 directors and state leaders who oversee career technical education at the state agency level. So federal dollars and state dollars from K-12 all the way through adult career technical education. And we are also a proud partner of PIA. I want to say that we're really, I guess I want to reinforce what many others have already said, which is I think the partnership of PIA is so important. And as an organization who's about to celebrate its 100 years, we kind of parallel right along with apprenticeship, which is also almost 100 years old in our country. And we see great power and promise and the possibility and opportunity actually in many ways interconnection and interrelationship between CTE and youth apprenticeship. And we know that the participation in apprenticeship and in CTE has been relatively flat for years. So we're looking forward to working together to really expand opportunities for more students. I have a really great and wonderful opportunity this morning. I'm really delighted to introduce today's speaker, but before I do that, someone was having so much fun last night at the restaurant that you left a tablet there. So if you are missing a tablet, or it could be a door prize, whatever we would like to say, Elena is at the front desk, you can see Elena or at the front desk and you'll be able to pick that up. So check your bags and see if you've left it. So as I said, on to this morning's business, I'd like to introduce a friend, a person who's just, if you've met him, just a really great individual and a true leader in career technical education, Scott Stump. Scott is the assistant secretary for career technical and adult education at the U.S. Department of Education. He was confirmed by the Senate on July 16th, 2018. So just two weeks before Congress and the president signed a new Perkins reauthorization into law, so great timing. Prior to assuming that role, Scott worked as the chief operating officer for a learning solutions provider that devoted itself to helping individuals, organizations and corporations to do good in the world. And he is really all about that. He's been doing that his whole life and he's now doing it now just on a different stage. But what you really need to know about Scott is that he is a true believer in this work. He comes from a multi-generational CTE family. His dad was a CTE instructor. He was a CTE instructor. His kids participated in CTE. So talk about walking the walk and talking the talk. This is the first time we've ever had a person as the assistant secretary at Octay that has come from CTE. So we're just so delighted to finally have this kind of coming together of someone who has the passion, the experience to be able to really maximize the opportunities before us. Professionally, Scott served as assistant provost and state CTE director in Colorado in the community college system. He served as a state FFA or now they don't call themselves future farmers of America, but FFA advisor. He was an ag program director and for a while he was also interim president of Northeastern Junior College. So we also call him bilingual because he can talk secondary and post-secondary. So we love that. He served on our organization's board of directors and as our president, he's also been on a local school board. So I think you can see that he has a great appreciation for different stakeholders and different voices. What is it in his bio and I think it's important to share is that Scott partnered with our organization. We had a federal grant to really look at the intersection of CTE and apprenticeship and this college and campus was one of the eight sites that we featured actually back in 2015, 16. Although this wasn't one of the sites Scott got to visit. We're both delighted to be here and really so impressed by the work that you're doing. So he's the real deal. He gets it and we're just delighted to have you with us this morning. Thank you, Scott. Thank you. I would kick myself because if I were to record that and send it to my mom, she would have really appreciated that, Kim. That was very nice. Yeah, that lays out the path for the past 30 years. My life has been invested. I tried to get away from current technical education because growing up the son of a CTE instructor. Yes, you get involved in all the items, but you do want to make your own way. So I went to Purdue University in bio, chemical, agricultural engineering. If I'd stayed in that path, I would have been set right at the beginning of this whole migration of the food industry in the world and really expanding the safety and security of our food. However, I spent one year as a student organization officer in FFA in Indiana and spent that time in classrooms. And that was really the point when I knew, yeah, that was what I needed to do. What God gave me the talents to do was to build people and build systems to build people. And so that's what I've spent the past 30 years really investing life in. Honored to be with you today in this role, which is a role that I never thought that I would have been in. And I don't know if you imagine those roles for you. But yeah, you just all of a sudden end up on somebody's list somewhere down the line and they say, hey, would you come do this? And you say, yes, I will. And as a part of that, though, I'm so excited because of the timing. We are at a watershed moment in current technical education in this whole space of filling the skills gap of empowering individuals across the spectrum from those that are headed down the AP or the IB pathway to those that have challenges in learning, that need a different way, a multiple pathway to get where they want to be. All that