WATCH: Rep. Grijalva's Opening Statement At House Hearing On Technical Education

(This transcript is from C-Span's closed captioning, often humorously off-base.)

00:00:15	>> THANK YOU.
00:00:17	THIS IS IMPORTANT TO INITIATE A DISCUSSION ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF EDUCATION AND THE COUNTRY.
00:00:23	TODAY'S HEARING WILL SHOW INNOVATIONS OF DELIVERY, CAREER AND TECHNICAL THE EDUCATION PROGRAMS MANY OF WHICH ARE FUNDED UNDER THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2006.
00:00:36	THE TECHNICAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS PREPARE FOR COLLEGE AND CAREER AND GET ACCESS TO THE SKILLS THEY NEED AND EMPLOYERS DEMANDING.
00:00:47	THIS ACT SUPPORTS THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC AND CAREER AND TECHNICAL SKILLS AMONG SECONDARY AND POST SECONDARY EDUCATION OF ALL BACKGROUNDS.
00:00:56	HELPING TO PREPARE THEM FOR IN DEMAND HIGH-PAYING JOBS IS THE GOAL.
00:01:04	HIGH-QUALITY, RELEVANT AND RIGOROUS IS INTENDED IT FOR THE NATION'S TO STAY COMPETITIVE AND TO BUILD A STRONG ECONOMY.
00:01:11	BY ENSURING THAT STUDENTS NOT ONLY TO RETREAT FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE AND WORK REAR READY BUT ALSO THE GLOBAL ECONOMY WE ARE SECURING OUR NATION'S FUTURE.
00:01:23	OF THE 30 FASTEST-GROWING OCCUPATIONS ABOUT TWO-THIRDS OF THE POST SECONDARY EDUCATION OR TRAINING AND PROTECTED TO GROW OVER THE NEXT YEARS.
00:01:33	IN THE STATE OF ARIZONA THERE ARE CURRENTLY 70 PROGRAMS WITH OVER 229,000 STUDENTS ENROLLED OF WHICH 30% ARE LATINO AND OVER 40% OF THOSE STUDENTS ARE OF COLOR.
00:01:46	IN ARIZONA THE INVESTMENTS HAVE BEEN DIMINISHED AND AFTER THE HARMFUL SEQUESTRATION CUTS THE PUBLIC FUNDING AS AT A HISTORIC LOW DESPITE THE STATE CONSISTENTLY PERFORMING WELL ON EDUCATORS OF STUDENT SUCCESS.
00:02:00	WE SHOULDN'T CUT FUNDING FOR PROGRAMS AND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GETTING AHEAD AND FALLING BEHIND FOR THE WORKERS ALL OVER THE NATION.
00:02:07	WE SHOULD SUPPORT QUALITY PROGRAMS THAT ALLOW STUDENTS TO EXPLORE DIFFERENT CAREER INTERESTS AND WORKPLACE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES THAT HELP PREPARE THEM FOR THE POSTAL WORK FORCE AND FURTHER POST SECONDARY EDUCATION.
00:02:21	WE KNOW THERE IS A SKILLS GAP AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION IS IN TROUBLE TO OPPOSING THE GAP.
00:02:27	EVALUATIONS OF CAREER ACADEMICS ACROSS THE COUNTRY HAVE DEMONSTRATED THAT OFFERING STUDENTS ACADEMICALLY EMBEDDED IN A CAREER PROGRAMS CAN REDUCE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES AND PAPER STUDENTS FOR HIGHER LEARNING CAREERS.
00:02:44	HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS THAT GRADUATE FROM THE CAREER ACADEMY'S MCGINN AVERAGE OF 11% MORE PER YEAR THAN THE NON-CAREER ACADEMY.
00:02:54	ONE OF FOUR EVENTUALLY EARN A FOUR YEAR COLLEGE DEGREE.
00:03:00	HAULIER URNING OUR OVERALL ECONOMY INCREASING THE CONSUMER SPENDING AND STRENGTHENING AND GROWING THE MIDDLE CLASS.
00:03:06	I WELCOME OUR PANEL OF WITNESSES AS THEY HAVE SOME OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE INSIGHT INTO THE PROGRAMS.
00:03:13	WE ARE GRATEFUL THEY ARE SHARING THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND I LOOK FORWARD TO THE COLLABORATION

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