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Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee:
Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to discuss the Administration's fiscal year 1997 budget request and the Federal investment in Vocational and Adult Education and School-to-Work Opportunities systems.
Our request of $1.42 billion for Vocational and Adult Education will fund State and local efforts to increase the skills of youth and adults. Together with our partner, the Department of Labor, we also request $400 million for School-to-Work Opportunities to provide investment capital for States and localities to build new systems linking the work place to education and training systems. These investments support the revitalization of schools and adult education programs that are critical to meeting the lifelong learning needs of youth and adults.
This is a challenging time for education in the United States. It is a good time to examine the Federal investment -- what it has achieved and how it needs to change as we prepare for the 21st century.
I want to make three important observations about Federal investments in vocational education. First, they have consistently supported and helped expand reforms that were initially developed and tried in States and local communities. Tech-Prep and integrated vocational and academic education are good examples of this phenomenon. Second, Federal investments have consistently been designed to help States and secondary and postsecondary institutions respond to the changing needs of the economy and society. Third, Federal investments have regularly stimulated State and local investment in reform.
The 1994 National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) confirmed that Federal investments stimulate reforms and increase State and local investments in new approaches to teaching and learning. For example, following the passage of the 1990 amendments to the Perkins Act, school districts that received Perkins funds were more likely to integrate academic and vocational instruction than unfunded districts. The proportion of postsecondary agencies that had provided staff training on integrating vocational and academic education increased 200 percent between 1991 and 1993. Similarly, following the creation of the Federal grant for Tech-Prep, all States developed Tech-Prep initiatives, and at least 12 States are now appropriating their own funds to support Tech-Prep. The NAVE also found that vocational education increases the earnings of individuals who obtain a job related to their training and increases the earnings of women and disabled students. In addition, it reduces the rate of dropping out of school among groups of students at relatively high risk of dropping out.
The Federal role in adult education dates back to the 1960s. Its origins were similar to those of vocational education in terms of responding to changing economic and social needs and improving educational access to educationally and economically disadvantaged youth and adults. Prior to any Federal support, opportunities for adults to complete school or improve their literacy were very limited.
Ongoing Federal support for adult education has greatly increased the availability of literacy services throughout the country and now makes up about 25 percent of the national investment in adult education. In 25 States, it constitutes more than 50 percent of the annual investment. Federal resources also support about 90 percent of the investment in professional development of adult education instructors. State data on the participants in these programs and their education and employment outcomes document program impacts in such areas as the attainment of the General Educational Development (GED) credential, participation in additional vocational education or job training, retention or advancement in a job, attainment of new employment, and the reduction in receipt of public assistance. For example, during the 1993-94 program year, 357,000 adults -- one-half of those enrolled in basic English as a Second Language (ESL) -- completed the basic ESL level and advanced to the intermediate level, indicating an initial mastery of basic English literacy proficiency. GEDs were awarded to 343,000 adults, representing one-third of all adults enrolled in adult secondary education programs. During the last five years, 1.6 million GED certificates were issued to adult education students and as many as two million adult education clients entered other training, retained or advanced in their job, or secured new employment.
Federal investments in Adult Education have supported the development of performance management systems in the States, the development of partnerships between business and education to improve the literacy skills of workers, the demonstration of new techniques to help homeless adults gain needed literacy skills and related services, and the use of distance learning to enhance the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills.
Clearly, the Clinton Administration believes that Federal investment in education is important. We believe that the Federal Government has been an important partner with States, local education agencies, postsecondary institutions, employers, unions, communities, parents, and students in ensuring that schools keep up with changing demands of society and the economy.
And those changes are dramatic. As an example, look under the hood of your automobile. In 1990, 18 percent of your car's operating components were electronic. In 1995, just five model years later, 83 percent of the components were electronic. This change alone has revolutionized the automobile manufacturing, parts, and service industry -- but as we all know, global competition, customization, financing, marketing, and environmental and safety concerns have had an equally dramatic impact on how we produce, sell, purchase, and service cars today.
Just to diagnose problems related to electronic components, a qualified automotive mechanic today needs to: 1) use Ohm's law to verify resistance, voltage, and amperage; 2) understand how voltage flows in series and parallel circuits; and, 3) read and analyze information from manuals the size of phone books.
No wonder Chrysler, Ford, and GM have begun equipping community college classrooms with the latest technology and are now forming partnerships with high schools to help teachers, parents, and students understand how skill requirements in the industry are changing. What is amazing about these initiatives is the emphasis on academics -- math, science, communications, writing, problem-solving, and information-processing skills are as important to these employers as the electronics and other technical skills needed in the industry. In fact, employers tell me that they want strong academic skills first and they want students prepared for college, because they believe most employees in the future will need at least a two-year associates degree and the skills to keep learning throughout their working lives.