spectrum fits into the space of current technical education. And so explaining CTE to some of my colleagues at the federal government and, in fact, in other places. Well, John Fisher and I were having a conversation about him trying to explain it to people at the Gates Foundation of, well, what's the real target of success in CTE? Well, yeah, it's ultimately at the end of the day, getting individuals the right skills at the right time to prepare them for the right next step in their life. And that can impact any individual in our communities across the country. I do want to first and foremost thank the individuals here for hosting the event. President Thorntonley, congratulations on the staff that you've assembled, the team that you've raised and ultimately the community that you serve. We heard about it last night at the reception. What a tremendous vote of confidence from the business leaders in this community, the students and the employers. Excellent job on that. And so we appreciate your hospitality. I also want to thank Paya for putting together and creating energy in this space, because Kim said, I wrote a lot about this fine institution and the work that you're doing in the toolkit that we created that is currently posted, shameless plug cte.ed.gov under the National Activity Section. If you want some resources on how to expand your work, if you're kind of on the front end or just want to look back of how others have done in that space, absolutely dig into the toolkit on cte and apprenticeships for high school learners. Yeah, but thank you, Laina for the work that you and your team and all of the crew are doing, gathering the partners together. And you've got to keep that going. And so my biggest notion to you is don't stop. Keep the accelerator down as we move forward. And I do want to say that on behalf of the president and the Secretary of Education, I do want you to know that absolutely they are believers in your work. And part of the reason that I said yes to take this role at this time is I've lived through the years when the Perkins budget was zeroed out for six, seven, eight years in a row. I've I've lived through those years when there were questions about what well, Secretaries of Education basically said, hey, what's the point of cte? And yes, you've got islands of excellence, but you're not serving all students and you're not changing the equation. I've lived through the college for all agenda where absolutely it didn't mean college. It meant four year university. Let's get them to the elite and let's forget about everyone else. But today you are living in America where there is president and Secretary of Education who absolutely are invested in this space. It is a workforce agenda. Ultimately, it started with the the apprenticeship task force that stood up two years ago that were laid out over 20, about 26 different recommendations for steps that needed to be taken in this space. It pulled together the Secretaries of Labor, Education and Commerce to really focus in on what are those next steps that we need to really delve into to empower employers and learners for more opportunities. And as a result, it's expanding partnerships across this country. As a part of that work that led to the National Council for the American Worker. And you heard from Barbara Humpton yesterday with Siemens, who sits on that public advisory board that is tasked with taking those recommendations from the task force on apprenticeships and mobilizing them and making them become ultimately a reality. As a part of that, we continue to get pledges from companies for investing in education and expanding opportunities for individuals. At the same time, we're also expanding the number and keeping track of the number of apprentices and I think it, let's see, Eric wasn't you yesterday that laid out all of these big, bold numbers that are out there. And the gold is a million apprentices by within over the four year period and really on target to hit those numbers and to continue to move that equation. The biggest thing that will come out of the National Council for the American Worker and the Public Advisory Committee, I think is a bold challenge to change the perception of what it means to be skilled. And that's the biggest task that we heard from a lot of the individuals on the panels yesterday was changing the perception of parents, of community leaders, of employers, of education systems and really bring current technical education and apprenticeships into the fabric of an instructional method. We've always seen it as, well, you can either go get an education or you can have an apprenticeship and learn a trade. No, apprenticeship is the oldest instructional method that the world has seen. And in fact, I have been in my mind through an apprenticeship. As Kim noted, I spent my first couple of years professionally in a classroom, teaching agriculture education, computer applications and practical biology. But prior to doing that, I spent about four months out under student teaching. I had a mentor who documented my performance, checked off the competencies that I had attained and at the end of the day, certified me as being able to enter that profession. So when we start thinking about apprenticeship being new and expanding it out, there are hundreds of examples of where individuals have always learned best through that process of having a mentor, being in the workplace, learning by doing. Ultimately, I would also say that the secretary's commitment to this space, she did spend time on purpose, intentionally last summer in Switzerland, gearing up for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the