Sponsors (14)
Requires States (if they elect) to publish a searchable statewide directory of CTE programs and requires local providers to supply standardized program-level data.
The bill makes CTE program information much easier for students, employers, and third parties to find and use—improving pathway choice and employer–education alignment—but it creates new reporting burdens and costs for schools and states and raises some privacy/competitive concerns.
Students across the state can find local career and technical education (CTE) programs, course sequences, dual/concurrent enrollment options, and recognized postsecondary credentials in one searchable statewide directory, making it substantially easier to choose and transition into career pathways and postsecondary education.
Employers, workforce boards, and schools can identify programs aligned with industry needs and form partnerships using published evidence of labor-market alignment, improving employer–education coordination and potentially workforce readiness.
Standardized, open, linked, interoperable program-level data promotes transparency and allows third parties and toolmakers to build integrations and services that help students, educators, and policymakers use and analyze CTE data across systems.
Local education agencies and schools must collect and share detailed program-level data, increasing administrative workload for educators and school staff and creating ongoing compliance tasks.
States (and possibly local grantees) must build, maintain, and update a statewide searchable directory at least annually, which will require new IT investments, staff time, and operating costs potentially borne by state budgets and taxpayers.
Publishing detailed program locations, partnership, and alignment data could raise privacy, proprietary, or competitive concerns for some institutions, partners, or programs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to authorize States to develop directories of career and technical education programs of study and career pathways, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Jennifer McClellan · Last progress February 25, 2026
Requires States to create and maintain a public, searchable statewide directory of career and technical education (CTE) programs and career pathways and requires local eligible recipients to provide standardized program-level information when a State elects to run such a directory. The directory must be searchable by district, industry/career cluster, and credential; use standard/open/interoperable data formats; include specific program details (course sequences, dual enrollment, partners, work-based learning, labor-market alignment); and be updated at least once per program year. This amends the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act to add these directory and data-sharing requirements but does not itself create new funding or other substantive program changes.