Career and Technical Education: Developing the Future of Main Street Success

From the great state of Minnesota, former uh Olympic hockey player and the hockey USA team we know won the gold medal. I want to say congratulations to you and your sport.

Yes. That's not bad. Yeah.

And uh before we get started I'd like to recognize Congressman Schmidt from the great state of Kansas to lead us in the pledge and the of allegiance and the prayer. Please stand. Say good morning to everyone. I wanna say uh uh call the committee on small business to order and with objection the chair is authorized to declare a recess in the committee at any time. Uh, I wanna now recognize myself for opening statement and I wanna say welcome to today's hearing Career and Technical Education Developing a Future of Main Street Success. First, I wanna thank our witnesses for joining us today during the National Career and Technical Education Month. Thank you all for being here. And career and technical education programs, also known as CTE programs, play a vital role in society that is all too often overlooked. Today the committee will focus on several issues holding Main Street America back. There is no denying that small business across the nation are facing a shortage of skilled American workers. Millions of trade jobs remain unfulfilled. And this uh crisis is uh compounded as baby boomers retire in record numbers. The shortage is even worse in rural communities like those I represent in Texas, where employers face additional barriers to find qualified workers. And I hear from people back home every day that we need more plumbers, we need more welders, we need carpenters, we need nurses, we need mechanics. Yet there is a crisis There is also an opportunity. CTE uh programs have proven to provide students with effective uh pathways to high wage, high demand careers. President Trump and his administration have made workforce development a priority to address the growing demand for skilled workers and skilled trades. The Working Families Tax Cut uh Act created uh workforce Pell grants to cover the cost of shortage cr- uh short-term cred- uh credential programs not just traditional college degrees. In addition to the SBA's workforce development resources, the Department of Labor announced a hundred and forty-five million dollar investment opportunity on January sixth, twenty twenty-six to support the national apprenticeship program and system. The earlier this uh Congress, the House passed my bill, H R sixteen forty-two, the connecting small business with career and technical education graduates act, and this bill requires small business development centers and women's business centers uh to provide educational resources to small businesses on hiring CTE program graduates. Now I'd like to once again thank my colleagues for their bipartisan support of this measure and I look forward to hearing more today about additional actions uh this committee can take to strengthen the pipeline to high demand jobs and help address our nation's workforce shortage crisis I wanna thank our panel again uh witnesses for taking the time from your home to participate in this important hearing, and uh we look forward to your testimony today. Uh, I now recognize the distinguished ranking member, Representative Tran, uh, from the great state of California, for his opening remarks.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, uh, for convening this hearing on one of the most pressing issues facing small businesses, a shortage of workers with needed skill sets. The American wor- workforce is facing a series of compounding crises. An aging population means millions of baby boomers are soon retiring. enforcement is removing capable and law abiding workers from the labor pool. And artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping which skills are valuable. Investing thoughtfully in workplace development is more urgent than ever. These workforce shortages are hitting hardest in the sectors where affordability has become a defining challenge for young Americans. And healthcare will be short over two hundred and sixty-seven thousand registered nurses by twenty twenty eight. In housing, we already we already lack as many as half a million builders, contractors, and construction managers. And as we attempt to reassure critical manufacturing, we lack the electricians, welders, and the advanced manufacturing workforce to make it a reality. The trend is clear, traditional education pathways are failing workers and employers. Revapping career and technical education, or CTE, is a promising solution that builds on a system that has uh that has existed for decades. It's already widely present in high schools and students who concentrate in it see successful outcomes. Despite the success, it has long been underfunded. Adjusted for inflation, it has been cut by more than fifty percent since nineteen eighty. Over the past two decades, high school enrollment has flattened, while post-secondary enrollment has dropped by twenty-five percent. Bolstering these budget is a worthwhile investment. Conversely, registered apprenticeships have become one of fastest growing CTE strategies with the number of apprentices doubling over the past decade. By combining classroom education with paid on the job training, they provide a direct pipeline into a job. Ninety-four percent of apprentices retain employment after completion with an average starting salary of eighty thousand dollars. They don't they don't just benefit workers, they benefit businesses as well. By strengthening, retention, and growing the labor pool, they provide a proven return on investment. Despite the benefits, small businesses face significant barriers barriers to participation. The registration process is time-consuming and complex, making it difficult for resource constrained small employers. Promising solutions like apprenticeship intermediaries and consortiums give us an opportunity to reduce that burden. These models removes much of the administrative work for small businesses and allow them to partner together to, I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about how strengthening CTE and apprenticeships can relieve our workforce shortages, bolster small business growth, and make life more affordable for the American people. Chairman, I yield back.

Gentleman yields back. I will now turn to witness introductions and recognize Mister Bresnahan from the great state of Pennsylvania, to introduce his constituent, testifying here today.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and I am proud to introduce our first witness today, Northeastern Pennsylvania's very own Doctor Keith Gunuskey. Doctor Ganusky currently serves as Superintendent of the Walm Popak Area School District. He brings more than twenty-four years of experience in education, having served students in a range of roles, including Special Education Teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, and Assis- Assistant Superintendent. Doctor Ganusky has been a strong advocate for expanding student access to career and technical education, helping ensure his students can pursue good-paying technical careers after graduation in fields like aviation, construction, culinary arts, and more. And they have a real-life seven thirty-seven simulator. And Pennsylvania Career and Technical Centers allows school districts within a region to share high-quality facilities and equipment, partner with local employers, and provide students with hands-on training that aligns with local workforce needs. Yet, Wayne and Pike counties in my district remain the only two counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without access to a CTC. That is finally being fixed as the Walm Pa Pa school district alongside neighboring school districts is stepping up to fill this gap. I am proud to work with Doctor Ganusky to make sure this project becomes a reality for the students and families in Wayne and Pike. Beyond his professional duties, he is actively involved in his community, serving on the Wayne County YMCA board and the Wayne Memorial Hospital Advisory Committee and volunteering for more than thirty years as a firefighter. Dr. Ganusky earned his doctorate of education in leadership studies with a concentration of disaster preparedness and emergency management from Louisiana State University Shreveport and thank you for joining us today, taking time out of uh the busy day up in northeastern Pennsylvania and I'm looking forward to our meaningful conversation. I yield.

A gentleman yields back and I'd like to now recognize uh Congressman Schmidt from the great state of Kansas to introduce his constituent testifying here today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, uh thank you very much for convening this hearing today and we appreciate you having a Kansan on the panel. Um it's my pleasure to introduce Mike Gibson. Uh, Mister Gibson is the Executive Vice President of the Associated General Contractors of Kansas. AGC of Kansas uh often bills itself as the Chamber of Commerce for the construction industry in Kansas, representing over three hundred Kansas general uh contractors, subcontractors and professional service firms, and their twenty thousand employees. It's headquartered in Wichita, but we forgive that because they have their legislative Uh before this role Mike was involved in similar workforce development roles with the industry in New Mexico, Louisiana, and Houston, Texas. He served on the board of directors for the National Center for Construction Education and Research, and currently serves on that organization's workforce development committee. Um he is here today to talk with us about the Build Up Kansas program. Each of our colleagues has a a pamphlet uh on their desk and I would just characterize it this way. Uh this is an industry and employer driven effort to connect all of the parts that are producing, uh, uh, plumbers and construction workers and electricians, um, so that the pipeline is feeding the actual jobs that are needed, uh, and fit in the local dynamics in every community around the state. It's a, but terrific initiative. Uh, I would just finally say, Mr. Chairman, uh, Mike attended Texas Tech, which we forgive him for, but, uh, he is married to his wife, Rachel, for which we are grateful. He brought her today. Rachel, wave for everybody. Mr. Chairman, thanks for having this hearing.

Gentleman Neal's back, and you're right on Texas Tech.

All right.

You don't hold anything.

Uh, our next witness today is Doctor Nikki Nix, uh, one of my constituents from the great state of Texas and the great city of godly Texas. Uh, Doctor Nix serves as Chief Academic Officer for the Godly Independent School District in Godly, Texas. And Doctor Nix has worked for nearly twenty years in public education, serving as a teacher, dual enrollment instructor, academic advisor, director of career and technical education, and as chief readiness officer. She has served on district committees and advisory boards, including the godly Chamber of Commerce, board of directors. Doctor Nix holds a bachelor of business administration from Midwestern State University, a master of education from Lamar University, and a doctorate in education from Arkansas State University. She is a respected leader in our district and we appreciate her being here today. Uh, now recognize the ranking member from the great state of California, Mister Tran, uh, to briefly introduce our last witness appearing before us today.

I got the pleasure of introducing uh, Mister Zach Boren, who is a senior vice president of Apprenticeship for America, where he leads national efforts to expand and modernize registered apprenticeships across the United States. With linearly two decades of experience in apprenticeship and workforce policy, he previously

Sure. I hope that. Gentleman yields back, and I wanna say thank you again to all of the witnesses, we appreciate you uh being here today. Now before recognizing the witnesses, I'd like to remind them, we got some rules around here, OK? Uh, I'd like to remind them that their oral testimony is restrict is restricted to five minutes in length. Uh, if you see the light turn red in front of you, uh, it means your five minutes have concluded and you should wrap up your testimony. And if you hear this, that means you're going too long, and you're ignoring the federal government, and all that stuff that goes with it. So we won't have much of that, but we we do watch that very closely, so you'll see the lights there. So, uh, now before recognizing witnesses, uh, uh, I want to remind them that your old testimony is is restricted to five minutes in length, and if you see the light turn red, you'll know what the time is. So I want to now recognize Doctor Guneski for his five minute opening remarks.