partnership with Switzerland to continue to expand our access to their knowledge on apprenticeships. And so we'll be realizing the potential of that MOU over the next few months and years, ultimately gathering individuals to share. I know Nolgensberg is not here, but they have constant calls with Ursula in Switzerland that absolutely has helped them stand up the career-wise movement in Colorado. How do we expand that connection to more of you that are practitioners so that you have access to someone who has already done it to find out next steps of where we could ultimately go? In the new budget that was actually dropped yesterday, which I know there were many phones in the room that were going off from each of your different organizations that were pumping out what was going on with the president's budget, we do know that the president's budget is a great signal, but it does take Congress to appropriate funds. So take all of this with a grain of salt, but I do think the president clearly signaled that apprenticeship is absolutely where we need to invest with the Department of Labor expansion of the apprenticeship dollars with an expansion of Perkins funds through H-1B visa dollars being shifted over from where they had currently been being used into expanding the Perkins grants that go out to stand up more work-based learning like apprenticeships. Also, expanding the Perkins leadership dollars to focus in on innovation and modernization, which absolutely would include this space of apprenticeships, and then ultimately adding a special carve-out. And we haven't talked over the past two days about adult education, but I would implore you, because that's the second part of the hat that I wear in addition to current technical education as adult education. Apprenticeships need to be a part of that model. So as you are building your apprenticeship systems for your K-12, your community college systems, working with your employers, do not forget to invite your adult education partners along because they can absolutely benefit as they're working towards that high school equivalent diploma. Adding in that technical training through apprenticeships absolutely needs to be a part of that model. In addition to that, the secretary took a bold step here in February and launched the, worked with Congress to drop the Education Freedom Scholarships and Opportunities Act that has recently been introduced, and it sets up the trajectory for the hopes of five billion dollars in tax credit scholarships or federal tax credits for voluntary donations to state-based scholarship programs. I want to highlight that a part of the reason for doing this is absolutely to allow more students to have access to these multiple pathways like apprenticeship. Because without question, it can pay for that dual enrollment that we heard about yesterday, the young lady on the end that said, okay, well, you got to keep paying for the tuition because I couldn't cover it, and if you're going to get me to where I need to be, I need that help. So it could take some of the pressure off the chamber but also expand slots to more students. I also can cover books and fees required by technical program or training. She mentioned the $150 in her textbooks. There's another one that mentioned the tools, the knives that were needed for the expenditures. Absolutely. And I can say this in this audience because you'll absolutely understand what I'm talking about. Most people in DC don't understand when I say PPE. Anybody understand what PPE is? Thank you very much, personal protective equipment. Absolutely. The education, freedom, scholarships, those funds can be used for that PPE that immediately would allow the student to step into the workplace and be safe. It can pay for scrubs for the health interns that we ultimately have going out. So there are good things happening. Continue to work with us and give us ideas to expand all of those. But we still have the big challenge to face. And the reason why I say that you're work and why I commend you, but I say you've got to double down on what you're doing. The issue is getting bigger instead of smaller. Right now, our most recent state data on CTE participation and concentration, so is it only about 8 million of our high school students out of that 15 million that are currently out there in the high school areas are participating in a CTE pathway. Of them, what concerns me even more, only one in five are choosing to concentrate. And for those that understand the difference between participation and concentration, participation is a dabbler, one who takes just one course. But a concentrator is one who takes a sequence of courses. And only 20% of our students in the nation are considering in high school and actually starting to concentrate in what it is that will set them up for success next in life. That leads me to believe that many students are going on to a post-secondary experience with absolutely no idea of why they're going. And here's the result. $1 billion in financial aid debt. And Mary Taylor, I think you were the one standing at Dr. Schneider's back in the warehouse where the new part was being built. You laid out to me this case of, okay, what's the point? And I've heard through the conversations yesterday things that parents should be no-brainers to them. Through an earn-on-earn pathway with an apprenticeship, you can walk into and actually be making money, having your college paid for, end up with no debt at the end of the day and end up like the young lady who, yeah, at the age of 21, purchased her own house and, yeah, is covering her own car insurance, taking care, well, anything that a parent