To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to expand career counseling opportunities within student support and academic enrichment grants.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Thompson of Pennsylvania (for himself and Ms. Bonamici) introduced …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to expand what school districts can fund under student support and academic enrichment grants for career counseling. It adds new eligible activities including regional workforce trend analysis, AI-powered career tools, professional development certifications for counselors, and partnerships with workforce one-stop centers.
Who Benefits and How
- School counselors gain access to more professional development opportunities and workforce data to better advise students.
- Students benefit from expanded career planning services including apprenticeships, internships, dual enrollment, and personalized career plans.
- Career counseling certification providers (industry associations) gain new market as schools seek nationally recognized certifications.
- EdTech companies developing AI-based career counseling tools have new funding stream as schools can use grants for "emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence."
- Workforce one-stop centers gain partnerships with high schools, increasing their reach and potentially their funding justification.
- Employers seeking apprentices/interns benefit from improved school-to-workforce pipelines.
Who Bears the Burden and How
- School districts may face increased expectations to implement comprehensive career counseling without new funding (this expands eligible uses of existing grants, doesn't add funding).
- Traditional 4-year college focused counselors may need to adapt to broader workforce-oriented counseling approaches.
Key Provisions
- Requires identifying regional workforce trends through State/local workforce boards
- Authorizes using grants for AI and emerging technology career tools
- Supports nationally recognized career development certifications for counselors
- Expands postsecondary options to include apprenticeships, internships, credentials, 2-year and 4-year programs
- Encourages one-stop center partnerships including co-location in high schools
- Adds outcome evaluation requirements for career counseling programs
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Expands career counseling activities eligible for funding under ESEA Title IV student support grants, adding provisions for workforce trend analysis, AI-assisted career tools, apprenticeships, and partnerships with workforce development one-stop centers.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Expand career-focused education within existing grant structure to improve school-to-workforce transitions"
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
As defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102)
As defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102)
As defined in section 3 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3102)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology