FOR STUDENTS
After change in law leads to loss of millions in funding
reaction to the news “wasn’t printable.” Grossman said he’s been able to maintain all his programs but has stopped replacing student laptops, which diminishes the processing power the most advanced students rely on.
“It’s a vital source for these schools,” said Nick Chapman, vice president of Virtual Enterprises, the nonprofit that partners with Wagner to run the business program.
The funding covers many of the extra expenses that vocational programs incur, including equipment, supplies, travel and teacher professional development.
“Perkins is a small pot, but it’s the thing that everyone relies on,” Chapman said.
State officials say the change to the funding eligibility rules is linked to updates in the Perkins law.
The new version of the law, signed in 2018, “really upped the game in terms of [measuring the] quality” of programs, said Kate Kreamer, deputy director of Advance CTE, a national vocational education advocacy organization.
Kreamer said some states, including New York, responded by revamping the way they give out Perkins funding.
State Education Department spokesman JP O’Hare said restricting the funding to approved programs was the only way for officials to ensure that New York programs getting Perkins funding “meet the quality criteria required” by the updated federal law.
But the approval process New York State is now relying on to dole out the funding is notoriously Byzantine.
Monaco at Wagner High has been applying for state approval since 2011 and still hasn’t received it, despite her program’s many successes.
“We’ve always had our ducks in a row,” Monaco said. “For some reason we just can’t seem to get there.”
State approval requires programs to meet a pageslong checklist worth of criteria, including having teachers with proper licenses and an end-ofcourse exam endorsed by the state.
City educators say it’s particularly difficult for newer programs in emerging industries like technology to clear that hurdle.
“We’ve created more than 40 new programs in the past three years, yet many of these programs are not eligible for Perkins funding,” said John Widlund, the director of CTE programs in the city Education Department. “The state has not been able to keep up.”
And now that new programs without state approval won’t be eligible for Perkins funding, schools will be wary to open innovative new programs at all, said Virtual Enterprises’
Chapman.
“Right now, there’s not an incentive to start new programs,” Chapman said. “You’re cutting off the ability to be adaptable.”
State officials are currently accepting feedback on their new Perkins plan, which will be submitted to the federal Education Department in April.
Meanwhile, Perkins funding for the 2020-21 school year has already been assigned. For programs like Monaco’s without state approval, that means at least another year and a half without the crucial support.
“Do I worry about the future?” Monaco said. “Of course.”