DC Council’s Committee of the Whole Hearing on B25-741 “Vocational Education for a New Generation Act of 2024”
Across the nation, chronic absenteeism, or missing more than 10% of a school year, has risen sharply in the past few years. The crisis is especially acute in Washington, DC. Last school year, 43% of DC students were chronically absent and three out of five high school students were chronically absent. 37 percent of DC students were truant meaning they accrued ten or more unexcused absences per year. Shockingly, several schools have chronic truancy rates at or above 80 percent.
Jessica Giles
Executive Director, DC
Education Reform Now Advocacy
Committee of the Whole Public Hearing on:
Bill 25-741, “Vocational Education for a New Generation Act of 2024”
Good morning, Chairman Mendelson, Members, and Staff of the Committee of the Whole. My name is Jessica Giles. I am a ward seven resident and the Executive Director of the D.C. Chapter of Education Reform Now Advocacy (ERNA), an organization fighting for a just and equitable public education system for all students. At ERNA, we always put the needs of students first and we’re steadfastly focused on advocating for evidence-based strategies that improve student attendance, high-quality public school choice, literacy, math, and secondary pathways to college and career.
DC must build a system that allows every student the opportunity to receive high-quality, work-based learning opportunities from middle school through high school. Children should have exciting opportunities to explore careers from 10-14 years of age, prepare for careers 14-16 years of age, and launch into careers from 16 years of age onward. We envision an integrated education-employer ecosystem that allows every young person the opportunity to graduate from high school with up to two years of college credit, rewarding career experience, and an industry-valued credential in a pathway of their choosing.
For FY 2025, we were delighted to see that the Mayor proposed and the DC Council supported significant investments in college and career, including $17 million to expand the Advanced Technical Center at Penn Center; $600,000 to support the opening of a new Advanced Technical Center at the Whitman-Walker Max Robinson Center in Ward 8; and $5 million to Reimagine High School, support the Advanced Technical Center in Ward 5, Career Ready Internship, Advanced Technical Internship, and dual enrollment seats.[1][2] Additionally, the DC Council invested an additional $150,000 in the Career and Technical Education and Dual Enrollment Reporting and Career Pathways Study Amendment Act of 2024.
Still, we know there are many gaps. Only 18 out of 100 9th-grade cohort students complete a college degree six years after high school[3] and just 18% of DC students in high school, alternative, and adult programs are taking CTE courses.[4] There are also disparities in opportunity depending on the school that a student attends or where they live.[5]
Bill 25-741, the Vocational Education for a New Generation Act of 2024
We want to thank Councilmember Robert White for introducing Bill 25-741, the “Vocational Education for a New Generation Act of 2024.” This bill establishes a local fund for new and expanded CTE and Workforce Ready Programs, allows flexibility for funding to cover essentials like transportation, training, and student wages, and requires student demand assessment and reporting, which are all valuable.
The DC Council should strengthen the legislation by ensuring:
Advancing equity: Through the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education’s study, we learned that three of the four CTE programs leading to lower median salaries are in Wards 7 and 8. DC needs to expand high-quality, high-earning opportunities East of the River so it is convenient for our students and families, and ensure that all of our programs have a focus on serving our marginalized students well. Any expansions should be focused on these student populations.
Connecting data to our ETE System: The Education to Employment Pathways (ETE) Data System is designed to build a longitudinal picture of how DC residents are served by education and workforce programming throughout their lifetime. The DC Council must continue to connect data to this system, and restore capital budget funding ($2.1M in FY26 and $1.5M in FY27) so that the ETE Data System can build public-facing tools and dashboards.
Incentivizing and supporting strong employer engagement: DC should continue to forge strong partnerships with employers to support our economic growth and increase the number of native Washingtonians in our workforce. With employers at the table driving decision-making, local funding should be used to broaden the diversity of employers, support an effective intermediary, and prioritize those connected to high-demand, high-wage sectors by providing wage offsets in existing long-term internships or apprenticeships or tax credits for hiring apprentices.[6]
Overall, DC Council should require outcomes-based funding for workforce-related programs. In fiscal year 2022, D.C. had 84 workforce-related programs in the District totaling $139 million.[7] It is not clear what the outcomes are for these programs or how DC is measuring quality. The DC Council should require a return on investment analysis so that all funding is going to high-quality programs that yield great outcomes for youth and DC residents.
We urge the DC Council to consider our recommendations to enhance the bill. Thank you for allowing me to testify today and for putting our students first. I am available to answer questions now and in the future.
[1] LIMS. B25-0784 - Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Support Act of 2024. Source: https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B25-0784 b
[2] LIMS. B25-0785 - Fiscal Year 2025 Local Budget Act of 2024. Source: https://lims.dccouncil.gov/Legislation/B25-0785
[3] D.C. Policy Center. State of D.C. Schools, 2022-23: Challenges to pandemic recovery in a new normal. Source: https://www.dcpolicycenter.org/publications/state-of-dc-schools-2022-23/ .
[4] Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education. 18% of DC Students in High School, Alternative, and Adult Programs are Taking CTE Courses. Sources: https://dme.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dme/page_content/attachments/CTE%20Access%20Brief.pdf
[5] Ibid
[6] Industry Engagement Incentives. Source: https://excelined.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ExcelinEd.PathwaysMatter.KeyPolicyStateExamples.EmployerEngagement.IndustryEngagement.pdf
[7] DC Workforce Investment Council. Fiscal Year 2022 - Expenditure Guide. Source: https://dcworks.dc.gov/publication/fiscal-year-2022-expenditure-guide