On March 15, 2023, a “Dear Colleague Letter (DCL),” was issued by Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education Amy Loyd, that addresses how Perkins funds can be used to tackle our nation’s teacher shortage.

Among other things, the DCL describes allowable activities and strategies for which the $1.43 billion appropriated each year through the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, as amended by the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V), may be used to improve the recruitment and preparation of future CTE educators, as well as educators that teach other subjects. This letter is posted to the Department’s Website at: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/cte/perkins-educator-prep.pdf, on the Perkins Collaborative Resource Network (PCRN) at: https://www.ed.gov, and on the PAPSA website at https://papsa-web.org/wp-content/uploads/DCL-Perkins-and-Educator-Preparation-3-15-23.pdf. As Assistant Secretary Loyd states in the letter that, “Just as CTE has risen to address other workforce challenges, we too must respond to the workforce shortages that we now see within our own industry. We look forward to working with you to address and overcome these challenges.”