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Senators seek money for technical education

WHEELING — Each year, thousands of college graduates discover little more than a mountain of debt awaiting them, as many find it increasingly difficult to obtain viable employment with the four-year degrees they worked so hard to earn.

Now, 2016 Democratic Party vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., along with Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, are introducing the Career and Technical Education Excellence and Equity Act to help connect high school students to the careers of the 21st century.

“This bipartisan legislation works to address the growing gap between the traditional high school experience and the expectations of higher education and employers by connecting business, school districts, colleges and others with a stake in the quality of the nation’s high school graduates,” said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. “It also provides students with an opportunity to learn by doing, making the high school experience more engaging and more relevant to today’s job market, while setting students up for individual success — a key component to the nation’s economic growth.”

U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., and Todd Young, R-Ind., join Capito, Portman and Kaine in sponsoring the legislation. They cite information that states 80 percent of employers who hire recent public high school graduates report that those graduates are not adequately prepared for the average job at the employer’s company.

This bill would provide federal funding for partnerships between school districts, employers and institutions of higher education. These partnerships would help students earn industry recognized credentials, or credit toward some form of postsecondary education.

“Career and technical education gives students the opportunity to gain skills and experience to become college and career ready,” Portman said. “The CTE Excellence and Equity Act will benefit millions of high school students across the country by expanding access to high quality CTE programs, which lead to college credit, workplace skills and opportunities for internships and apprenticeship programs.”

The act would establish a competitive grant program, through which high schools could apply for federal funding.

In representing a state with relatively high unemployment rates, combined with relatively low education rates, Capito knows how much a program such as this could help the Mountain State.

“As West Virginia undergoes an economic transition and grapples with high unemployment, it is critical that we take steps to equip our work force with the right skills for today’s jobs,” she said.

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