There has been quite a lot of activity on Capitol Hill these past few months that is important to career and technical education, including agricultural education. The key issues facing us currently include the FY 2004 appropriations for career and technical education programs authorized under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act, known broadly as “Perkins,” and the upcoming reauthorization of the Perkins Act.

The appropriations process has moved much more rapidly this year than we expected. But, this is a good thing. And, at the time of this writing, the FY 2004 appropriations for Perkins look quite favorable, given the current financial constraints of the federal budget. The U. S. House of Representatives has passed its bill, which includes a slight increase in funding for FY 2004 for the Basic State Grant. The U.S. Senate has also passed its bill, which includes flat funding for Perkins. This indicates that the final appropriations for Perkins should be no less that what was appropriated for FY 2003 (about $1.2 billion). Given inflation and the increased costs of doing business, many will suggest that flat funding is really a decrease in funding. But, these days, flat funding is much better than a 25 percent reduction in funding, which is the total amount that the federal budget for education programs was reduced by for FY 2004.

There is a possibility that the House will begin formal discussions regarding the reauthorization of Perkins this fall. The Senate will, most likely, not take up the Perkins reauthorization until the 2004 session of Congress. Given that the Congress is likely to recess at the end of October 2003 and not return until January 2004 (unless they call a short “lame duck” session in early December), it is doubtful that Perkins reauthorization will be on the table until 2004.

The best news related to the reauthorization is that, to our knowledge, there is no sponsor in the House or the Senate for the Administration’s “blueprint” for a new bill that has been proposed to replace the Perkins Act. The Administration’s proposal would shift the focus of career and technical education from both secondary and postsecondary levels of instruction to the postsecondary level of instruction alone. And, the funding would flow to education agencies within states largely through competitive grants. Clearly, the mainstream career and technical education community, including agricultural education is opposed to this new idea. And, as stated earlier, there seems to be no support for this notion in the U.S. Congress. We have heard that the Administration is working on a new plan for CTE and we certainly do anticipate that Congress will make some changes to the Perkins Act; however, we believe the changes will be made with input from the career and technical education community led by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) and the National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc), with support from NAAE, the Council, the National FFA Organization, and many other CTE-related organizations.

There is nothing more important for agricultural educators to do now than to communicate to your Congressional delegations the value of career and technical education, including agricultural education, in your local agricultural education programs. Even though the NAAE board and staff communicate messages to Congress on behalf of agricultural education, Members of Congress must hear from their own constituents on key issues. Building relationships between local agricultural education and their respective Members of Congress is what will bring positive change. Please don’t assume that your Congressional delegations will support agricultural education because you know they support the FFA. You must help your Congressional delegations understand that federal funding for agricultural education flows through the Perkins Act. Every member of NAAE – plus school administrators, advisory council members, FFA alumni members, local business leaders, local politicians, parents, students of voting age – everyone who supports your local agricultural education program at all levels of instruction – needs to communicate with their Members of Congress regarding the importance of the continuation and expansion of Perkins appropriations and the Perkins Act itself.

Also, there is no time in our history when it has been more critical for us to support ACTE with our membership dues. ACTE is not a perfect organization – no organization is perfect, including our own. However, ACTE is the organization that “carries the mail” when it comes to Perkins appropriations and authorizations. If ACTE did nothing but this, our ACTE dues would still be well spent. Agricultural educators do not exist in a vacuum. We are a part of the larger career and technical education system – and we must be a key player in that system.

If you want to become more personally involved with NAAE’s legislative advocacy efforts, please contact the NAAE office by calling (800) 509-0204 or sending e-mail to JJackman.NAAE@uky.edu.