The rapidly changing requirements of the economy and the increasing complexity of our society require us to rethink the kinds of academic and technical skills citizens, parents, and workers will need in the future and the way we educate and prepare students to achieve these skills. And that means that the nature of the Federal investment in education needs to change.
Recognizing the need for a new Federal role, Congress passed, on a bipartisan basis, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act in 1994. This Act is administered jointly by the Departments of Education and Labor. To date, all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the territories have received School-to-Work planning grants. Twenty-seven States have received implementation grants. The law anticipated that all States would eventually receive implementation grants and that they would be one-time, five-year venture capital grants to promote the development of statewide school-to-work systems. Most of the funds received by States go to local partnerships to jump-start the development of local school-to-work systems for in-school and out-of-school youth. In addition to the State grants, we will have awarded about 100 local partnership, urban-rural opportunity, and Indian grants by the end of this fiscal year.
State leaders tell us that the targeted assistance available for school-to-work system building has made all the difference in their ability to get school-to-work activities up and operating. They fear that they will not accomplish the purposes of this Act and will lose the possible returns on the Federal investment thus far if funding is sharply reduced or suspended prematurely.
The School-to-Work Act is unique. It is time limited. It expires in 2001. It is venture capital. It offers a great deal of flexibility to the States and local communities -- there are no regulations!
In 1995, the Clinton Administration proposed H.R. 1426, dramatically streamlining the Perkins Vocational Education Act to support the development of school-to-work systems. Although we have some important differences with several provisions in the CAREERS bill passed by the House and the Workforce Development bill passed by the Senate, these bills embrace several of our principles. We support the elimination of various set-asides, a focus on accountability for results, an emphasis on academic and technical skills achievement, forging strong partnerships between the private sector and schools and between high schools and postsecondary institutions, linking classroom and work-based learning, emphasizing opportunities to explore a variety of careers, and investments in professional development to help teachers employ new instructional approaches. Continued Federal support is critical because, we believe, the combined Federal investment in the development of school-to-work systems and in retooling vocational education in high schools and postsecondary institutions has and will continue to pay dividends.
We also believe that targeted Federal investments in research, program improvement, accountability and evaluation are critically important. For example, recent Federal investments -- through the National Center for Research in Vocational Education, the National Curriculum Coordinating Network, and selected projects funded directly by the Department -- have helped localities develop curricula that integrate academic and vocational content; created networks of teachers, administrators, and State and local officials that promote the sharing and adaptation of high-quality career-related courses of study; supported 16 partnerships of business, labor, and education to pilot the development of industry skill standards; evaluated the progress of States in implementing performance management systems; and funded a comprehensive evaluation of the Federal investment in vocational education.
Today, adult education investments support a variety of literacy services to youth and adults who are 16 years or older, are not required to be in school, and lack a high school diploma or the basic skills to function effectively in the workplace and in their daily lives. In fact, 38 percent of those participating in adult education are between the ages of 16 and 24. These services include: adult basic education, adult secondary education and preparation for high school diplomas or their equivalency, English language proficiency, workplace literacy, and family literacy. Many adult education customers are welfare recipients, workers who need to increase their literacy skills to keep or advance in a job, young people who have dropped out of school, and immigrants.
There is a real literacy crisis in America, compounded by the increasing levels of literacy skills needed to be a parent, citizen, and successful worker. The National Adult Literacy Survey -- funded by Congress -- found that six percent of Americans over 16 and under 65 cannot read, but 40-43 million Americans cannot read, write, and compute at a level adequate to participate effectively in today's economy. Researchers estimate that low literacy skills cost the U.S. economy $30-40 billion a year in lost productivity. In a survey of Fortune 1000 executives, 90 percent said that illiteracy is hurting productivity and profitability in their companies.
Literacy is the ticket to more advanced education and training, a good job, being able to read to your children and help with homework, and to being able to participate effectively in our democracy. However, if we are to meet the growing need for literacy skills in the 21st century, we need to look for more effective and efficient ways of delivering literacy services in the future. Federal investment can play a critical role in this regard. The Administration proposed strengthening adult education and family literacy programs in its legislative proposal for adult education. We support the elimination of various set-asides, a focus on accountability for results, an emphasis on quality services and student achievement, and investments in professional development. Increased flexibility and increased resources to adult education at the State and local levels will help direct more resources for promising practices and serve more adults. Among the most promising approaches are the uses of technology to make instruction flexible through distance learning and instructional aids, and the use of the workplace, family or citizenship preparation as a context for literacy development.
Mr Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I look forward to working with you in the remainder of this Congress. My colleagues and I are happy to answer your questions.
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