Kaine Introduces Bill To Help Underserved Students Become College & Career Ready

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Tammy Baldwin, co-chairs of the Senate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus, introduced the Next Generation (NextGen) High Schools Act, a bill to help high schools that enroll traditionally underserved students in the development and implementation of comprehensive, evidenced-based reform. Specifically, the legislation would create a competitive high school redesign program to increase the number and percentage of students who graduate from high school ready for college and a career.

Currently, one-fifth of all students and nearly one-third of all students of color fail to graduate from high school on time, if at all. Unless high schools are able to graduate their students at higher rates, nearly 12 million students will likely drop out over the next decade, resulting in a loss to the nation of $1.5 trillion.

The NextGen High Schools Act is endorsed by: Alliance for Excellent Education, America’s Promise, Association for Career and Technical Education, Civic Enterprises, College Board, Jobs for the Future, KnowledgeWorks, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium, National Indian Education Association, National Urban League, and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.

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