High Country Times

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg expressed approval of the Department of Education's decision to reverse certain requirements introduced by the Biden-Harris administration. These requirements were perceived as potential obstacles for career and technical education (CTE) programs.

Chairman Walberg stated, "The Perkins Act is intended to elevate and improve CTE programs; the Biden-Harris requirements would have had the opposite effect. Adding more red tape only forces CTE programs to redirect valuable resources away from their students and toward government compliance. I’m glad to see the Trump administration is listening to the concerns from our Committee and CTE programs. Bottom line, our education system needs less bureaucracy."

On January 16, Walberg criticized these requirements for potentially hindering CTE programs that contribute significantly to filling U.S. jobs. The Biden-Harris administration had approved revisions to two Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act information collections requests (ICRs), which included changes to the State Plan Guide and Consolidated Annual Report.

These revisions required states to adopt new definitions for performance accountability indicators, some of which conflicted with existing interpretations of the law.