information science courses which is career technical education, we have done that state wide and I think us being one system with one board, one chancellor, it has made us be able to be very agile and be able to take the courses we have statewide and make sure every student is getting consistent training in the stem world and all of the education they are getting through our
▶ 1:23:11Ms. Travis: Community colleges. >> thank you. Senator? >> thank you very much. Mr. chairman, I'm really glad we are having this important conversation but I want to take this opportunity to say how outraged I am by how callously the trump administration has mishandled our education programs, taking a wrecking ball to the department of education.
▶ 1:23:34Ms. Travis: Earlier this year, secretary mcmahon cast off much of her department's responsibility for career and technical education with basically no notice, no planning, which has resulted in funding delays and other problems and unfortunately, that was just a preview of what was to come.
▶ 1:23:55Ms. Travis: Three weeks ago, president trump and secretary mcmahon announced they were moving almost all of the k-12 education programs and many of the higher education programs to dol and they are moving others to hhs, interior, state, and they promised to keep moving more programs including special education to other agencies. All without consulting congress. That should be unacceptable to every single one of us.
▶ 1:24:20Ms. Travis: Congress has repeatedly and clearly authorized to those programs at the department of education and provided funding to the department of education to carry them out. Moving programs to agencies without the experience nor the capacity to administer them is really a disservice. To our students and to our schools. The department of labor is not use to administering the number of programs administered by the department of education.
▶ 1:24:50Ms. Travis: We saw chaos earlier this year when the cte and adult education programs were removed from the department of education at dol. How much worse is it going to be when dol is saddled with thousands of education grants like trio when they have never administered anything near that scale? How are they going to administer impact aid programs with zero experience of doing that? Why is the department of labor administering programs for preschoolers and elementary school students at all?
▶ 1:25:18Ms. Travis: The trump administration has not answered those questions or even consulting congress. The secretary of never testified to how she would administer any of these new programs and she even failed to explain how she is meeting her existing responsibilities. This is not saving money. It's not reducing bureaucracy, but it is increasing chaos.
▶ 1:25:45Ms. Travis: Dol is already charging secretary mcmahon over one million add additional dollars to now do the cte work her employees were doing. Taking over significantly larger and complex programs will surely cost significantly more but of course the administration has now told us how much it is going to be and now, we have two separate departments comanaging all of these programs. How is that going to reduce bureaucracy?
▶ 1:26:13Ms. Travis: States, school districts, families are going to have to deal with multiple agencies now when they use to deal with one. I want to make clear I am always ready for a conversation about how we improve these federal programs. That could not be further from what is happening with this administration. And again, they are not bothering to talk to congress about it. And how they can pursue this legally. Bypassing a lot to do it. They are just doing it which tells you pretty much how serious they are about doing anything.
▶ 1:26:44Ms. Travis: I appreciate this hearing but I needed this opportunity to express my dismay at what is happening in this administration to our schools, our students, and the future of our country with all of this mismanaging going on. Let me ask you, and I wanted to ask you given your experience, can education and department of labor collaborate on these programs without an interagency agreement? Can they do that? Have they collaborated on cte?
▶ 1:27:13Ms. Travis: >> there is a long history of collaboration between the department of education and the department of labor and what that history tells us is that it does not require major structural realignment. We are federal agencies have partnered is essentially through a number of instances. Titles one and three exist at the U.S. department of labor. Titles two and four exists at the department of education or use to exist at the department of education.
▶ 1:27:40Ms. Travis: There was an interagency working group that worked directly with state and across federal agencies to manage the implementation and ensure that our nation's adult education and workforce system was responsive to states. There are also examples where the department of education and labor have partnered to offer and support things like career and technical education.
▶ 1:28:00Ms. Travis: When I worked federally, we offered a number of -- we jointly issued a number of guidance documents to states that help them think about the integration of cte, expansion of postsecondary cte as well as short-term credential programs, how states could modify their formula which states are given the authority to do to include programs that were not held eligible so there are many instances where the department of education and labor have cooperatively worked together but in the past instances, they
▶ 1:28:32Ms. Travis: Essentially centered states needs as part of their joint collaboration and that is one thing we are missing right now is really working hand in glove with states to make sure they have the information they need to lead effectively.
▶ 1:28:46Ms. Travis: >> I am over my time but I really think congress needs to look at what is happening here, what is happening to our programs, what is happening to families access, whether there's any collaboration, how they are putting this together, including, it is up to congress to pass a law that the administration cannot do this without congress having their input. >> thank you, senator. Mr.
▶ 1:29:12Ms. Travis: -- you have been involved for a good portion of your career. How have training and workforce needs evolved in the space over your time? >> thank you. It has evolved significantly over that time as modern technology has emerged.