Chairman and members of the United States uh, House Small Business Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. It is truly an honor to speak with you about the critical role, career and technical education plays in strengthening Main Street America and building America's workforce. I can say that this topic is so important to me that I literally drove through a blizzard to be here today. Uh, it was more of a blizzard warning. Uh, my name is Keith Gnuski and I proudly serve as Superintendent of the Wallenpaul-Pec Area School District in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Our district serves three thousand students from Wayne and Pike counties and is very rural covering three hundred and twenty-five square miles. I am proud to say that our communities are rich in work ethic, resilience, and commitment to opportunity. Wayne and Pike counties are unique in Pennsylvania. We are the only two counties out of the sixty-seven counties in the state that do not currently have a dedicated career and tech center. Yet despite this, we have never approached this career in technical education with a deficit mindset. Instead, we have embraced a do with the best you can with what you have mindset. Using limited space and shared facilities, we have built strong, high quality programs in automotive technology, outdoor power equipment, building construction, child care, allied health, which is our nursing program, engineering, culinary arts, protective services, which covers law enforcement, EMS, and firefighting, rehabilitation aid, and aviation. These AI-resistant programs reflect the real workforce needs of our region. and provide students with meaningful pathways to employment, entrepreneurship, and life-sustaining wages, all while staying in the beautiful northern Pocono Mountains. I am privy to be a part of a school district with rich history of identifying community and workforce needs, and aligning those needs to curricular pathways and creating opportunities for our students, so that schools to work relationships can be strengthened. My predecessors did not wait for the perfect conditions to make CTE programs critical part of our school. Instead, robust programs were created and I'm happy to report that today, over forty percent of our high school students participate in CTE programs. We have accomplished this by flipping the script on career and tech education. Our programs are no longer viewed as vocational ed programs for the non-academic or the non-college bound student. Our programs are driven by certifications and post-secondary accreditation, which allows students to bank college credits in high school. thus allowing them to graduate from college quicker, with less debt, and allow the students to begin honing their skills and expertise earlier in their educational experience. At the same time, the demand for career and tech education in rural Pennsylvania is overwhelming. Our neighboring career and tech centers are o- operating at full capacity with hundreds of students on waiting lists. For example, the Monroe County Technical Institute currently has more than six hundred students waiting for admission. and they are not alone. These are motivated students who wanna learn, work, and contribute to their communities, but who are being turned away simply because there is not enough space. We feel the same restriction in our own CTE programs as many of our class sizes are limited due to the lack of student space in our school. Where we might have twenty-five students in a CTE program in a CTC, that is held, we are limited to about a dozen students in our current high school. That reality underscores the need for a CTC in Wayne and Pike counties. Today we are in the progress of uh building what will be the final CTC in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This facility will represent the completion of a statewide network of CTE infrastructure, and will ensure that no region is left behind. A major reason for this project is possible is the federal government's investment secured through the leadership of Representative Bresnahan. Through his advocacy, Wayne Pike CTC was awarded three million dollars in federal funding. This investment is allowing us to expand capacity, modernize equipment, and create learning environments that mirror today's workplaces. This funding is not about bricks and mortar, it is about access. It is about workforce readiness. It is about giving rural students the same opportunities as their peers in more populent uh affluent areas. In our region, sixty percent of our students are considered economically disadvantaged. Career and tech education is not an alternative path. For many families, it is the primary pathway to economic stability. It connects students directly to local contractors, health care providers, manufacturers, service businesses, and entrepreneurs. It prepares them not only to work on Main Street USA, but to become Main Street USA. Our students graduate ready to participate in post-secondary education if they choose. ready to contribute to our country and the armed forces if they choose, and ready to contribute to our workforce if they choose. Our employers gain skilled workers, our communities grow stronger. Today I look forward to sharing how strategic investments in career and tech education can strengthen small businesses, expand rural economies, and build a workforce prepared for long-term success. Thank you for the opportunity to be here, and I welcome your questions and our discussion.

Thank you. Gentlemen, Nilo's back. I now recognize Mister Gibson. uh for his five minute opening remarks.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh first I wanna thank Congressman Derek Smith for his uh leadership and vision at Kansas and his invite today I also would like to thank your staffer uh Colin Hall for his his assistance in having us today purpose of my testimony today is to share with you some best practices and uh successes that AGC of Kansas has uh uh developed in Kansas uh our program our workforce development program for CTE is called Build Up Kansas you have a brochure in front of you that is already outdated but uh it gives you a little uh flavor what's what it's all about but uh this is the most successful public-private partnership in the state of Kansas and maybe uh Midwest in terms of focus bringing together uh policymakers educators and the construction industry to laser focus on CTE technical training uh for our younger generation A historical perspective. Uh, over the last forty years, uh, schools have been told to send everybody to college. We all know that. But with that, they've spent the lion's share of their resources on preparing kids for college. In Kansas, we, uh, with our focus groups, and I believe this reflects the country, nearly seventy percent of our students either can't afford to go to college or don't wanna go to college. So what are they doing? Uh, We - we approached the Kansas Board of Regents which oversees the uh college and Colle- Community College and Vo-Tech Colleges and the Kansas Department of Education with our training curriculum partner the National Center for Construction Education Research, NCCR, to get the - those - that curriculum approved. It's the only construction trade materials approved by both agencies. The reason for that is it has a credential component that the students have, that they can uh demonstrate their - their proficiencies. But it now has become the number one pathway uh cited by the Kansas Department of Education. Construction technology leads the way of every uh uh profession, uh uh pathway in the state, and we're real proud about that. Uh, what brought us to this point in terms of CTE programming being a top priority for Kansas? Four years ago, Panasonic was looking to move out of California and they they looked at Oklahoma and looked at Kansas. The key question that they ask, and I would suggest to you why your committee is so important to this country, is the question they ask our Governor, our Lieutenant Governor, and our legislature was, if we're gonna invest five billion dollars in your state, we need thirteen thousand construction workers to build that facility. But the question was, can you build and can you maintain our facility? I would suggest to each one of you as policy makers. That is the the key to success for every state that you represent now and well into the future. Can you build and maintain our facility? And we we stepped up with Build Up Kansas. We now with funding from the state, which pays for the textbooks, the on-line testing for credentials, and the train the trainer for the instructors. In less than three years we have had a hundred and fifty high schools and community colleges come on-line with CTE programs. ten thousand students uh in carpentry, welding, electrical, HVAC, sheep sheep metal, plumbing and the core curriculum. The great news is twenty-one percent of those ten thousand students are female. The female population is being migrated or or drawn into construction because they got great careers and get great pay. Uh we also uh with this the NCCR curriculum it's approved by the Department of Labor, Department of Education, Department of Justice our Kansas Board of Regents and Kansas uh Department of Education. We're not just stopping with the high schools and community colleges. We have four correctional facilities. They're using our curriculum. The largest is right outside of Wichita. The the elder rate or correctional facility has a hundred and fifty low risk inmates taking masonry training. Those do those those low risk inmates, as soon as they're being released or being hired by industry, they are telling me they're better employees than the ones they have. Uh the other component the uh Department of Commerce likes with what we're doing, we have an HR platform that we provide at no cost to the construction industry to post their jobs by craft and by city, and we Geofence, the high schools that are partners with us, the kids can download their resume and send it directly to the HR director who posted that job opening for an interview. Uh, that is something that no one else has. The publisher for NCCR curriculum is Pearson. Pearson has gone all over the country. They have not seen a partnership. like what Build Up Kansas has brought to the table. My recommendations to you uh in in closing, increased funding to Perkins Act is critical. I also would suggest that the administration, whether it be this one or in the future, establish a CTE czar. Uh that way business, industry and education knows who to go to in the Department of Labor that specializes in CTE. I'd also take a page of my former life running the AGC highway. Look at a funding formula that if a state spends one dollar on CTE, the feds matches that dollars. And the last one, don't forget about construction trade associations. They have the finger on the pulse of policymakers' education and business industry. They know what their workforce needs is. And if you put provisions in your congressional

Gentlemen, his time is up.

Bill. I'm sorry, Mister Chair. I I appreciate the time.

Uh, thank you again for that great report. I now recognize Doctor Nix. uh for her five minute opening remarks.

Chairman Williams, Ranking Member Tran, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the critical connection between career and technical education CTE and our nation's workforce in developing the future of Main Street success. My name is Doctor Nikki Nix, Chief Academic Officer for Godley ISD in Texas. With more than twenty years in education as a CTE teacher, coordinator and director, I've seen firsthand how education and small business must work together to prepare students for meaningful careers. Godley is a fast-growing rural community southwest of Fort Worth, Texas. Our district serves around thirty-three hundred students and covers a hundred and twenty-two square miles. Our residential growth has surged, but our large-scale industry has not grown. Strong public schools and thriving small businesses are truly the heartbeat of our community. In two thousand twenty four we opened the Wild, the Wildcat innovative learning destination, a seventy seven thousand square foot CTE center, intentionally designed within a traditional football stadium footprint to maximize taxpayer dollars. What looks like a football stadium from the highway is actually more than forty classrooms collaboration spaces and learning environments serving thirteen CTE programs of study ranging from agriculture and health science to audio video and entrepreneurship. In these programs, students earn industry-based certifications aligned with rural workforce needs. Because local internship opportunities are limited for us, we intentionally designed student-ran enterprises inside of the wild to replicate rural world experiences. Shop the Wild, our school store, is a fully run student enterprise where entrepreneurship students manage every aspect of the business while selling apparel and spirit items. Shop the Wild also serves as a point of sale for programs Within the facility, like our drone students who are often hired to film aerial footage of properties for our local real estate agents, and welding students building custom projects for community members. Wild Blooms is our floral design shop. It's open to the public during high demand events like homecoming and Valentine's Day, turning the classroom into a working retail business. I lead our information technology program, supports and services all of our student technology devices across the district. Through this student-led enterprise, we are able to bring device repairs in-house, eliminating costly outsourcing fees while providing students with authentic hands-on experience. Since opening the wild, CTE enrollment has grown significantly. Our students are drawn to the authentic labs, real-world equipment, and coursework that lead to tangible credentials and career opportunities. Texas provides weighted funding for CTE courses, which is critical. However, in fast growth communities like ours, increases in the state home set exemption limit local revenue growth. This directly affects our ability to expand facilities and meet the demands students have for high quality workforce programs. The Small Business Committee can play a pivotal role in strengthening CTE. Some key actions from you might include things like creating tax incentives or direct funding for small businesses that hire high school interns or apprentices, Helping to offset training and supervision costs. Providing incentives for local and regional workforce development organizations to formally partner with public schools in building workforce-ready talent pipelines. Supplementing local salary schedules to create competitive T CTE teacher pay. Enabling schools to recruit recruit professionals with real world experience. Prohibiting unfunded state and federal mandates and and ensuring that K-twelve funding grows at at least the rate of inflation. and restricting state actions that reduce our undermined local funding mechanisms, particularly those that limit bonding capacity for fast growth districts like Godley such as excessive increases to home set exemptions that erode districts' ability to finance facilities and CTE infrastructure. Current technical education is no longer an alternative pathway. It is an essential strategy for economic growth and small business sustainability. When students graduate with certifications and real world experience, they strengthen small business, they fill workforce gaps, and they often become entrepreneurs themselves. At Godly ISD we believe education should launch students into opportunity, supporting small businesses and the future of Main Street. Thank you for your time today and I look forward to your questions.

General

Gentlelady uh yields back. I now recognize Mister Boren for his five minute opening remarks. Thank you.

