Community college workforce development efforts are greatly enhanced by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Carl D. Perkins and Career and Technical Education Basic State Grants, Adult Education and Family Literacy, and the National Science Foundation’s opens in a new windowAdvanced Technological Education (ATE) program. The latter is focused on community colleges and fosters ongoing STEM innovation and excellence. These federal programs have different goals and reflect in part the multi-faceted community college mission. Most of them are substantially underfunded.
AACC Position:
Increase the statutory cap on domestic discretionary spending to allow for needed investments in key workforce development programs. Support Senate Appropriations Committee FY 2018 Labor-HHS-ED funding for WIOA. Over the longer term, provide a significant funding increase for the adult education program, which has yet to recover from FY 2013 sequester reductions.