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Creates and funds a new, library- and community-based college and career navigator model and updates adult education rules to expand services, add digital and information literacy, and modernize accountability. It revises definitions and state/local planning under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, authorizes grants for navigator programs, expands allowable activities (including family literacy and educator professional development), and establishes a pilot to test alternative performance accountability approaches. The changes are aimed at increasing access to workforce and education services through public libraries and community organizations, improving foundational and digital skills for adult learners, aligning data and record-keeping across partners, and providing federal support and reporting requirements to states and local providers to implement these changes.
Adds a new definition for "college and career navigator": an individual with knowledge of workforce and postsecondary programs, financial aid, and case management techniques, who provides tailored college and career guidance, labor market information, helps jobseekers identify training and education options (including assistance to pay costs), facilitates access to services and co-enrollment between Title I and Title II programs, promotes job readiness and digital/information literacy, coordinates with employers and one-stop delivery system entities, conducts outreach, and may recruit students, provide intensive case management, career exploration, and collect related data as appropriate.
Inserts a new definition for "concurrent enrollment," with meaning provided in section 203.
Inserts a new definition for "digital literacy skills," with meaning given in section 203.
Defines "foundational skill needs" for individuals: (A) for a youth, English reading, writing, or computing skills at or below the 8th grade level on a standard test; or (B) for a youth or adult, inability to compute/solve problems or read/write/speak English at the level needed to function on the job, in the family, or in society.
Inserts a new definition for "information literacy skills," with meaning given in section 203.
Who is affected and how:
Adult learners: Direct beneficiaries — increased access to navigation, training referrals, digital literacy instruction, family literacy services, and supports for college or credential placement. Navigators in libraries/community organizations aim to lower barriers (transportation, schedule, stigma) and reach learners in nontraditional settings.
Public libraries and community-based organizations: Newly recognized delivery sites that can receive federal grants, expand services, and become central access points for workforce and adult-education services. They will need staff (navigators), training, and systems for referral and reporting.
Adult education providers and instructors: Affected by expanded program goals (digital literacy, family literacy), new professional development expectations, and possible changes to performance metrics; providers may receive more funding opportunities but must meet updated reporting and quality requirements.
State agencies and local workforce boards: Must revise state and local plans, adapt performance measures, incorporate navigators and library partners into planning and contracting, and establish common record-keeping and reporting systems. They also will manage applications for pilot participation and grant distribution.
Employers and workforce systems: Indirect beneficiaries through a better-prepared pool of job seekers with foundational and digital skills, and through improved navigation to connect employers with job-ready candidates.
Positive effects:
Potential burdens and risks:
Overall, the bill shifts service delivery toward locally accessible, community-based points of contact and updates adult education to emphasize digital literacy and family/college pathways, while creating administrative and reporting requirements that states and providers must absorb.
Modifies the stated purposes in section 202(1) by adding 'full participation in all aspects of adult life' and adjusts preceding punctuation.
Amends definitions: replaces 'postsecondary level' with 'college placement level'; adds definitions for 'college placement level', 'concurrent enrollment', 'digital literacy skills', and 'information literacy skills'; redesignates multiple paragraphs; modifies language regarding 'basic skills deficient' to 'has foundational skills needs'; replaces references to digital/information literacy in eligible individual/provider provisions and other adjustments.
Revises the authorization of appropriations amounts for fiscal years 2026–2030, replacing the prior authorization schedule.
Amends subsection (a)(1) to adjust text relating to reserving funds, specifically replacing a garbled 'striking5,000,000' with '5,000,000' (formatting/spacing correction).
Replaces section 212 in the Act with a new Performance and accountability system provision that (a) applies section 116 accountability requirements, (b) allows measurable skill gains to include those relating to section 202 purposes, and (c) creates a pilot authority for innovative performance accountability systems with application, approval, evaluation, reporting, and timelines.
Adds a requirement that eligible agencies maintain on their websites information documenting non-Federal matching contributions, including sources and distribution to eligible providers when State funds are used.
Amends State leadership activities to add family literacy in clause (1)(C), add development of content/models for family literacy, insert digital and information literacy into professional development-related text, broaden references to specific groups of adult learners, add strengthening program quality/credentials, and add new subparagraphs regarding quality improvement.
Makes technical amendments within grants and contracts provisions, updating cross-references and changing wording from 'learning disabilities' to 'learning differences'.
Amends local administrative cost limits to make minor insertions/formatting changes in subsection (a) paragraphs (1) and (2).
Amends national leadership activities to prioritize assistance helping States meet section 116 requirements, add technical assistance/grants/evaluations related to innovative performance accountability pilots, and add numerous programmatic allowable activities including professionalization and credentialing supports.
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Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced April 9, 2025 by Lucy Mcbath · Last progress April 9, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House