▶ 1:29:38Ms. Travis: Today, I work in advanced skill finishing facility that uses high tech equipment and requires good knowledge of instrumentation, automation, basic electrical, requires a good bit of math.
▶ 1:29:54Ms. Travis: Those are things that did not necessarily exist in the kinds of manufacturing I participated in 20, 30 years ago, so as it has evolved over that time, it has been extreme the critical to continue to enhance the skill sets of all of the people that are graduating, enabling them to either go into industrial jobs or to go into program such as two-year colleges in order to meet the demands of the workforce.
▶ 1:30:23Ms. Travis: >> what is the youngest age you heard of for apprenticeships that you would use in your line of work? >> 18 would be what we do for our apprenticeships where they actually work positions in the field. We do high school dual enrollments where they are not performing actual, you know, work on the machines.
▶ 1:30:50Ms. Travis: >> you have been a health resource to lawmakers for considering changes to state and federal legislature when it comes to workforce. Can you talk about the current system and what we can do as lawmakers to possibly improve it? >> thank you very much, senator, chairman. We really do appreciate that question.
▶ 1:31:12Ms. Travis: One of the most important things that we can do to improve our workforce system in general is to enhance our systems so that education and workforce are complementing each other so they are not competing both for dollars and for time that we are truly creating a seamless pipeline for our system and for workforce development.
▶ 1:31:39Ms. Travis: Right now as I mentioned in my testimony earlier, only .1% of gdp in this country goes to the technical education and these programs that we offer. And I think looking at these and making sure that we are spending our dollars so that we are creating a pipeline truly does sustain the workforce that america actually needs and depends on.
▶ 1:32:07Ms. Travis: We invest less to men almost any other industrialized nation in technical education and training our workforce so I think if we are focusing on work based learning opportunities so that when students and when our adults actually get into the workforce, they are actually they already know what the industry is that they are entering into and they have those opportunities early on so
▶ 1:32:38Ms. Travis: Really creating that pipeline that we all need and one additional piece of that is making sure that we are reauthorizing the national apprenticeship act. That is another very important thing as I mentioned in my comments earlier. I think the four main things that I would recommend is, one, that we strengthen career and technical education and make a large investment there.
▶ 1:33:03Ms. Travis: That we look at learning programs and look at those as well. The second and third things are actually investing in our cte instructors because without those instructors, we do not have a skilled workforce. And making sure that we also reauthorize the national apprenticeship act, those are the things I would recommend that we concentrate on right now.
▶ 1:33:32Ms. Travis: >> thank you talked about the innovation center and how it developed the skills and success. Can you talk about the program for a minute and it's industrial driven design? >> yes, sir. Thank you, senator. It's a unique program. We actually started this program because small business came to us and said we need help for training.
▶ 1:33:57Ms. Travis: I mentioned earlier in the testimony that we started with hospitality but I will share a few of the other training programs that we have built. I think we are up to around 50 courses that can be taken in this program is usually around two weeks. Small businesses such as grocers .
▶ 1:34:19Ms. Travis: The grocers association came to us and we have piggly wiggly's in the state of alabama that these local owners have problems finding someone who can become -- you can cut meat. So butcher training. What we were able to do is create a program.
▶ 1:34:39Ms. Travis: We brought in subject matter experts and we built a training course where once a year in a rural community, we can go in and local grocery stores in the area can send young people or even adults that are working in the grocery store and showing up and have some promise, let them send them to this training and let them go back and go to work and work may be with a butcher somewhere else.
▶ 1:35:06Ms. Travis: So we do anywhere from fiberoptics training that we built at the request of industry , nurse -- and the health care field where we are doing nursing assistant program which actually, that is actually going to be a national model so the skills for success is a hybrid model where students, for example, will learn the course like a youtube course and they learn online for the first part in their theory and then they
▶ 1:35:37Ms. Travis: Had to show up for a lab so if you are butcher training, safety and all of those things, they can watch the videos online and then when they show up, they are prepared to actually do a lab and show that they can master the skill. It is practice. A lot of work with the road builders association.
▶ 1:35:55Ms. Travis: We are training folks on the road builders equipment and with agriculture and even small equipment like excavators and things like that where industry is just really needing people to be trained because what we are finding out is this equipment is not easy. There's technology there and someone has to train them to do it.
▶ 1:36:15Ms. Travis: Our team has stepped up to the plate through skills for success to help small business and industry in the state of alabama which we sometimes forget about is a large part of industry in alabama, small business. We are trying to take care of them, senator. >> we got a few minutes to wrap this up. I want to give each one of you one minute to say one of the most important things we can do for workforce development for the next few years. >> thank you for the opportunity, sir. Postsecondary learning.
