The FY2026 federal appropriations bill is signed, and the Association
for Career and Technical Education has finished tallying what it means
for CTE on the ground: 159 CTE-related projects across 37 states are
slated to receive more than $209 million in dedicated earmark funding.
Mississippi leads with $16 million. Michigan and Maryland each landed 10
individually funded projects — the most of any state. Sector-specific
allocations include funding for Career-Connected High Schools and
Advanced Manufacturing programs. The numbers are real, and they
represent real wins for the communities that secured them. But
understanding what they mean for the broader CTE landscape requires
distinguishing between what earmarks do and what they don’t.
The Earmark Picture:
Where the Money Went
Earmarks are congressionally directed spending — specific projects in
specific places, typically at the request of individual members of
Congress. Unlike formula grants, which flow automatically to states
based on population and other formulas, earmarks require active advocacy
from local officials, industry groups, and education leaders. Securing
one is a legitimate achievement. It means a community made a case, a
member pushed for it, and appropriators included it in the final
bill.
The geographic distribution is instructive. Mississippi’s $16 million
lead reflects the state’s active engagement with the appropriations
process and its specific workforce development needs in manufacturing
and healthcare. Michigan and Maryland’s 10-project counts suggest strong
coordination between CTE programs, local employers, and their
congressional delegations. For those states and communities, the FY2026
earmark cycle was a success.
But the total — $209 million across 159 projects — needs context.
That’s roughly $1.3 million per project on average. For a CTC purchasing
new equipment or a program launching a new career pathway, $1.3 million
is transformative. For the national CTE system as a whole, it’s a
rounding error against the $1.4 billion Perkins V state grant program
that funds CTE in every state, every year.
The
Bigger Story: Perkins V and WIOA State Plan Alignment for 2026–2027
The earmarks are the headline number. The more structurally
significant development may be what the Departments of Education and
Labor did alongside the appropriations bill: they issued updated joint
guidance for Perkins V and WIOA state plan modifications covering
program years 2026 and 2027.
Perkins V is the primary federal authorization for CTE at the
secondary and postsecondary levels. WIOA — the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act — governs the broader workforce development system,
including adult education, employment services, and job training
programs. Aligning these two systems has been a policy goal for years.
The joint guidance issued in this appropriations cycle moves the needle
by explicitly directing states to integrate CTE planning with workforce
development systems and — notably — to address the impact of artificial
intelligence on the labor market.
That last point is new. Federal policy guidance rarely moves faster
than labor market reality, and the explicit inclusion of AI’s workforce
impact in Perkins V and WIOA planning guidance signals that the
Departments of Education and Labor consider automation and labor market
displacement to be CTE policy issues, not just economic ones. States
updating their Perkins V state plans under this guidance will need to
account for how AI is reshaping skill requirements in CTE program areas
— from advanced manufacturing (where automation is displacing routine
tasks while increasing demand for programming and robotics operation) to
healthcare (where administrative AI is changing what medical assistants
and billing specialists need to know).
The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) also
issued new program guidance for states considering updates or new
submissions of Perkins V state plans. Pennsylvania is among the states
currently in the process of updating its Perkins V state plan under this
new guidance — a process that will shape how the state spends its
federal CTE dollars over the next program cycle.
The FY2027
Advocacy Push: Formula Funding vs. Earmarks
The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced its FY26
Labor-HHS-ED bill with level funding for Perkins V’s state grant
program, while the House version proposes a $25 million increase for
CTE. Advocates are currently urging Congress to support further Perkins
increases in FY2027.
This is the more consequential fight. Earmarks are valuable to the
communities that receive them, but they don’t change the structural
funding landscape. A $25 million increase in Perkins formula grants —
distributed to every state based on statutory formulas — would reach
every CTE student in the country. That’s a fundamentally different kind
of investment than 159 specific projects in 37 states.
The advocacy push for FY2027 Perkins increases reflects a mature
understanding among CTE stakeholders that the movement’s long-term
health depends on systemic funding growth, not just targeted wins. The
Perkins state grant program is the backbone of CTE funding nationwide.
Every equipment purchase, every instructor salary, every curriculum
update that happens in a Perkins-funded program comes through that
formula. Growing it matters more, over time, than the sum of this year’s
earmarks.
The good, the bad, what’s
best?
The FY2026 CTE earmark numbers are real, and the communities that
secured these projects should be credited for doing the work. But
evaluating this funding cycle requires looking past the topline.
The good:
- $209 million directed to 159 specific CTE projects will produce
tangible, documented results in the communities that receive it — new
equipment, new programs, new facilities. - Mississippi’s $16 million and the 10-project hauls for Michigan and
Maryland reflect effective advocacy coalitions and targeted workforce
development strategies that other states can study and replicate. - The Perkins V and WIOA state plan guidance, including the explicit
focus on AI’s workforce impact, represents meaningful federal policy
development that will shape state planning for the next two program
years. - Full-year FY2026 appropriations — avoiding a continuing resolution —
gave states and programs the budget certainty they need to plan and
spend responsibly, rather than operating under funding uncertainty for
months at a time.
The bad:
- Earmarks are inherently political and geographic. Communities
without strong congressional advocacy infrastructure are systematically
disadvantaged, reinforcing CTE resource gaps between well-connected
urban/suburban districts and those without dedicated CTE lobbying
capacity. - The $209 million figure, while notable, represents approximately 15%
of a single year of Perkins V state grants. It does not change the
overall CTE funding landscape. - The Senate’s level-funding position on Perkins V, if it holds, means
the formula program that funds CTE nationwide gets no new resources in
FY2026 — a missed opportunity at the systemic level. - States that have not yet updated their Perkins V plans under the new
ED-DOL guidance risk moving slowly while other states race ahead with
AI-integrated workforce planning, widening an implementation gap that
has real consequences for students.
What’s best: The $209 million in earmarks is worth
celebrating in the communities that secured it — and worth
contextualizing everywhere else. The more durable story of this
appropriations cycle is the Perkins V and WIOA guidance that will shape
state planning for years. States that move quickly on that guidance —
particularly Pennsylvania, currently in its Perkins V update process —
can position their CTE programs to align with the emerging AI workforce
reality before it’s an obligation rather than an opportunity.
✅
Prioritize FY2027 Perkins Formula Increases Over Earmark Reliance
Earmarks are wins. But they’re not a funding strategy. For CTE
advocates, the FY2027 appropriations cycle is the more important fight:
a $25 million increase in Perkins state grants would reach every CTE
student in the country, not just the 159 projects in 37 states that had
the advocacy infrastructure to secure an earmark this year. Congress
should fund that increase. States should complete their Perkins V plan
updates under the new AI-inclusive guidance promptly — and Pennsylvania,
already in the update process, has an opportunity to lead.
The system is funded. Now make sure it’s building toward what’s
actually coming.
Source: ACTE Policy Watch