Chairman Williams, Breaking Member Tran, and distinguished members of this committee, uh, thank you for convening this hearing on how we can strengthen America's main streets by investing in career and technical education, including apprenticeships. Uh, I'm Zach Borin, I'm Senior Vice President of Apprenticeships for America. We're a national industry association advancing apprenticeships as America's first choice talent strategy. Our North Star is to reach at least four million active apprentices over the next decade, putting us on par with Germany, Switzerland, England, competitors that invest heavily in the trades and apprenticeships. I'm grateful to be here at a hearing about career and technical education, uh because that's what apprenticeships are. Uh, apprenticeships are the oldest form of work-based learning. And CTE is where that journey begins, building real hands-on skills. And apprenticeships are where those skills turn into paid jobs, credentials, and careers. Together, they form this seamless pathway from school to work. I'm also the proud son of apprenticeship graduate myself. Uh, my dad completed a meter technician apprenticeship in Indiana. Uh, his apprenticeship didn't just land him a job. It built a trade that sustained our family and built our American dream for more than fifty years, and still does today. My career includes a decade of civil service at the US Department of Labor, working across multiple administrations to expand registered apprenticeships. During that time we reached a twenty year high in apprentices and participating employers. We cut red tape by seventy percent and we expanded the GI Bill for veterans who needed access to those education dollars. I've worked with Fortune five hundreds like Google and GM to build apprenticeship programs. But just as importantly, I've worked with small employers, uh, with with similar talent needs. One example is technically IT. It's a small minority owned business in South Carolina. Its founder, Ashley, turned to apprenticeships to grow in a in a tight labor market. With support for training and start-up costs, she launched quickly and saved nearly a hundred thousand dollars in education expenses, and her company grew. Her story matters because small businesses employ nearly half of America's private sector workforce, yet they consistently say that the biggest challenge is finding skilled workers. Registered apprenticeships allow employers to train workers to indus- industry specifications with local flexibility, while workers earn a paycheck from day one. The average apprentice, Congressman Tran pointed out, earns about eighty thousand dollars when they complete that apprenticeship program and their earnings increase fifty percent. Employers see a good return too, a hundred and forty-four percent return on investment, while significantly lowering worker turnover. Yet today, just three tenths of one percent of American workers are apprentices. With nearly six hundred and thou- eighty thousand Americans learning through apprenticeships each year, it's more learners than the nine largest public universities combined, but apprenticeships receive only a fraction of the federal investment for education. For every dollar we invest in apprenticeships, a thousand is spent on higher education. Small businesses face their own set of barriers to adopting apprenticeships. Those include upfront costs, administrative complexity, and slow state approval processes can hamper their success. I've experienced this kind of apprenticeship bureaucracy myself. Uh, in Pennsylvania, a small business I supported waited more than ten months in three council hearings for approval, even though they had a solid training plan. that met the state's requirements and they were ready to hire. Delays like that mean lost contracts and lost workers. If Congress wants to unlock apprenticeship growth, then we must make it easier to start and financially worker- workable for small employers. The most effective model is a group employer sponsor approach. It's where multiple small businesses share infrastructure and coordinate training and compliance. North Carolina really shows the way where more than twenty-five groups help employers collaborate with community colleges and to scale their own apprenticeship programs in a variety of industries. When small businesses work together, they don't have to build everything on their own. They train together and they grow. Uh, this committee can incentivize groups of employers to start apprenticeships through a pay-for-performance model that rewards hiring and completion, not paperwork and process. That protects taxpayers and lowers risk for employers. This committee gets it. What drives Main Street is risk, cash flow, and workforce. Building an incentivizing apprenticeship addresses all three. It's the most effective talent and anti-poverty strategy we have, where Americans can advance through their sweat, not student debt. Strengthening families and hometowns. We do not need a new idea for small business talent. We need an old one. Registered Apprenticeship works. Let's scale what works. Thank you for your time. I look forward to your questions.

Let me also bring up something. If you see members walking in, walking out, it's nothing you said, nobody's mad, there's a lot of other hearings going on. And so they'll come and go. So I just wanna make sure we uh understand that. And uh now we'll move to the member questions under the five minute rule, that we talked about, and I'll recognize myself for five minutes. Uh, Doctor Nix, uh, based on your experience teaching CTE programs, Uh, these programs provide a pivotal solution to the skill workforce shortage, and uh offer students a robust pathway to uh uh acquire hands-on experience, industry-recognized certifications, and valuable partnerships with local businesses. My question is, what more can be done to increase awareness of skilled trades, so students can utilize them as pathways to high-paying, in-demand careers?

I think it starts with really recognizing the fact that you can graduate and enter the workforce with a skilled trade that costs you pretty much nothing if you're coming from public school. There's not a college tuition that you have to pay to get that. A lot of times high schools can provide that full certification um in your high school experience and you can graduate with little to no debt. Um I think incentivizing that and helping parents understand that is a huge part of promoting and recruiting students into skilled trades for sure.

Perfect. So uh additionally How would an increase in CTE students and graduates benefit rural communities, like Godley, uh like the one that you serve in my district and there's others around it.

The more students we can get certified and ready to enter the workforce, the the faster our community is gonna grow. As I mentioned earlier, we are a rural community and our growth has largely come from rooftops and not in industry or even a lot of small businesses. If we can graduate students who understand the culture of godly and in keeping our small town feel that our community loves, those students wanna come back and live and work in our community and start new businesses there. um, to provide construction trades and welding and, um, masonry jobs right here locally, um, to our own community. And that helps, um, our - our own town in a - in a tremendous way.

Uh, Mr. Gibson, uh, by twenty-thirty data suggests that if the workforce shortage is not addressed it will cost the US economy one point seven five trillion dollars in lost revenue. So, uh, can you explain how your member businesses have strengthened their partnerships with CTE programs.

Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. One thing I'll I'll build on uh with my conferee. We did a presentation last fall amongst uh uh Western Kansas economic developers. And after the presentation a mayor of a a little town of five hundred came up to me and said, Mike, you all keep focusing on technical trades. He said, we had a water main break in our city six months ago. It took three weeks to find a backhoe operator. and we had to have our residents use bottled water. That's one example. How how did that impact quality of life and and economic development? But I would suggest to you that going back to the the original question that Panasonic asked building and maintain a facility we're we're right now, you are working to try to attract all those companies that left this country over the years to come back here. And I know they're asking the same question. Are you are we capable of building and maintaining our facilities. And the key to that is technical trades. I will promise you the return on the investment is multifold in terms of what the, the employer needs, the employee has a professional career. In our state we need fifty-eight thousand new construction workers. I told the speaker of the house, I made this comment two years ago, I said, " You have a partner with AGC of Kansas that cannot fail." He said, " You're making a bold statement in front of my colleagues." I said, " No, sir, I said, if we don't get fifty eight thousand new construction workers over the next three to five years, I'm gonna have a lot of construction firms going out of business, because the first thing a con contractor needs is people t in order to bid a project. So this has a a ripple effect throughout the economy and with the infrastructure, the the we all know that our highways and bridges and overall infrastructure is aging. It's gonna require uh a big amount of of professional career uh folks coming out of the high school and community college in Vo-tech uh more so than ever before.

Doctor uh Gnusky, uh the Wayne Pike Career and Technical Center is a joint effort among multiple school districts in Pennsylvania to house thirteen career and technical education programs. My question is can you discuss the importance of a dedicated CTE center for engaging students in CTE programs at a very young age?

Absolutely, I think, you know, one of the things, uh, going back to a a previous question of what else we can do, I think it is, uh, important to, uh, begin early exploration of the trades, um, in in career and tech education, um, starting at kindergarten on up. Um, it not only, um, really allows the students to hone in on an interest that they might particularly have, it also focuses on nontraditional students, students that may not ha- have uh seen their their pathway going through the world of career and tech education and so i do believe having that ctc having a ctc is critical because it's it it puts the message out that this is important um it also creates half day programs right now our students uh if they want to attend a career in tech ed program in our school from a neighboring school district they must um actually withdraw from their current school and enroll in our school leaving their friends and families behind so we're forcing kids to choose between their families and friends and their career.

My time is up. My time is up. Thank you for that.

Yep.

Um, I now recognize the ranking member for five minutes of questions.

Thank you, Chairman. Mister Boren, uh, I'm proud to co-lead HR sixteen forty-two, the Connecting Small Businesses with Career and Technical Education Graduates Act with my colleagues, uh, Chairman Williams, Congressman Olszewski, and Congressman Bresch- Breschna- Breschnehan. Our bill aims to help small business owners fill gaps in their workforce by connecting them with graduates of vocational programs through SBA's Small Business Development Center program. I think one of the largest missed opportunities in our economy is between connecting CTE graduates and the small businesses that desperately needs uh their skills. Right now, small businesses are often the last to know that a pipeline of trained job-ready workers exist in their own backyard. From your work with apprenticeships, nationwide how important is it to formally connect small businesses with CTE graduates, and what best practices have you seen that ensure these partnership translate into jobs?

That's a great question. Um, and, you know, it's it really begins with CTE. CTE builds those foundational skills at the high school and community college level. Uh, but we've not yet built this pathway from career and technical education into registered apprenticeships, which are those paid on the job learning opportunities. We have this real disconnect between what happens at the Department of Education under CTE and registered apprenticeship which has a large, uh, fairly large footprint of six hundred and eighty thousand, uh, apprentices nationwide. Um, we can also look at, uh, pre-apprenticeship as a real bridge in between CTE and - and - and apprenticeships. And, you know, a really great example of that is what's happening in Iowa. So, uh, I worked with Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa, uh, led by a - a terrific director. They partnered with John Deere and a bunch of their suppliers to build apprenticeship programs at the high school that leverages the CTE training that's happening in the high school with what's happening at the factory. So this is really the idea of like how do we connect, you know, CTE leaders at the high school level with businesses that actually have those jobs in demand.

You know, on that, in your written testimony you wrote about a, uh, secret sauce that helps small businesses' apprenticeship programs succeed. Can you further discuss those factors?

Yeah, I think the secret sauce is really coming out of North Carolina, uh, and it's not just their barbecue. Uh, it's it's really how they have built, uh, uh, twenty-five different consortia, uh, across the state. you know these these consortium that bring employers together to design apprenticeship programs to organize them with other employers who have like needs and then also to to bring them to scale so great example of that is apprenticeship two thousand uh it's a thirty year youth apprenticeship program just outside of charlotte it began with about eight or nine companies uh both german swiss austrian and american and uh you know really amazing Aspect of that is that uh they they had this need in nineteen ninety four for something called mechatronics. Uh and mechatronics is probably pretty familiar to everyone today, but it's really this combination of mechanics and engineering uh at the factory floor l floor level, but the community college had no idea how to teach it. So they came together as a consortium to build the apprenticeship program together as, you know, kind of uh not necessarily competitors, but. people working in the same industry and they've been able to sustain that program for over thirty years uh one of the young men i met there was at maritech dynamold name sean uh he was twenty one years old just finished his apprenticeship program he was buying a second house getting married we asked him what his friends were doing most of them were on their couch you know vaping and playing video games meanwhile he's living the american dream

Question for the entire panel, if I get a chance. Uh, how do we change the narrative nationally so that career, career and technical education is seen as an equal value to traditional college pathways? Uh, why don't I start with you, Mister Gunuskey.