▶ 1:36:49Ms. Travis: I think it's a thing that could revolutionize our higher education system in the country and I agree with you comments that it should start with our community and technical colleges. >> thank you. >> thank you. We must increase the labor participation rate. People often have the desire but lacked the exposure to modern manufacturing and what can make them successful.
▶ 1:37:15Ms. Travis: If we can increase the labor participation rate, we can make america more competitive and provide good, high-paying jobs to all of those who join. >> I used to tell my football players, sometimes they did not want to do something but if you have the will, there is a way. You know, and the same thing and workforce. Mr. travis? -- miss travis? >> exactly.
▶ 1:37:42Ms. Travis: Current technical education when coupled with current technical student organizations is learning that works for america's future workforce so strengthen the federal investment in career and technical education and career and technical schools -- student organizations. Expand infrastructure.
▶ 1:37:59Ms. Travis: Like my colleague mentioned, post secondary is so important but also having those opportunities early on makes a difference in their future careers and the success of the workforce and growing the pipeline of skilled cte instructors, because without our cte instructors, there is no skilled work force. So we have to make sure that we are making investments in methods, and processes that we know that work.
▶ 1:38:23Ms. Travis: And also reauthorization of the national apprenticeship act and ensuring that as we are looking at these reauthorization's and strengthening our federal investments that we are continuing to make investments in public career and technical education where that training happens. >> thank you. >> senator, I think there's three things that come to mind. I mentioned earlier us being agile and us being able to adjust to what industry needs are. Second is access.
▶ 1:38:56Ms. Travis: I am going to mention access. One of the things we are focusing on in our state budget, legislative calendar year this year as we have got to pay our instructors. They are behind because if you are a nurse, you can work in the hospital and make more than our nursing instructors at -- in our community colleges.
▶ 1:39:16Ms. Travis: Even if you are going to the aviation school, when you graduate, after three semesters with a long certificate, you can get a job making more than the instructor that just taught you. We are having to adjust. That is not a federal thing. That is a state thing we are working on but that goes back to access.
▶ 1:39:36Ms. Travis: We have got to have the instructor so we can give the students all over alabama the access they need so that is a focus of ours and I think it is important and then I think letting everyone in alabama, and I think this goes back, we talked some about the people that are not in the workforce.
▶ 1:39:54Ms. Travis: We have to let them know that we have a place for them and I think we are doing a better job of that in alabama than we ever have and I think we are starting to see people understand that they can walk through our doors without an education, without a high school diploma and know that a local community college can help them find something that will make their life better. >> thank you. I think all the witnesses for being here today.
▶ 1:40:27Ms. Travis: Being here today and giving us good insight on real examples of what we need to do. The discussion we had today is spreading career and technical education, apprenticeships which lets us know that there is a positive work being done to address the skills and gap in this country and it is a huge problem.
▶ 1:40:47Ms. Travis: It is on us now as lawmakers to deliver on the solutions, reauthorizing wioa, strengthen the investment of funding through perkins and funding our states is something we can do right now, having the perspective of an employer, community college leader, see tso, and nonprofit showed all of us today the way we can work together to give us opportunity available to our students and our constituents in the labor market.
▶ 1:41:16Ms. Travis: States across our country are using strategies that work for them and it is time we all catch up to build our countries in the industrialization our economy for american workers. Today, for any senator wishing to ask additional questions, questions for the record will be due by 5:00 p.m. Today, tuesday, december 23. I want to thank all of you for being here today. Come on in. We have not adjourned yet. Come on in. Come on in.
▶ 1:41:51Ms. Travis: Yes. All right, senator, you are up. We will wait on you. Yes. And thanks for coming. >> Mr. chairman, thank you for holding the hearing open today, holding it at all. I'm actually not a member of the subcommittee but a member of the full committee so I especially appreciate the courtesy of being allowed to ask some questions.
▶ 1:42:22Ms. Travis: But, wisconsin has a wonderful technical college system. It provides valuable education and training to countless students and receives perkins funding every year to support their efforts. I am really glad that we are having this hearing but I also need to spend a minute on this administration's continued effort to dismantle the department of education really at whatever cost.
▶ 1:42:49Ms. Travis: It started with the secret move of career and technical education at the department of labor. That move. But now, the administration is moving the vast majority of k-12 and higher education programs to the department of labor. These programs dwarf the programs that the department of labor currently administers in both size and scope.
