Sponsors (13)
The bill improves student access to CTE pathways and boosts transparency and employer alignment in education, but it requires states and local agencies to incur ongoing costs and administrative work and creates some privacy/competitive risks for institutions.
Students gain easier access to local career and technical education (CTE) programs, course sequences, dual/concurrent enrollment options, and recognized postsecondary credentials through a searchable statewide directory.
Employers, workforce boards, and local governments can identify programs aligned with industry needs and use published labor-market alignment evidence to partner with schools and shape training.
Standard, open, linked, interoperable data formats increase transparency and enable third parties and developers to build tools or integrate data across education and workforce systems.
State and local governments (and ultimately taxpayers) must pay for building, hosting, and at least annual updates to a statewide searchable directory, creating new IT and staffing expenses.
Local education agencies and schools face increased administrative workload and possible need for additional staff to collect and share detailed program-level data.
Publishing detailed program locations and partnership data could raise privacy concerns or competitive/strategic risks for some institutions, partners, or programs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires states to publish and maintain a searchable public statewide directory of CTE programs and requires local providers to submit standardized program data when the state opts in.
Introduced February 25, 2026 by Jennifer McClellan · Last progress February 25, 2026
Requires states to develop, publish, and maintain a searchable public statewide directory of career and technical education (CTE) programs and career pathways, and requires local eligible recipients to supply standardized program-level information when a state chooses to operate the directory. The directory must be searchable by district, industry/career cluster, and credential, use interoperable data formats, include specified program details, and be updated at least once per program year. The change is implemented by amending existing federal CTE law; it does not specify new federal funding. States and local providers will bear responsibility for collecting, formatting, and maintaining the required information, and must ensure directories include evidence of labor-market alignment and information on dual enrollment, course sequences, partnerships, and work-based learning opportunities.