Yes, uh, just to re-echo what I, what I said before, I, I think it's the, it's the early education. It's, it's going to our, um, you know, going to the elementary schools and the middle schools, um, and, and giving them the opportunities to see what their, what their pathway can, can can include. I also think it's important to ensure that all of the equipment that we have is reflective of the re- kit equipment that's in industry, so that we're not working on two different levels, uh, teaching kids one pathway and then they enter the field in an industry, and they are working on different equipment. So I think mirroring that equipment is critical.

Thank you. I'm I'm out of time, but, uh, Chairman, I yield back. Look forward to talking with you all a little more.

Gentleman yields back. Uh, now I recognize Mister Stauber from the great state of Minnesota. and uh the hockey magnet in this uh group uh and champion for five minutes.

Well first off uh Mister Chai I appreciate you holding this meeting and I wanna be real crystal clear I actually tried out for the ninety two Olympic team and I wasn't good enough so that that was the way it is uh but my uh younger brother

Mm.

coached the women's team to the two thousand eighteen uh Olympic gold medal in Pyeongchang and uh I can tell you that uh these uh the women's Olympic gold medal and the men's gold medal are something special. country. And I think we had to, we have to congratulate the athletes and, uh, I don't know about you, but you get chills and a tear in your eye when they've got that flag wrapped around them. Uh, uh, you know, skating around the rink. Uh, both the men's and women's women's team were so proud of them and all the athletes that, uh, made, uh, the United States proud. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, Mr. Gibson, uh, as the end of the, at the end of last year there were roughly six point five million job openings. nationwide in northern Minnesota and across the eighth district contractors tell me they have work lined up but it can't it it can be difficult to find enough skilled workers to get it done. From your vantage point, how is the skilled labor shortage impacting the construction companies you represent, especially small and mid-sized firms?

Thank you. Uh, Build Up Kansas uh uh took this on uh several years ago uh because again, we need fifty-eight thousand new construction workers to keep up with uh market demand. But the the bottom line is the small to medium sized firms are now having to be very selective on what they bid uh which keeps them from being able to grow their company, grow their expertise and and other related uh growth opportunities.

And that's what we wanna do in small business, Mister Gibson,

Uh absolutely.

is have have the small business matter woman be part of that.

Absolutely. The other thing and the thing I saw when I moved to Kansas fifteen years ago was Kansas is ranked over the last forty years forty to forty-fifth in the country for outmigration of population we're actually slowing that down to where employers are starting to see because of CTE programs, those young women and men taking technical trade programs and they're getting their credentials to where they can get jobs close to home where they grew up versus moving somewhere else and and their parents following where they go,

Yeah.

and when their parents retire, guess what? They follow and and and sell their homes and and take their wealth with them to wherever their kids and grand kids are. So, our employers are really excited about what CTE has brought to the table because, it has actually increased the number of a a a a working pool of of technical trade folks with credentials that they can immediately put to work on the job site.

Right. You know, uh, one of the things that when I talk to uh, high schools, I say, um, the uh, the uh, uh, at uh, the graduation, you know, instead of uh, i- i- when we recognize the highest uh GPA uh in the class, why don't we recognize the best mechanic? Why don't we recognize the best carpenter? Why don't we mech- recognize the sheet metal worker that uh made something to put on display? We have to, we have to really uh push for that. And I wanna thank you all uh, you know, for doing that. Go ahead, Mr. Gibson.

I- I- I- we actually, with our community college in Vo Tech, we actually have a a graduation ceremony where we're just as a graduation for our our college students we're doing the same thing,

Yes.

but uh the the the bottom line being is uh you've got to look at how you provide those resources for that younger generation. They look for structure

Yes.

and technical trade programs, apprenticeship programs, in fact uh my good friend Mister Boren talked about uh the different programs out there. Kansas is now one of the leading apprenticeship programs, pre-appreciate pre- pre- apprenticeship programs. And the reason for that is it brings structure to the younger generation who was seeking that structure.

I've got one minute left. Um,

I think we can end this here.

and this is for anybody here.

We can have another minute.

I can have another. Oh, thank you, Mister Chair. What would you say the impact would be from the new policy and the one big beautiful bill where Congress created the workforce Pell grant, which will allow Pell funds to be used for components of registered apprenticeship programs starting this July?

I'm happy to take that one.

Go ahead, Mister.

Uh, yeah, we're excited, uh, about workforce Pell. I think, you know, Pell has long incentivized, uh, you know, college students to, to do well in college, be able to save, uh, some of those dollars that, that gets really expensive. You know, uh, the average student loan debt is thirty eight thousand across the United States, a whopping one point seven trillion in student loans. And today we're really looking at workforce Pell being able to bring new talent into the trades, into a number of occupations that don't necessarily require a four-year degree, and offset both uh the costs of the student uh as well as the small employer that wants to hire that talent. Uh we're gonna see how this rolls out. We're really excited about what the Department of Education has done here, uh but it's gonna take a lot of innovation at the state level to get it off the ground.

And I think that you bring it up at the state level, I I I I want the states to compete. I want the states to compete, uh, you know, for these, for the workforce and, uh, I hope that every, all fifty states agrees with that because at the state level, I think there's gonna be great, uh, things coming out of, uh, uh, you know, the discussions at the state level. Does anybody else wanna, uh, talk about the workforce Pellegrins? Cuz Pellegrins have never been used for registered apprenticeships. Anybody? Mister Gibson, go ahead.

I, I think you're gonna see that, uh, the states that are focused on CTE are gonna step up and take advantage of of these opportunities like Know Know Tomorrow, because again, what we're seeing is our policymakers, our education, uh, uh, deliverables. We we use community colleges and Vo-tech to deliver a lot of our training programs. And then the other thing that we told uh Congressman Schmidt, what a great story legislators have to tell to their constituents on how articulation agreements are being used by high schools and community colleges to use resources like resources and not having to duplicate it but these Pell Grants will only reinforce that momentum that is being uh uh uh shown on CTE.

Thank you very much. Thank you for indulging me for the next minute, Mister Chair, and I yield back.

The gentleman yields back. I now recognize Mistress Cisneros in the great state of California for five minutes.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thanks to uh all our witnesses for being in here today on this uh important topic. Um, I'm gonna start this first question with our two uh educators here on the panel, Doctor uh Gunski and Doctor Nix. Um, you know, back when I was in high school, uh, which is not that many, a few years ago. You know, we had electives where you could take, whether it be wood shop, metal shop, uh, auto mechanics, uh, home economics, and a lot of that went away. And I know now we've created these pathways that students could get on, but uh, the thing i kinda worry about right it's you know these used to be electives things that could kinda go you could go from this or that and kinda see what you liked rather than having to choose a pathway and then that becomes your direction that now you're for a lot of students if they do it for a little while and then decide they don't like it they're still kinda stuck on that pathway on their way to graduation how do we get back to a system where we can expose students to different things let them choose these electives so So they don't have to kind of make this decision and they can kind of work, you know what, I think I like this, you know, maybe I didn't like that, but let me try this. How do we get back to that?

Well, if you use myself as an example, I changed my major five times in college and got a degree and then still went back and got an alternative certification to become an educator. So, most times, even after you enter the workforce, you change the, your job multiple times before you actually find where you land. I think that's an important distinction to make for our students as well. Um and it's something that people have touched on in different ar- arenas already. Um, Pell Grants are great for you when you're graduating high school. Um, apprenticeships are great for you as you're in high school and leaving high school and going into college. These are all things that address the problem when you're ready to enter the workforce. But I think a bigger part of the core problem is addressing this from pre-K to professionals. It's an initiative we have in our district where we start with students as young as pre-K, start having conversations with students about what their innate abilities and strengths are, Um if you aren't good at conflict conflict resolution as a kindergarten and you can't keep your ki- your hands to yourself, um you probably won't be a really good police officer if you're not innately good at that. Doesn't mean that you can't be, um but it's gonna be a lot harder path for you to achieve that and be successful in it. So we have a lot of conversations about students learning about what their abilities are where their strengths lie and then helping um them understand what careers align with that outside of just their sphere of influence. Because if you grew up in a household where your dad was a police officer, and your grandpa was a police officer, and your uncle was a police officer, that's what's familiar to you. So we have to be very intentional about exposing students to careers outside of what they're immediately in contact with, helping them learn about who they are as individuals, and then helping connect them to careers that align with those so that they can make informed decisions as they move through life.

Well, thank you for that answer. Uh, I think it is important to kind of work with kids young to find what they're good at and kind of um, help facilitate that process, but Doctor Gunuskey, what would you uh, how would you

Yeah, absolutely.

make the.

I think um, that is a great question, and what we do at our school is, as ninth graders, all students pick a wide variety of introductory classes that they can take. Short little bursts which are basically a microcosm of the pathways that they can explore. And then the students, once they pick that pathway, uh, they are able to change if that's something that they realize they don't like, because it's not only important. out what you wanna do for the rest of your life it's also equally critical to find out what you don't wanna do for the rest of your life as early as possible but i think it's important and i'll use this analogy when you talk about taking a variety of classes i think that you know when you when you if you were to look at each class as a brick and if you just take a smattering of classes throughout your entire career at the end of your high school career you might have a pile of bricks if you take those within a given pathway you've taken those bricks and built a foundation of which you can now build your career on. So that's kind of the idea that we're, that we're focusing on is ensuring that kids are leaving with a firm foundation, not a pile of bricks.

All right. Thank you for that. And um, you know, uh, Mister Boren and, and um, let me ask you this, right? Uh, I've been told, um, I've heard it, the, and actually the chairman kind of said the same thing here, right? But I've been told by many CEOs, I don't need more MBAs, I need more welders.

Mm-hmm.

So, How can this committee help facilitate that process?

Yeah, I think this committee plays an important role on, um, on really helping, uh, small employers work together. Uh, as I mentioned in my testimony, North Carolina is a great example of how we build consortia of small employers, medium-sized employers with all of the similar talent challenges. Um, you know, I talked about, uh, how these employers can come together through group sponsorship programs offered by the US Department of Labor um and certainly in California uh it's possible to bring together the the same training under the same roof with the uh same ability to recruit build a brand name just the way we see colleges build a brand name today and go out and build really uh first class training programs.