▶ 1:43:15Ms. Travis: At least with the career and technical education, cte, there is some kind of natural connection to the work of the department of labor. Although we have seen a lot of implementation problems since it's move there. The department of labor has no experience administering the vast majority of these other programs now being transferred to it. We are talking about programs for early elementary schools and teaching young students how to read.
▶ 1:43:47Ms. Travis: We already know from the cte interagency agreement between education and labor that states saw delays in funding. In the absence of important guidance. We also know our states now have to deal with two agencies instead of one, two payment systems instead of one.
▶ 1:44:08Ms. Travis: We also know that this is costing taxpayers over one million extra dollars for labor to do educations work just for cte. Transferring significantly larger and more complex programs will only create more problems for states, school districts, and schools. None of this is reducing bureaucracy. It is creating more of it.
▶ 1:44:34Ms. Travis: I worry this will cause problems for impact aid schools and trio grantees just to name a few. I have many concerns and questions about how this would work in this administration seems to have no interest in explaining it.
▶ 1:44:52Ms. Travis: Moving these programs isn't in the administration's budget request and the secretary of labor has not testified to how she would carry out these programs that are being transferred. Immediately after the latest agreements were announced, I reached out to secretary -- to the secretary. I followed up since and cannot get a call back.
▶ 1:45:17Ms. Travis: This administration has no interest in justifying or explaining what it is they are doing it because they do not have good answers to any of these questions. Secretary mcmahon is not stopping with these programs. She said just last week that she will be transferring more programs to other agencies and we know only a few major responsibilities are left including special education programs.
▶ 1:45:46Ms. Travis: We know that their goal is to eliminate the department of education altogether so we can only assume that they will be moving those few remaining programs, too. I hope mike rawlings colleagues will join me in voicing their concerns to secretary mcmahon in joining me to press pause on these abrupt changes as soon as possible. We have passed a law after law authorizing and funding these programs at the department of education.
▶ 1:46:15Ms. Travis: All we want is the administration to follow the law. Now, onto a question. This week, the department of education is engaged in negotiated rulemaking for the implementation of workforce health. I have been a supporter of expanding the use of pell grants to high-quality short-term job training programs for a long time.
▶ 1:46:40Ms. Travis: A traditional four-year baccalaureate degree is not always the best path for every student. Nor is it the only way for students to get good, high paying supporting jobs. While administers short-term job training programs can lead to these high quality, high-paying jobs for american workers.
▶ 1:47:00Ms. Travis: However, I have deep concerns that both the process and policy of the departments rulemaking, it appears the department of education is attempting to conduct the negotiated rulemaking for this policy in just five days. I am concerned that this rushed timeline will lead to implementation that lacks the necessary guardrails and accountability to protect students.
▶ 1:47:25Ms. Travis: And without those in place, we could easily see a rise in low-quality, predatory programs that do not properly train students or give them the skills necessary to obtain a good paying job. In your opinion, what guardrails should be put in place to ensure taxpayer dollars are not going to exploit native programs that do not prepare students for high quality success?
▶ 1:47:54Ms. Travis: >> there is both guardrails and credibility. In terms of guardrails, we need to ensure states have the information they need to build programs that align with good jobs. Essentially, we need clear standards for quality so that we can prevent students from engaging in programs wasting their time and money that do not lead to economic opportunity.
▶ 1:48:14Ms. Travis: I think guardrails would also help states to implement workforce along its education and workforce continuum, specifically, it will work best when it integrates with existing programs like career and technical education as well as registered apprenticeship and two-year and four-year degree pathways. We need to ensure there are clear definitions and ways in which states can engage holistically as they work within these existing systems and we also need to ensure there clear accountability for two reasons.
▶ 1:48:42Ms. Travis: The first is it is critically important taxpayer dollars fund programs that have outcomes for young people and adult learners. Second, we need to ensure that employers have confidence in the credentialing system. Clear-cut ability would help ensure business is higher with confidence and invest more heavily in our postsecondary education system. >> thank you, senator.
▶ 1:49:08Ms. Travis: Again, thanks for everybody being here and this has been a very productive meeting. We need to have more of these and we need to continue this conversation as we all said earlier. We got problems and we cannot build anything if we don't start teaching our young people to use their hands even though they might not get into that field.
▶ 1:49:31Ms. Travis: You know, I am all for starting more workforce development in the high school level where they can possibly enjoy and get involved in it and as we all know, if you start doing something and like it, you might continue on with that so we got a lot of opportunities in this country but we also got a lot of kids that cannot make up their minds. I dealt with them for a long time and it's very, very hard to get them on the right path. But we will all work together and we will get this done.
▶ 1:50:00Ms. Travis: Again, thanks for being here, all you witnesses. This subcommittee hearing is now adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]