Trump administration rolls back Biden-era reporting rules for career education – The Times of India

The Trump Education Department has announced the reversal of regulatory reporting requirements introduced under the Biden-Harris Administration related to Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. According to a statement issued by the department earlier this week, the move is aimed at reducing the bureaucratic burden on states and local education providers, ensuring that resources are better spent on equipping students with essential workforce skills rather than fulfilling excessive administrative requirements.
The ‘Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act’ of 2006, commonly referred to as Perkins V, plays a crucial role in supporting students pursuing CTE pathways. The law strengthens connections between secondary and postsecondary institutions, ensuring smoother transitions for learners into career-oriented education.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 85% of high school graduates in 2019 had taken at least one CTE course, highlighting its significance in the US education system.

Why Biden received flak over policy changes

In late 2024, the Biden Administration introduced new information collection requirements under Perkins V, aimed at standardizing data collection and improving performance tracking. According to the Education Department at the time, these changes were meant to:

However, multiple school administrative organizations, including AASA (The School Superintendents Association), raised concerns about the unintended consequences of these regulations.
They argued that the additional reporting mandates would require states to recode or update existing data collection systems. Consequently, this would lead to thousands of additional staff hours for compliance. In addition, it would also inflict significant financial and administrative burdens on schools and local education bodies.
In a statement, AASA noted that the requirements would “hinder the ability of districts to track the success of CTE students over time and create considerable new and inappropriate unfunded mandates” according to the statement released by Trump’s Education department.

Trump Administration’s rollback and plans to make things right

Earlier in February, within weeks of taking office, Trump and his administration officially announced the reversal of these Biden-era CTE reporting mandates, calling them unnecessary regulatory overreach. According to the Department of Education, these requirements would have imposed thousands of additional hours of reporting compliance on high schools, community colleges, and state agencies, diverting resources from actual student-focused CTE initiatives.
In a statement, acting Under Secretary James Bergeron stated: “The 11th-hour Biden-Harris information collection on CTE programs was unnecessary bureaucratic red tape that would only drive up costs and hinder innovation.”
Earlier in January, during the Biden administration’s waning days, several CTE advocacy groups, including Advance CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), strongly opposed the Biden-era data collection policies, arguing that they introduced excessive and unnecessary requirements. In a letter to the Education Department on January 24, these organizations emphasized that the new reporting mandates exceeded the statutory requirements outlined in Perkins V. They further contended that the policies failed to provide meaningful benefits for students or local programs while placing undue administrative burdens on state education agencies and workforce development programs.

How will the Trump administration implement a rollback?

The Trump Administration intends to roll back these policies through the following steps:
Restoring Previous Reporting Requirements: The Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education will reinstate previous versions of the Perkins State Plan Guide and the Consolidated Annual Report Guide.
Issuing a Federal Register Notice: A formal notice will be published to announce the reinstatement of previous guidelines.
Direct Communication with State CTE Directors: The Education Department will ensure states are informed about the rollback and any necessary adjustments.