All right. Well, thank you for those answers and I'm out of time, so I yield back.

M- Mister Chair,

I

could, could I just expand on his question?

Ten seconds.

Ten seconds. It's how you deliver to the younger generation. They get all their information here. We spend almost forty percent of our total budget, workforce CTE budget, on social media, pushing out the careers and the, the pathways.

Gentlemen's time is up.

And so keep that in mind.

Gentleman yields back. I now recognize Mister Meuser from the great state of Pennsylvania for five minutes.

Thank you, Chairman. Uh, thank you to our witnesses very much. Dr. Gunuskey, nice to see you. I know you, I know that ride very well, that, that you took on the way down here. And I'm also not surprised at all to hear how, uh, Congressman Bresnahan was very supportive, uh, as he, uh, works real hard for the district course for the long term and in the short term. So that's, that's outstanding work. Good to hear. Um, you know, career in technical schools, uh, we all get it. Um, as far as they're important, all you gotta do is walk in one and, and see a, a young man, a young lady whom might have their head on the desk in a traditional schooling, uh, and now he's got a bounce in their step, they're taking care of business, they love what they're doing. It's fantastic. I love seeing it in the high schools, uh, in the public schools, and, uh, and then, you know, in the, uh, in the CTEs themselves. We fortunately, in, in, in my district right outside of Congressman Bresnahan's district have some great, uh, uh c t e schools pentek for instance um uh the schuylkill county technical center northumberland county lebanon county technical center we've some great ones columbia montour berks county um lasern county community college has a outstanding program yet they're jammed um and they uh they they could be uh more expensive and the the the funding uh is not there necessarily for the capacity and let's face it as well the apparatuses and machines that they use, uh, is not always available because they need the latest things in order to develop the skills at the right level. So it's great how you integrate with, you know, it's really a training ground for a lot of businesses. So I know that's a, that's a, that's a big piece of it. Um, another big piece of it, of course, is, um, in twenty nineteen our friend from Pennsylvania, actually GT Thompson, had a lot to do with the Perkins grants being expanded. So that's very, very important. important and very meaningful. Last year Pennsylvania got fifty million dollars. I'd like to see that be a lot more than that, double if not triple. Uh, and as well the Pell Grants, under the BBB, uh, as I think you know, um, the Pell Grants were expanded from not just long term but short term. So, really, I mean, I got a list of questions here but I'd really just like to hear from you all, what else do we need to do to help improve, expand, uh, provide the right equipment, uh to the schools that you are all doing such a great job uh in in dedicated to to developing i'll start with you dr guneski

yeah i would just say um i think a a a targeted infrastructure funding model of some kind where when you look around the country and and and you assess uh the ctc's that are successful that have six hundred kids on a waiting list which as i mentioned in my opening at monroe county is is is sad i mean that is something that certainly needs to be addressed So I think an, I think a targeted funding structure uh would be great. I also think, and and you had mentioned Perkins and I can't agree more, that is something that certainly supports our funding and uh and uh for career and tech education. But in an indirect way, so don't uh so doesn't the other funding models that we have, including title funding, um special ed funding under IDEA. Um we have a number of special needs students who participate in our career and tech ed programs, and uh are able to work and live independently because of those programs. And so I think identifying all of those sources and just taking a look and seeing if there's anything else uh where they could be supported would be helpful to to our programs.

That's good. You mix a little bit of business um administration into that and towards towards the end of the

Yeah. My business administrator will be happy, yes.

Yeah, good, yeah, good. Uh, Dr., uh, Mr. Gibson?

Congressman, uh, I, I, I will tell you, obviously increasing uh Perkins funds is one thing, but reaching out and working with trade associations, The reason for that is we can then reach out to our manufacturer reps and suppliers to donate materials. We've got programs in the high schools and community colleges where we'll get a sheet metal subcontractor to donate a sheet metal break, which costs about a hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars a piece.

Right.

But if they see that that school is committed to CTE programming,

Yeah.

AGC can reach out to our contractors or subcontractors and suppliers and their manufacturer reps to say, We want you to get involved. Why are they gonna get involved? Why would Black and Decker donate materials to that? Because they know that those kids are gonna be trained on the, th- those tools and they're gonna be on a job site and they're gonna ask that manufact- or that company to buy those - those tools that they were trained on.

Hmm.

So, that public-private partnership really pays huge dividends,

Hmm.

not just with the federal dollars and state dollars, but the private dollars that are contributed.

Maybe some sort of tax deduction for such donations is something we could - we could work on.

I would tell you the all industries would welcome that.

Yeah. OK, great. Uh, back to Nix.

Perkins funding is amazing and it it does support programs in our district. Um, and when you hear the the dollar value at the the national level, it sounds really big, but when you look at the dollar value at a local level, our Perkins allocation was just around twenty thousand dollars.

Right.

We have a hundred.

Thank you. I'm I'm I'm out of time. I'm very glad you folks are in the positions you're in. Thanks for the great work. I yield back, Mr. Chairman.

OK, gentlemen, yields back, I now recognize Ms. Goodlander from the great state of New Hampshire for five minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today for this really important and exciting hearing. In New Hampshire, our small businesses are the beating heart of our economy, and I hear the same story everywhere I go. Um, and the data bears this out. A third of our small businesses can't fill basic jobs. It is about recruiting and retaining talent and the energy and excitement around starting that pipeline as early as possible in our schools is really overwhelming. You know, as I've talked to and visited our our schools and our tech centers, we have more than two dozen across New Hampshire. You know, I hear the same thing from students who have really lost faith in a traditional four-year college path, and for very good reasons. you know, the the the national student debt balance right now has ballooned to over one point eight trillion dollars. It's all very understandable, and this is where I I really believe the power of career and technical education comes in. Um, as I've traveled around New Hampshire and seen, uh, at Alvern High School and Hudson, the next generation of nurses, I've seen in in Claremont, at Sugar River Valley Regional Tech Center, multiple generations of people who whose live lives and livelihoods started right in these tech centers. And it's it's an inspiration to see. Um, we've talked about a lot of the barriers that I've I've heard about again and again. Um, I wanna start with funding. You know, as as I look at the the federal budget and, you know, I serve on the Armed Services Committee, it's a trillion dollar budget for our Pentagon. And when I think about what you're doing with twenty thousand dollars in your district, Um, what my state has done in leveraging, you know, seven million dollars in Perkins grants, it's, um, it, it should be humbling to, to anyone administering a trillion dollar budget anywhere in this government. Um, but as I understand it, federal funding for career and technical education has fallen since nineteen eighty from around three and a half billion to just one point five billion in twenty, twenty four. Um, Mister Guneski, you, you mentioned that there are f- several sources of federal funding, including IDA funding, um, that's essential to the, the programs. And by the way, I just wanna thank anyone who does the job of superintendent deserves, um, a massive round of applause, um, for, for what you do because it's one of the hardest jobs, I think, in our country. But can you say a little bit more? I mean, I, I've been very seized by the fact that Congress now has chronically failed to live up to our obligations under IDA in funding it at the level that the level that we said we would. Can you just speak more to - to - to the other sources of funding beyond Perkins that are essential to your programs?

Yeah, absolutely, and - and there - there are three that I will - that I will highlight. Um, first, uh, is the - the title one - title funding that we received, title one for low income students. Um, that is imperative, uh, in our area with sixty percent of our students, um, uh, defined as economically disadvantaged. That - that funding is critical to - to move our programs forward. as i had mentioned being over three hundred and twenty five square miles uh access to our program's transportation is also a very big challenge that we that that we face um so the the perkins funding is there i i one of the items that yes

so do you you use perkins for transportation

uh we we do not use perkins for for transportation um uh we use uh the the title one funding for

for

yes and we can use it for really classroom supports aides uh that we may have teachers in in our classrooms to support reading and and math work as well um special education with idea is huge as uh many of our students require teacher assistance to be with them to to help with their instruction special education teachers to help process um and um modify curriculum so that it's understandable for the students um and so that that is that is very uh important and then there is something called a WIOA that i wanted to mention uh which is the workforce Innovation, um, uh, Act, and, uh, really that, that is super important in helping us network with our workforce boards. Uh, and it's a, a real collaborative approach that we have been able to work with in our community, in just trying to leverage as much funding as we can and collaboration into getting, uh, having our students, uh, have as much experience as possible.

Thank you. Mister Boren, you, you mentioned that in your written testimony that the National Apprenticeship Act hasn't been meaningfully modernized in more than eighty years. Uh, I really look forward to working with you on that project. Uh, you mentioned that sometimes just the red tape, excessive paperwork, um, and registration requirements, which can exceed thirty-five pages, uh, have been a real barrier to getting small businesses involved with apprenticeship programs and you chronicled some pretty outrageous stories of of red tape show us the red tape let's cut it together Um, I'm I'm out of time, but I appreciate your testimony on this point and look forward to working with you.

Gentlelady yields back. I now recognize Mister Bresnahan from the great state of Pennsylvania for five minutes.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you to Congressman Muser for those, uh, kind remarks earlier, and thank you to the witnesses. I know it is quite time-consuming to take time out of your days and your lives to come here and and advocate for your causes in front of Congress but it really does mean a lot. And, Doctor Gunuskey, thank you for making the trek through the blizzard, uh, from Northeastern Pennsylvania. And, uh, we'll be spending some time on Thursday, so should you need a ride home, we'll, we'll make some room, uh, to accommodate. But one of the first places that I got to visit after becoming a new member of Congress was your CTE. And, and something that really stuck with me was the excitement and the passion, that we saw from your students, whether that was in the culinary program, the aviation program, uh, the small automotive repair, uh, industry. And something that I also experienced in my last life as being a contractor, and I'm sure Mr. Gibson would agree, is just the pipeline and availability of the future workforce. And the careers and the education that you're providing for your students are, are industries and jobs that will never be replaced by artificial intelligence, And the availability of work and jobs and family sustaining careers the day after they graduate from your program was something that was certainly inspiring, which led us to support the three million dollar, uh, community project funding for the enhancement and the new facility that I'm really excited for that I assume will be state of the art um based off of all of the other programs you have to offer um and I think it's an investment that's just one step to ensure that hundreds of students that are eager to pursue career and skilled trades and technical fields, can do so in just a an incredibly new facility. But something else that you do incredibly well was, and I'd hope that you could provide some insight back to the committee here on how you partner with small businesses with inside of the community. And the curriculum that you're creating matches what the current workforce actually needs. So are there any examples of successful partnerships with small businesses somewhere within your over three hundred mile radius that you can point to, uh, that we can have some better insight on?

