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Dive Brief:

• Management of key federal workforce development programs will begin shifting from the U.S. Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Labor under an interagency agreement signed in May, according to a joint announcement by the agencies Tuesday.
• Adult education and family literacy programs under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and career and technical education programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act will be managed by the Labor Department alongside Education Department staff, according to the agencies.
• Tuesday’s announcement comes just one day after the U.S. Supreme Court stayed an injunction in McMahon v. New York, granting the Education Department the ability to move forward with a sweeping reduction in force. That decision meant the workforce development interagency agreement with the Labor Department could go forward.

Dive Insight:

Under the May 21 interagency agreement behind the workforce development partnership, the Labor Department will take on daily administration of the programs. The Education Department will continue statutory responsibilities, policy authority and program oversight.

While the interagency agreement was stalled in court, leading organizations for CTE directors and professionals raised concerns over the contract. Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education predicted “far-reaching negative impacts on CTE programs and learners across the country” in a June 11 joint statement, adding that the agreement “directly circumvents existing statutory requirements” under the Perkins Act.

These programs, the organizations said, “are not merely job training programs; these programs are comprehensive educational and career preparation programs that prepare secondary and postsecondary learners for lifelong success by connecting academic and technical learning with the real world skills that learners need to thrive.”

The agreement, however, is in line with President Donald Trump’s April executive order, “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future. That order called, in part, for the secretaries of labor, commerce and education to find opportunities to integrate systems and realign resources to address critical workforce needs and in-demand skills in emerging industries, identify ineffective federal workforce development and education programs, and streamline information collection.

“The current structure with various federal agencies each managing pieces of the federal workforce portfolio is inefficient and duplicative. Support from the Department of Labor in administering the Department of Education’s workforce programs is a commonsense step in streamlining these programs to better serve students, families, and educators,” said U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a Tuesday statement.