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Budget
On March 1, the
sequestration took effect. This resulted in $85 billion in
across-the-board budget cuts for the remainder of FY 2013. The cuts
must be implemented in a fiscal year that is already nearly 5 months
into the cycle, making the impact more hard hitting.
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed an appropriations
bill to fund the federal government for the remainder of FY 2013.
President Barack Obama signed a stop-gap spending bill to keep the
government running through the end of the fiscal year. The measure
leaves in place the sequester's $85 billion in automatic budget cuts,
but funds the day-to-day operating budgets of every Cabinet agency.
The final bill revised by the Senate expanded on the House version by
including additional appropriations for the Departments of Justice,
Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Commerce, as well as NASA and
NSF. According to the summary it would fund NSF "at $7.25
billion, an increase of $221 million above the fiscal year 2012
enacted level. This level would allow NSF to make about 550 more
grants supporting 7,000 scientists, teachers, students, and
technicians." The final bill also includes a continuing
resolution for most domestic programs, including Perkins. However,
the 5% cut that was included in the bill will reduce Perkins funding
by approximately $56 million in FY 2013, impacting CTE programs
during the 2013-14 school year. TANF will continue to be funded.
The White House will release its 2014 budget on April 10. Both
chambers of Congress have already released their budgets. On March 13
the House Budget Committee approved the resolution introduced by
Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) on March 12. The House Budget
Committee's budget resolution
includes a plan to eliminate the federal deficit in 10 years, a goal
that would cause additional cuts to discretionary spending.
On March 14, the Senate Budget Committee's passed its budget released
by Senator Murray. The Murray budget
will invest in STEM and CTE programs and recommends "$10 billion
to invest in worker training programs for young people and
adults.
Congress
On March 15, the House of Representatives passed the
Strengthening Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills Act (called
the SKILLS Act). "To reform the nation's broken job training
system, House Republicans are advancing the Supporting Knowledge
and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act
(H.R. 803), legislation that will help put Americans back to
work."
The bill consolidates 35 workforce training programs into a single
block grant controlled by state governors. The bill's sponsor, Representative
Foxx says, Americans deserve a workforce development system that is
more efficient, more accountable, and more responsive to the needs of
our workplaces. This important legislation heeds the president's call
to cut through the maze of confusing and ineffective workforce
development programs. We must ensure taxpayer dollars are supporting
workers instead of unnecessary bureaucracy. I urge our Senate
colleagues to put forward their own ideas and help move this process
forward." Learn More
It is unlikely that the Skills Act will be considered in the Senate.
Instead, it is expected that the Senate will draft its own version of
a Workforce Investment Act reauthorization, which, if passed by the
Senate, will need to be reconciled with the SKILLS Act to create a
compromise bill.
On March 5, Representative Jared Polis introduced H.R.951, Women WIN Jobs,
to promote the economic self-sufficiency of low-income women through
their increased participation in high-wage, high-demand occupations
where they currently represent 25% or less of the workforce.
On March 18, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Member, House Committee
on Science, Space, and Technology, co-sponsored the STEM Opportunities
Act of 2013 to "help address many of the
challenges faced by women and underrepresented minorities pursuing
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research
careers."
Additionally, Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) introduced two bills related
to career and technical education.
Administration
Cora Marrett, Deputy Director of NSF, will again become acting
director of NSF, upon current Director Subra Suresh's departure on
March 22 to become president of Carnegie Mellon University.
Cathy Russell, Chief of Staff to Dr. Biden, has been nominated for
the position of Ambassador at Large for Global Women's Issues at the
Department of State.
NAPE News
The National
Coalition for Girls and Women in Education released a report, Education Data Show
Gender Gap in Career Preparation. The report
demonstrates that "more than forty years after Title IX outlawed
sex segregation in education, women and girls are still sorely
underrepresented in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs
that are nontraditional for their gender." It notes that
"women and girls make up only a small percentage of students
enrolled in the majority of programs funded by the Perkins Act that
provide training for jobs in high-paying fields-a pattern that only
intensifies in the transition from secondary to postsecondary
education."
As a member of the Campaign to Invest In America's Workforce, NAPE
joined the coalition in sending a letter
urging Congress to support the FY 2014 Senate budget resolution
offered by Senate Budget Committee Patty Murray (D-WA).
CIAW sent a letter
opposing the 2014 House Budget, which will reduce federal investments
in non-defense discretionary funding by $1.1 trillion below the
current Budget Control Act spending caps over the next 10
years.
News from Our Partners
On March 20, the
American Association of University Women released its annual wage gap
analysis, The Simple Truth
about the Gender Pay Gap. The report includes
charts on the gender pay gap broken down by state, race/ethnicity,
education, and age. It shows that for workers ages 20-24, the pay gap
already is 7 percent. It widens as women enter prime working years,
to a 24 percent gap for full-time workers ages 45-54.
The National Alliance
for Partnerships in Equity (NAPE) is a national,
nonprofit consortium of state and local agencies, corporations, and
national organizations that collaborate to create equitable and
diverse classrooms and workplaces where there are no barriers to
opportunities. Through its Education Foundation, NAPE has been involved
in a number of initiatives to increase diversity in America's
workforce and to increase opportunities in high-skill, high-wage,
high-demand careers. Among these is the National Science
Foundation-funded STEM Equity Pipeline
Project, which works with educational systems to increase the
participation of underrepresented populations in STEM education.
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