Yes, absolutely, I'd be happy to share that. So, um, one of the reasons that I think our programs are so successful is because they're celebrated and embraced by our community. Our community loves what, that we have these programs, they see the value in them, they just understand that we need more of them and we need them to grow, we need more, more participation. What has, I think, greatly benefited, um, our program and it's something that I think Pennsylvania does very well is the requirement for every CTE program to have, uh, occupational advisory committees, OAC committees that meet twice a year. And those committees are required for small businesses, industry professionals, post-secondary institutions, to come in and meet with us twice a year, each program, and really dissect what we're doing, looking at our task lists, looking at what students are learning, looking at the equipment that we're utilizing, and giving us um feedback as to are we hitting are we hitting the mark are we not what do we need to change what do we need to update and um so i would strongly suggest the the oac's any school who is who is not doing that i think that is a that is a strong complement to any program

how frequently will you adjust curriculum based off of that feedback

after every meeting so after every meeting uh our teachers will take the feedback and they will begin adjusting task lists for the future and again that keeps us in sync with the small businesses we're Uh, again, our small businesses are are terrific partners. Uh, we would like to have more small business participation because we believe that the the the more numbers that we have the greater value that we have, um, in our programs and the and the better feedback that we that we can receive and and and make those changes.

How has the local community and surrounding area been, um, receiving the idea of such a large investment and the idea that out of two counties in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, are the only two that don't have a dedicated CTE CTC. Uh, how has the surrounding community been in response to this initiative?

Yes, they've been very supportive, uh, because, uh, once again they they see the need. Um, as I had mentioned before, the difficulties that we now face with student sharing districts, having to disenroll in one district and re-enroll in another district, naturally puts up barriers for students and families that, um, are are are really, um, is really inequitable when you look across the entire state where no other county

Well, I appreciate you uh making the trek out here. Thank you for all that you all do for either, for your communities and I look forward to our continued working relationship. And with that, Mister Chairman, I yield the balance of my time.

Uh, gentlemen, Niels back, and now I recognize Miss McIver from the great state of New Jersey for five minutes.

Uh, thank you so much, Chairman, and thank you to our ranking member for convening today's hearing. I want to thank Each and each of our witnesses for joining us here today, especially with all of the weather and everything going on, happy that you can be here with us. Across the country, small businesses are struggling, struggling to find workers with the skills they need, while too many young people are questioning whether a traditional four year degree is the only path to economic prosperity. Last December, one third of small business owners reported job openings they could not fill. At the same time, student loan debt is rising and recent college graduates are experiencing higher unemployment rates than the broader workforce. We must build better bridges between education and the workforce, which we've heard today on this panel. In my district, we see this both as a challenge and an opportunity. Institutions like X six County College and Newark Vocational High School are working to empower students. They're helping young people earn industry certifications and hands-on technical skills that align with businesses' needs. At the same time, initiatives like the Urban League of Texas County's Micro-Enterprise and Skill Training Center show how partnerships between industry and educators can create pipelines into high-demand careers. This strengthens vocational opportunities in our community. These programs show that when we invest in practical pathways, we prepare students for well-paying jobs, and we ensure that small businesses have the talent they need to compete. With that, I have one question for Mister Boren. Participation in career and technical education programs have remained largely flat for years, and instructor shortages continue to limit expansion in high demand fields. From your perspective, what federal policy changes would most effectively expand high quality CTE pathways and better connect people to apprenticeships and employment opportunities?

That's a great question, uh, Congresswoman.

It's a mouthful.

Uh

It's a mouthful.

Uh, and, and, and I appreciate uh the, the question because we just have underinvested in CTE and apprenticeships. Uh, it was laid out earlier that uh, you know, we have fifty percent cuts in CTE since nineteen, nineteen eighty. Um, you know, when we look at registered apprenticeship, uh, for every dollar we invest in higher education, we're spending one thousand dollars, uh, uh, or for every dollar we invest in apprenticeships, we're spending a thousand dollars on on higher education. So there's a huge disparity. Um, you know, since twenty sixteen, uh, we wanna thank the Congress for investing in registered apprenticeship. Uh, prior to twenty sixteen, the Office of Apprenticeship had absolutely zero dollars. Well, when I started there to invest in companies and intermediaries and in the trades, uh, today we're at two hundred and eighty five million dollars, um, still kind of a fraction in comparison to the twenty seven billion or more that we spend on on higher education so critically important that we continue to think about modernizing apprenticeships making them easier for small businesses to start uh cutting red tape and some of the paperwork as well as uh speeding the amount of time uh that uh it can take for for those programs to get approved.

Thank you so much for that. And just in a small amount of time that I have left, I would love for each witness if they can. I know many of you have some have talked about this a little bit. Um, what strategies should Congress support to improve early awareness, uh, for these types of non-four-year college pathways?

One, setting the tone.

Mm.

Uh, again, uh, I hear, and I, I've outlawed my office, local control, but it local control from the state down to the school districts. Most of the school districts we talked to and we're we have a hundred and fifty partners and we've got three hundred school districts so we're on our way to getting a hundred percent uh uh saturation in terms of uh participation in CT. But most of the school districts are looking for direction. They're looking for direction from the Department of Ed, they're looking for direction out of Washington DC, so I would suggest to you don't be afraid to set the tone. Because I can promise you, especially in rural America, they're looking for direction, they're looking for help, and and you as as as the policymakers here i- in in Washington DC can set that tone.

Thank you. With that, I'm running out of time, but I will say thank you each for all of your, you know, expertise that you shared up here today. Um, me, I'm a true supporter of skilled trades. I used to work in a school district as a personnel director, and I know how important a skilled trade and I wish we can have more dollars, more funding to be able to support such, and if I could do it all over again, I would have been an electrician for sure. OK? Thank you. With that, I yield back, Chairman.

That's your new nickname, the electrician. Uh, with that, gentlelady yields back, and I recognize Mister Downing from the great state of Montana for five minutes.

Well, thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you, uh, uh, to the witnesses for being here. You know, it's interesting, I was thinking the other day it wasn't that long ago when I saw political slogans, always talking about creating jobs. And I travel around my district and, you know, there's two big limiting factors in small businesses and industry across my district. You know, access to capital and the ability to recruit and retain uh employees. And that seems to be one of the biggest limiting factors is finding employees. And there's so many, you know, issues there from housing to uh, you know, trades education, to make sure that you have you know, folks coming in that have the skills, uh, necessary, uh, and it really underscores the need for more workforce development, more of this type of training. And one of the things that I noticed, I'm gonna start, um, with you, Mister Gibson. Um, according to a survey conducted by your own association, by the Associated General Contractors of America, ninety-two percent of construction firms nationally reported having difficulty finding workers to hire. Uh, can you elaborate on how this shortage of construction workers is impacting the companies that you represent?

Well this didn't happen overnight, and and one of the components of Build Up Kansas is to change the perception of our industry industry. Construction has always been an afterthought.

Mm-hmm.

Now it's becoming a back what it was in the fifties and sixties and that is a noble profession. And uh investment of which Kansas is doing, uh leading the way on CTE in the Midwest, uh is is providing that pipeline, what I I said earlier, setting a tone We're we're setting that pace and that tone to to send a message to our membership uh across the state of Kansas and even across the country that uh it is a noble profession, it's got good pay, it's got a good career, and I said career not a job,

Yeah.

uh and uh you have to also deliver the this type education materials the way the younger generation wants to receive it, and that's through social media. But the the bottom line is uh it's costing companies uh in rework it's

so can i i wanna elaborate that i i think that's a really good message and i appreciate that but um so to what degree do you believe that the shortage is contributing to the rising costs of both you know housing and commercial real estate in this country

there's no question about it again if if a contractor only has x number of employees and they need y plus uh they are limited on how many projects they can bid which limits the competition on on on commercial, industrial, whatever project it is, the more competition, the better pricing you're gonna get and the better better uh quality that you're gonna get all the way across the board. But it has a across the board impact on our industry, uh starting with uh uh development of workforce.

Right. And and briefly, what role do you think CTE programs can play in bridging this uh current skills gap?

CTE is the number one issue, the number one issue bar none. Uh, and that goes for all industries across, but especially construction. What was the first thing everybody did this morning in getting up? You turned on light switch, right? Somebody had to install that light switch, OK?

Right.

So, point.

Yeah, I pre- I pre- Thank you for those answers. I, I really liked that message. I'm gonna turn now to uh, Dr. Gunuskey. Um, I wanna discuss your experience as a superintendent in rural Pennsylvania. So my district uh, central and eastern Montana is one of the most rural congressional districts in the country. And rural high school students notably participate in CTE programs at significantly higher rates than their suburban and and urban counterparts. So, uh, Doctor Ganuski, can you elaborate on the benefits of CTE programming in rural education, and why these programs, uh, are particularly effective in sparsely populated school districts?

Yeah, as, as I said in my opening statement, I think that, you know, with, with having the high economically disadvantaged, uh, populations that we have, um, for many of our kids, it's, it's, it's, they get into it um as a way of life, and and many of our students they, when they graduate they they they wanna live in our community, and so fortunately what we are trying to do is continually match the needs of our community with what we're offering in schools so that the

Right.

kids can learn be you know contribute to uh the local economy they can stay, they don't have to leave, they don't have to leave with with college debt.

So, I appreciate that, and as emerging technologies like AI uh play an increasingly important role in our society, What ways do you think CTE programs can be leveraged to best prepare rural students for employment in this future economy?

It's a great question, and I think what we're seeing is a shift in the interest level of the CTE programs being demanded by students years ago. Um, computers, uh, computer programming, graphic arts, uh, those were the most requested, uh, programs.

Right.

Uh, now AI can create those for you in two seconds and create all types of coding. So again, everything that we're trying to do is that AI-resistant program, that allows, that that AI is not going to take over.

All right, thank you, Doctor. Uh, it looks like I've run out of time, so, Mister Chair, I yield.

Gentleman, he owes back, I now recognize Ranking Member Olszewski from the great state of Maryland for five minutes.

