The Department of Education announced Monday it is reversing a “misguided” Biden administration policy requiring “burdensome and unnecessary reporting” practices for technical schools.
The Biden-era policy released in December of 2024 placed additional reporting requirements on career and technical education (CTE) programs which “would have piled on thousands of hours in additional reporting compliance requirements on states, high schools, and community colleges that can be better spent on equipping the American workforce with the skills necessary to rebuild our economy,” the department’s press release reads. CTE schools argued the new rule “would be massively disruptive and result in significant state and local administrative burdens, disincentivize innovation, weaken alignment with other federal laws governing education and workforce systems” and “reduce data quality.”
“The Trump Education Department is committed to strengthening our career and technical workforce and equipping students with the tools they need to excel,” Acting Under Secretary James Bergeron said in the announcement. “The 11th hour Biden-Harris information collection on CTE programs was unnecessary bureaucratic red tape that would only drive up costs and hinder innovation. As we celebrate CTE month, the Department looks forward to working through a more thoughtful and cooperative process with states, local CTE programs, employers, stakeholders, and Congress to reauthorize the Perkins Act.”
Darrin Williams, 38, demonstrates how he is being trained to weld at a facility of the Department of Public Works (DPW) where he is participating in a two-year apprentice program of DOES in Washington, D.C., November 21, 2017. (Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
A growing number of young adults have begun turning to trade schools rather than higher education, especially as tuition costs rise and institutions become increasingly overrun with left-wing politics. Vocational school enrollment saw a 16% increase in 2023 while many colleges have been forced to close in recent months. (RELATED: ‘Students Will Be Better Off’: Former Education Secretary Pitches Plan To Completely Dismantle Her Old Agency)
Universities have come under fire since 2023 when the Israel-Hamas conflict sparked fiery campus protests that resulted in violence and hundreds of arrests. Many of the schools saw decreases in enrollment and lost major donors in response to their failures to address campus unrest.
President Donald Trump recently proclaimed February to be Career and Technical Education Month, promising to “invest in the next generation and expand access to high-quality career and technical education for all Americans.”
“Hardworking Americans are the backbone of our great Nation,” the press release reads. “Our workforce is the best in the world, and my Administration is dedicated to giving our students and workers the tools they need to succeed in a time where emerging technologies are advancing at an unprecedented pace.”
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