Sponsor
Adam Smith
Representative · D-WA
Representative · D-WA
Official title: To establish a grant program to fund career and technical education programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced September 19, 2025 by Adam Smith · Last progress September 19, 2025
The bill expands financial aid, access, and employer-aligned pathways for secondary CTE—helping low-income and rural students gain credentials and jobs—at the cost of increased federal spending, new state/local matching and administrative requirements, and risks of uneven geographic and programmatic access.
Low-income and other secondary students gain Pell-style grants or payments to cover tuition, attendance, certifications, and related costs for CTE, apprenticeship, dual-enrollment, or credential programs, lowering financial barriers to credentialing.
Students across participating districts — including rural and underserved youth — get expanded access to CTE programs, internships, apprenticeships, and virtual/hybrid offerings, creating earlier and broader career pathway opportunities.
CTE programs are more closely aligned to local labor markets and employers via incentives (funding, equipment, paid internships/apprenticeships, hiring preferences), improving job placement prospects and employer hiring pipelines for graduates.
The bill increases federal spending for CTE grants and expands eligibility, and it also requires substantial state/local matching (capped federal share rules), creating fiscal pressure on taxpayers and straining state and local budgets — especially in low-resource areas.
Competitive grant allocation, employer-driven incentives, broadband-dependent virtual options, and capacity limits in small/rural districts risk widening geographic and economic inequities in access to CTE opportunities.
The law imposes substantial administrative demands on SEAs, LEAs, and schools — including repeated workforce-alignment assessments, multi-year planning, Pell-like verification/reporting, and performance monitoring — which may strain capacity and divert resources from instruction.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Creates a competitive federal grant program for CTE expansion and a CTE Pell Grant to fund secondary students' industry credentials, apprenticeships, and dual‑enrollment technical coursework.
Creates a new competitive federal grant program for states to build, expand, or improve career and technical education (CTE) through standalone CTE high schools, regional career centers, and online/hybrid models, and establishes a new "CTE Pell" grant to help public secondary school students pay for industry-recognized credentials, apprenticeships, dual-enrollment technical coursework, and other approved CTE programs. Grants require state plans, periodic workforce alignment assessments, and encourage employer partnerships, dual enrollment credit transfer, internships/apprenticeships, and expanded access for rural and underserved students. Sets a federal cost-share (50–75%) for projects, requires the Departments of Education and Labor to stand up the programs within one year, and defines CTE program and provider types, eligible activities, and student eligibility rules modeled in part on existing Pell procedures.