Thank you very much, uh. Chairman Williams, I want to thank you and, uh, Ranking Member Velazquez for holding this hearing. Thank you to all of our witnesses for your presence here today. Uh, Mister Boren, I appreciate that you ground a lot of your work in the teachings of Jesus. I know that our faith calls us to look at policy as if we are our brother's keeper. And I just wanna say first, I respect that you are doing that and hope that we can continue to see more of that perspective here on Capitol Hill. I know that you and many others in my state worked hard to pass Maryland's Raise Act, to create more tools and expand registered apprenticeships to new industries, employers and communities. During my time as a state delegate, long before I came to Congress, I was proud to be the primary sponsor of the now nationally recognized Employment Advancement Rate Now Act or EARN program. For the past decade, EARN has strengthened the state's workforce pipeline to supply local and small businesses with a well-trained workforce and has placed residents into good paying jobs. Over eleven thousand Marylanders have obtained full-time employment because of EARN and more than fifteen thousand incumbent workers have benefited from the program's upskilling opportunities. I'd commend uh to my chairman and my colleagues on the committee this successful statewide initiative will be explored and perhaps replicated at the federal level uh back home in my district Reisterstown main streets um is home to the non-profit Kavanaugh house which hosts a partnering apprenticeship program for upholstery and sewing that matches students with work rooms and experienced trade people at industry leading businesses these partnerships allow students to refine their skills, gain invaluable hands-on experience, and build confidence in professional settings unfortunately as we know not every small business can provide this type of paid service to train and retain its students as workers, and that's where CTE bridges the gap. It's why I was proud to partner with Chairman Williams to pass the connecting small business with career and technical education graduates, out of the house last year, a bill that will help match students and graduates of CTE with actual job opportunities through small business development centers and women's women's business development centers we'll have to get it done in the Senate soon, Mister Chairman. Uh, we need more of this common sense type of legislation. Doing so will help ensure that America continues to be a place where small businesses, especially on those, especially those on main streets, can thrive. Um, Mr. Boren, I'll start with you. We know that small businesses make up ninety-nine percent of employers, but just a small fraction of apprentice, apprenticeship sponsors. Is the main issue the administrative capacity or are there other barriers we should be tracking?

Yeah, I think the, the, and thanks for your opening remarks, I, I do appreciate, um, uh, you being from my home state and and Maryland really uh being the second fastest growing apprenticeship state in the country uh has a lot to do with the the leadership of the governor and and folks like yourself um and one of the things that we're seeing uh where Maryland is leading is really in uh pay for performance for apprentices so that that really came about in the RAISE Act as you know and is uh being undertaken by the the state to Pay for what works. You know, oftentimes we are using federal dollars where we put grants out, bespoke programs, and we hope that they work. This uh idea around pay for performance pays for success, when apprentices are uh gainfully hired, retained, and ultimately what we hope to get to in one of our one of our new pilot programs, is to where they complete. So if you're gonna start an apprenticeship program, there is no reason why we ought not pay that employer or that apprenticeship sponsor for that completion as well. Um, one area I just wanted to highlight too that I think is really critical for this committee, is is helping our veterans. Uh, veterans are a critical component of how small businesses can grow. Um, yet the post-nine eleven GI Bill focuses only on higher education. Uh, if we're uh to to really help expand, uh, apprenticeships with small businesses. Uh, we need to level the playing field, giving them their full housing benefits and tuition. Uh, my calculation looks at if you choose apprenticeship, you're getting two hundred thousand dollars less than you would if you decided to go pursue uh that French Lit degree at Brown University.

That's a really important perspective. Thank you for that. Uh, with my remaining time, thirty seconds, Doctor Nix. Um, what percentage of your CTE graduates are going on to apprenticeships and do you have any formal partnerships with employers to help create those pathways.

In Texas we have an indicator on accountability called CCMR, College Career Military Readiness. Eighty-six percent of our students graduate with an indicator in one way or another. Seventy-seven percent of students indicate that through career or military readiness. So a large portion of our students do graduate with that indicator. Um, just to add one barrier that we have in in fulfilling apprenticeships, are age restrictions and liability that apprentice, um, providers face as far as housing students under age in their facilities.

Mmm. I appreciate all that feedback and thank you all for the work. Sorry to have time for questions for everybody, but thanks again for being here.

Jen- gentlemen, Neil's back. Uh, now I recognize uh uh Congressman Schmidt from the great state of Kansas for five minutes.

Uh, thank you again, Mister Chairman, for convening this hearing and thanks again to our witnesses for being here. Uh, I think it's been a great discussion. I I wanna I wanna look a little more down the road toward the horizon here and And uh, talk about maybe some spin offs and some entrepreneurship issues, and I'm gonna start with Mister Gibbs and w- and then go down the line to the extent that my time allows here. I'm from a a a fairly little town, we got about ten thousand people now, my wife's from Kansas City metro area when we first contemplated getting married, uh she's from a town of two and a half million people if you count the metro, and I told her I'm from the biggest town in my area too. And I didn't disclose all the details. Uh sometimes the our our our local dynamics were a little different. Um, and, you know, one thing that strikes me, and I hear it everywhere I go, we hear the same dynamics that we don't have enough plumbers, we don't have enough electricians, we don't have enough carpenters. But in our world, that's not just having more folks at our regional construction companies, whether it's a Key or a Crossland or a Hutton, you know, we all have those. It's also having folks in our local communities who do that, and they're often mom and pop shops. They're somebody who hung out, uh, you know, to Bob's Carpentry and, and Joe's Plumbing and, they either don't have employees or they have one or two or they have a mad hawk and they live in a community and and least anecdotally it sure looks to me like in in big parts of the area I represent we have fewer of those folks than we did a generation ago. So here's what I'm wondering. Let's assume um you know, Mister Gibson you your your literature talks about needing fifty eight thousand more workers in CTE space over the next five years in Kansas that's great. Um let's assume we succeed in that combination of all these great things we're talking about. Here's what I'm guessing. Tell me if I'm right or not. I'm guessing that out of the several thousand young folks that we encourage and support and they get into this field and they become carpenters, plumbers, electricians, whatever, metal workers with these mid-sized companies, larger companies. Some portion of them are gonna have life events that make them decide they wanna go back home or they don't wanna work for somebody else they wanna hang out their own shingle and And uh, they wanna raise their kids where they were raised or near grandparents or whatever, and those may be in smaller communities and What do we need to be thinking about? This is the small business committee. What do we need to be thinking about now, as you're growing workers, to also be identifying and be prepared to help grow the entrepreneurs who spin off five years from now ten years from now and become those that next generation? And, Mr. Gibson?

The lion's share of of the contractors that i represent are small to medium size firms lot of them started in entry level positions and worked their way up in fact one of the contractors i wanted to bring with me today i've and i don't think he'll mind if i say who it is jeremy bart bart's construction he came out of uh uh construction management program at kansas state uh went to work for mccall gordon which is a large firm got seven eight years experience but his hometown is great bend Kansas, uh very uh rural community, uh but he saw a niche. There wasn't a general contractor in that area, and he and his p- another uh Macau Gordon uh employee decided to break off and start their own company. And they started that company three years ago and they are serving that that area very well. But I go back to my uh story about the mayor that was looking for a a backhoe operator. If you don't have craft people in your community, And a lot of these folks that are coming out of CTE programs want to stay close to home. And we're giving them that life skill early on, uh, because they're not interested in go to college, they're not, they can't afford to go to college, and they're finding their way to, to stay close to home and meet their future spouse. We, we are starting to see population growth versus out-migration of population all because of CTE programming.

Thank you, Mr. Gibson. you mentioned uh entrepreneurship in your opening that caught my attention and, you know, just cause you're a great plumber and electrician doesn't mean you know uh how to, how to handle HR issues or tax prep issues or advertising issues. What do we need to be doing with the SBA or otherwise?

Yeah, I think uh then that's a great question. What we do is we bake entrepreneurship into all of our programs. So regardless of the career pathway that the students are in, we the kids have a rich exposure in in entrepreneurship. Um, through that um, students also participate in something called our seminar programs, where they have a rich understanding of financial literacy, what it takes to start a business, to own a business, public relations, answering a phone call, um, all of the f- the little things that mean so much today. So I think as - as - as we're doing this as a country, I think entrepreneurship has to be baked in across the board.

Congressman, I would just say the Small Business Administration is a great connector to CTE programs because of the the resources that they provide, just as as the doctor talked about, not only technical resources but financial resources and small business coming out of CTE programs could definitely be that great connector to the small business administration.

Thank you. My time's expired. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Uh, gentlemen, uh, yields, and I now recognize Doctor Morrison from the great state of Minnesota for five minutes.

Thank you, Mister Chair and Ranking Member, for holding this hearing and thanks to our witnesses for being here today. It's been a really Great conversation. Workforce training and development is critical, of course, to both helping our small businesses grow and ensuring the next generation of the skills they need to succeed and advance. Minnesota's third district is proud to be the home of Anoka Technical College, Hennepin Technical College and Normandale Community College, which provide higher education and training through career and technical programs to ensure their students are equipped with the skills they need to succeed in today's and tomorrow's workforce. I had the honor of visiting Normandale Community College actually just last week. and hearing about how they're shaping and preparing Minnesota's workforce. AI is increasingly impacting the way we work and changing the skills that employers are looking for in their employees. A common concern I hear from recent graduates entering the workforce is that AI is replacing many entry-level jobs. During my visit to Normandale, I learned about how they're training students to do jobs that AI can never replace. Mister Boren, how can apprenticeships technical education programs and community colleges help ensure that students have the skills they need to succeed in an increasingly ai driven job market and are able to find a job now and in the future

i i think you're exactly right uh congresswoman we are seeing a hollowing out of the entry-level uh labor market due to uh ai replacing that early level uh uh early uh entry-level jobs the challenge is is you know, we're gonna need these folks later on too. And we need to get them in the workforce today. Nobody can wait five or six years to get into the workforce. And that's where apprenticeship, especially registered apprenticeship, is a flexible industry-driven training program where employers drive the learning. It's not a train and pray model. It's where we invest today in apprenticeships, as we have since twenty sixteen, and we see an eighty percent increase in number of uh, employers and the number of apprentices being engaged in a variety of fields. One of the exciting things is that since we've invested, we see more than fifty percent of apprenticeships now being outside of the trades. So they can be in insurance, in healthcare, in IT. A number of different ind- industries are now investing.

Thank you, I appreciate that. Your perfect segue to my next question for you. I, I'm a doctor. um by training and i'm really worried about the growing shortage of healthcare workers and how this impacts access to care especially in our rural communities um so mister Boren during your testimony you mentioned that you've worked directly with small businesses as an apprenticeship intermediary recruiting employers designing programs and helping companies across sectors including healthcare launch apprenticeship programs that meet workforce needs can you elaborate on how registered apprenticeships can help address for challenges such as staffing shortages in the healthcare industry.

