Committee on Education and the Workforce
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:
On behalf of our 3 million members and the 50 million students they serve, we urge you to oppose A Stronger for America Workforce Act (H.R. 8210) at tomorrow’s markup. Votes on this issue may be included in NEA’s report card for the 119th Congress.
Ostensibly a reauthorization of the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA), H.R. 8210 would, for the first time, codify the illegal dismantling of the Department of Education. All Title II Adult Education and Family Literacy programs—and funding—would move from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor, where some targeted programs could be replaced by no-strings-attached block grants.
Adult education is a core public education function that helps build workers’ skills as well as pathways to post-secondary education, training, and family-sustaining employment. Moving adult education to the Department of Labor would weaken coordination with K–12 systems, community colleges, and other education partners at a time when alignment across systems needs to be improved—not further fragmented.
We are also concerned that the bill does not require local workforce development boards to include educators who directly teach and support students. If educator voices are not explicitly required, workforce education and training may be left to board members without the knowledge, experience, and expertise of educators. The result could be programs lacking in depth, high-quality teaching techniques, and robust student support.
As part of WIOA reauthorization, we urge you to require educators to be included on local workforce development boards. We also urge you to enhance requirements for labor representation, consultation, and agreement throughout the workforce system.
We share your interest in strengthening workforce development programs—to ensure they lead to solid careers that build fulfilling lives, sustain families, and enrich our communities—but cannot support this bill. Please VOTE NO on H.R. 8210 at tomorrow’s markup.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Johnson Trinca
Director of Government Relations
National Education Association