like me, and I have two sons that are 23 and 24, we're still paying some of the pieces. We're getting close to that end, but it is the American dream that you're prevailing here. How do we make sure more students get access to that? And the other point that I would say is that America is currently at the lowest point of youth participation in the workplace that our country's ever seen. When you look at that high school demographic, really only, you know, the summer job that was right of passage is now the exception. It's not the rule. And so we are graduating from high school over, well, yeah, two-thirds, because it's only about a third or having a significant work experience before they graduate. So two-thirds of our students are graduating from high school, having never learned what it means to show up on time, having never learned what it means to put your phone down and get to work, having never learned what it is, where they can apply their talents and provide value to their community. So as a part of that, Secretary calls us to rethink education. And her basic line is we must question everything to ensure that nothing limits a student from being prepared for what's next. And that's the challenge that will leave you with today. As you go back, continue to question everything to ensure that nothing limits your students from being prepared for what's next. And as a part of that, question everything in Perkins. All of you, we'll head back to your states and do know that over the next eight to 12 months, every state will be revising its state plan. I would love to see some strategies around apprenticeship being built into your state plans because we've asked states to be bold and to think big, apprenticeship should be on the table, a strategy for including or increasing that capacity of the students. And as a part of that, also think of apprenticeship as being the nimble strategy that we need because it is time, the current technical education in the U.S. be the nimble, demand-driven, talent development system that it's meant to be. To achieve this, absolutely, I believe we will need. Apprenticeship is a part of that solution. So with that, I would open it up for a few questions. We do have just a couple of minutes. And do know that Perkins specifically put a plug-in for you, Kim. Kim is going to be leading a breakout concurrent session here at 9.30. And it will focus specifically on where does apprenticeship and Perkins, where does that intersection lie? So beyond that, any questions that you might have? Yes. Within the context of law, not break the law, but sort of in the law. I can't say break the law. That would go beyond why. I'm putting words in your mouth so you can clarify. But Eddie, you're right, could you elaborate on that and give us an example of what we could do potentially to move the needle within the context of the law and policy? Thank you. Absolutely. And what he's referring to is, I often say we in CTE have been, and I can say this because I am one. I spent years at the State of Colorado implementing the Perkins Act and being the State Director of CTE there. We are very compliance-driven. And we're actually, we have very few findings. Very, both from an audit standpoint as well as a process standpoint. My biggest fear is not that we end up with state plans that next spring I can approve and go, yes, you meet and you've checked off all of the boxes. My biggest fear is that we will have state plans that look just like they did 12 years ago. And our economy has changed significantly. And while Congress did not, you know, completely redo the Perkins Act, it really was a set of amendments that are great tweaks. But I'm hoping that states will look within those tweaks and say, hey, here's where we can push this a little bit. And that we get into an innovative and an ideation mentality as opposed to a compliance mentality. That was my ask of the crew at WDI. Some places that can happen, you know, within the reserve fund, you know, states have the ability to hold back 15% of the state leadership dollars that Congress intentionally expanded that. But what we've seen in looking at and I've got the master list on my desk back at the office, only 40 states have taken advantage of that and of those, only about 23 have used that on a competitive basis. Others are just using it as a formula funding. Really come up with an innovative way to spark the use of those reserve funds and change that every year. It should not be an entitlement. It is meant to spark innovation. So come up with an RFP that absolutely says, when you're focused on, maybe we need apprenticeships in the healthcare industry or maybe in the IT industry. Let's target them and focus them, but build the plan to be nimble as opposed to just being a static document that sits in a gatherstest. Very question. Any others? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say again, I have a couple of articles in 2014, well, 2015, the spring, out to the three sites. I did end up going to Kentucky to Russell Springs, Dr. Snyder's Automotive Apprenticeship, went to Puget Sound, Seattle, and to Salinas, California. I've seen the impact of apprenticeship. I've sat across from a mother who was in tears saying, you know, my son as a junior in high school is making more than his father or I today. And Garrett's mom laid it out very clear. Apprenticeship absolutely makes a difference and it changed the equation, not just for that student, but that family and that community. That's the work that you're doing. We're here to support you and I commend you. Most of all, I challenge you. Let's get it out to more students. Have a great day.