Well, that's right. Uh, I'm actually really excited to be here with my wife today who's a registered nurse, but she she ended up going the the the route of uh getting a master's degree. But we're seeing more states like Texas, uh, Michigan, uh, and a number of states create registered apprenticeship programs for nursing, where you don't need to go into debt. You can start that registered apprenticeship where you're learning at the hospital with a preceptor um and that continuum goes on up to the receiving your your license as an r n but we see there's shortages in a number of occupations just like that whether that's surgical technicians or uh physical therapists and radiologists a number of occupations that are now uh being created uh for apprenticeships But we still have a lot of licensing barriers at the state levels that doesn't allow those apprentices to have that hands-on learning that we really need some relief from that regulatory burden at the state.

And you kind of touched on this, but what skills do apprentices teach that can't be taught in conventional classrooms?

Well, they they teach the hands-on. So, I mean, when you're in the when you're in a classroom, you're learning it by theory. Uh, when you're on the job, you're learning directly from a mentor who, and a journey person who has done that work as, uh, a, as a full professional. Um, and in fact we're seeing, uh, what's interesting about apprenticeships is that eighty-five percent of apprentices today are men. Uh, and a lot of the last few administrations have treated that as a flaw, not a feature. We're seeing a number of men drop out. of college, not being able to return, and apprenticeships are this great way where men, and research is showing that men really do well when they have that hands-on learning, and it's a great way to get them into a great career, uh, that, that pays really well, uh, as well.

Thank you so much, and a quick thank you to your wife for taking care of patients. Thank you. I yield back, Mister Chair.

Lady yields back. I now recognize Mister Weed from the great state of Wisconsin. for five minutes.

Thank you, Mister Chairman, and thank you to all the witnesses that are testifying here today. Far too long our education system has prioritized four-year colleges and has treated CTE education as an afterthought. Despite our nation's clear need for skilled tradesmen and the high demand from students, we have continued to see a lack of resources allocated to these programs. CTE programs offer a less expensive alternative to a four-year degree, and students often graduate in as little as eighteen months. prepared for good paying, in-demand careers. In Northeastern Wisconsin, many high schools and technical colleges partner with local small businesses to ensure students can begin an apprenticeship immediately after graduation. This not only provides students with paid, hands-on experience, but also helps small businesses connect with eager, hard-working students. I'm encouraged by the work of of our witnesses here and uh all that you have done to bring technical education back into the high school curriculum. The demand from schools in my district for CTE education underscores the pressing need for these programs. Like all of you, I feel very strongly about this issue and I remain committed to supporting CTE in schools in Northeastern Wisconsin and of course across our nation. Uh, Doctor Gunuskey from the uh great school district of Wallin Popak. Obviously you're doing a great job and what I'm impressed with is uh and you had mentioned the community uh support and that is key to building uh you know the uh the vocational education of course in your district and you also have great uh small business support in in your area. What what advice would you give to other school districts you know maybe some best practices that have things have gone very well in order to build the culture that you have we we have questions a lot of districts in our area wanna improve and uh so what what would you offer to them

first and foremost seeing is believing invite them in invite them in in to see the programs to meet with the students to participate in oac's uh to contribute um many times we will have um uh organizations and industry partners come in and uh they they didn't necessarily see how they fit into the overall picture of the how they can support the cte and so by bringing them in uh it does not take them very long to realize that they are very uh integral in in in part so i would say seeing is believing is is is is absolutely critical um in our school we don't have um uh um we have a pre-apprenticeship program but not a full apprenticeship program um because again we're not a not a ctc but we do have students uh in the healthcare field that are actually working in the hospital for half a day going out to rehabilitation aid, PT, OT, PTAs, um, for half a day, uh, getting that hands-on experience.

We have, uh, a lot of great districts that do do very well in vocation. Luxembourg-Casco, for one, is is built, uh, over a long time, uh, a great community support, great support with local businesses. Mister Gibson, what would you say? Maybe some of the things that, some, some big wins that you've seen in partnering with local school districts. What would you say to contractors and businesses What what can we do better?

Well, the Build Up Kansas' uh uh his his success has come down and and the doctor talked about advisory councils industry advisory councils I I'll go one step farther one of the the things that's been successful is not only bringing industry in to share what type of professions that they're looking for, but we bring in recently graduates of that high school CTE program because they can relate to that younger generation better than the contractor. And that has really turned a lot of heads. In fact, I mentioned about social media. We do, if you go to Build Up Kansas, Build Up KS dot com, you'll see testimonies of a lot of students that have graduated out of the high school CTE programs. Matter of fact, uh, I've ment- mentioned Panasonic, one of our community colleges up in Topeka, Washburn Technology, graduated three hundred electrical technicians. All of them received contracts to go to work. for for Panasonic. So, there there get the industry and recent uh educate uh students that have graduated from their local schools to tell the story and I can tell you, you will get a lot of of heads turning to CTE programming.

That's fantastic. Uh, clearly technical colleges we're talking about, but apprenticeships. Uh, Mister Boren, what are, that that you've seen, um, what are some best practices in in building this community engagement and uh you know the relationships with school districts that that you've done that others could could use around the country.

Yeah and uh I I just congratulate Wisconsin on being the oldest and one of the most robust uh apprenticeship states uh it's done a great job with youth apprenticeship but I also look to Iowa who's created uh high schools as sponsors working uh sponsors of apprenticeship programs working across different industries from being a butcher to being a cyber security analyst. Uh, you can do it if you create the program at the high school level.

Great. Thank you all. I yield back.

Gentleman yields back. I now recognize Mister Jack from the great state of Georgia for five minutes.

Well, thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and I want to thank our witnesses for testifying today. Um, I'd be remiss if I didn't open my remarks, walking you all through something that was very special to my district. Just last month, I brought uh our Secretary of Education, Lyndon McMahon, to my district. And just for reference, uh, I represent a a part of Georgia that's just southwest of Atlanta, includes Coweta County, and very specifically within it, we've got a, uh, central educational center. And this is, uh, this provided frankly for the state a blueprint for success for how high schools can better prepare our students to be uh uh well-equipped for the the ever-evolving workforce um in today's technological age. And I I say that because we brought the secretary of education, we've had, you know, a lot of important people come but never a cabinet member. I was proud to bring her. And, um, what they did is effectively this community, Noonan, Georgia, about thirty, forty years ago, they said, " We've got high school students that are graduating that are not prepared for the workforce that we have now recruited to come into our community. So we've gotta partner with our school and provide an opportunity for students, to leave the - the school place during the day for s- a small period of time, go learn some technical skills, then come back and then participate just as they normally would. This blueprint was so successful, Central Educational Center, I encourage anybody to look at it, that the State of Georgia has now replicated it in over sixty counties. Uh, they literally copy paste, replace, um, in in different cities and counties around the state. So, I'm very proud of that. And, um, in that vein, if I could, I just wanna, uh, start with Mister Gunuskey. Um, so, as you think, and we've talked about this today, as we think about this global economy that we have today, new technology is constantly evolving. How can schools better integrate these kinds of tools and training into career and technical age technical education? How does that help support small businesses that rely on a skilled adaptable workforce?

Effective communication, uh, communication with the small businesses, communication with your uh, with your county and community. And I I applaud what you've done in Georgia and the work that they have done certainly, um, is is a great example of that communication groups coming together, having effective communication. finding out what needs to be done, what workforce needs to be met, and how the schools can implement those strategies to, to supplement the uh, the workforce locally.

And what would you say the biggest barriers are for schools that want to adopt and maintain these types of projects? How can federal policy help break down some of those barriers to help more students get to enjoy this?

Yeah, I, I know we've talked about funding, cuz funding is the, i- is probably the, the, the biggest, the biggest hurdle. I think um, in rural Pennsylvania, another issue that we're facing, um, and I know my colleague mentioned this, is also the staffing, the CTE teacher shortage that we're that we're experiencing. Um, it is very difficult, a starting teacher at Wall and Paul Pack is right around sixty thousand dollars. So when you take somebody out of industry who is making significantly more than that, tell invite them in and say, here now you can teach twelve to fifteen kids and you have to go back to college to get certification, it's not very enticing. And so, uh, it is something that we're continually trying to work on. And so if there was any type of, um, you know, work that we could do with, uh, potential industry teachers to come back and, and help, you know, be teachers in the classroom would be, would be significant.

Well, thank you very much. Um, if I can next move to Mister Gibson, I'd also be remiss if I didn't note my colleague to my right, Congressman Schmidt. Uh, we were just talking about you. I was with Marty Jackley, the Attorney General for South Dakota, who said you were one of the best Attorneys General he's served with, so you're well represented in Kansas. I wanna,

Absolutely.

uh, make that clear for the record, but, a- as I mentioned, um, the, in my district, this central educational center, of which I'm very proud, was created because the community recognized that students needed to access training, uh, to compete in this changing economy. And I'm curious from your perspective, um, how, too, um, do you see, especially within the - the workforce that - that you have to recruit, you know, what type of educational opportunities would you like to see better provided for students coming out of some of these technical schools? And - and - and frankly, I also have to ask, you know, we're seeing a more autonomous workforce. I see it across factories I visit. time and obviously you're more focused on on general contracting, but I'm curious um how do we prepare ourselves for this autonomous workforce that's coming?

Well, first I wanna build on the question. Instructors are are critical. We're losing instructors as fast as we're losing the the older generation. And w- through our HR platform, we're giving the schools the ability to post their jobs. We've actually had experience of bringing back recently retired tradesmen to to come back and teach at the local school we actually got the state to change the legislation to where they didn't have to have a ph. d. or a master's to teach uh if it was regarding technical training but uh the the key

hmm

in getting everything to to a a point where cte becomes important is training. We use the nccr curriculum because it was it was uh developed by the construction industry with education in mind, it's got a credential that goes along with it the the contractors, and I represent general contractor subs and suppliers, they're migrating to it because there there is a a proven curriculum that the schools are embracing and that credential that comes along with it is like a high school diploma to where they can demonstrate like for example the core has blueprint reading, OSHA ten hour safety, hand tool, power tools, all that accumulates like a high school degree to where that applicant can can show that that contractor what skills they have to go to work uh immediately in the industry.

Thank you, Mister Gibson. Mister Chairman, I yield.

Gentleman yields back and I wanna thank our witnesses today uh for your testimony and I want you to go home and always get asked can't you reach across the aisle with these guys and gals I think you've seen we can do that pretty pretty good hearing today. We were just remarking there wasn't I mean we all agree on everything so this is great, we'll get something done. That's not true everywhere but here we all agree on everything right now. But anyway, without objection, members have five legislative days to submit additional materials and written questions for the witnesses to the chair, which will be forwarded to the witnesses. I ask the witnesses to please respond promptly if that happens. If there's no further business without objection, the committee is adjourned.

I can stay in contact.

Yeah, absolutely, very good.

Absolutely.

Thank you, great job.

I really, really appreciate it.

Yeah.

Nikki?

Let's stay in contact.

Yeah.