The Virgin Islands Department of Education, State Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education hosted a Perkins Accountability Training and Workshop for the distribution and use of the Perkins State Grant awarded by the United States Department of Education. The training was held at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef Resort on Tuesday, Sept. 14 and Wednesday, Sept. 15 and was facilitated by Mr. Michael Brustein, Esq. and Mr. Steven Spillan of Brustein and Manasevit, PLLC in Washington, DC. Employees from both the St. Thomas – St. John and the St. Croix school districts attended.
The purpose of the Perkins State Grant is to support Career and Technical Education (CTE) students matriculating through a sequence of courses in a career and technical education program. The use of the funds is exclusively to improve CTE through core academic and career and technical skills, provide students with strong understanding in and of all aspects of an industry, encourage students to participate in voluntary internships and mentorship programs and implement professional development programs to ensure ease of transition for CTE students.
Nancy Callwood, the Department’s state director of career technical and adult education, welcomed employees from the state office, federal grants, business office and Department-wide career technical and adult education offices and schools. She elaborated on the importance of the training, which gives employees a clear understanding of how to spend federal dollars. The training allowed for open dialog with a team of attorneys whose solely focus is on the federal support of education and workforce development.
An additional day was added to the training, originally planned for one day, due to the complexity of the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006. Governed by the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR), the presentation was split into six topics primarily covered under the grant program.
Spillan opened with a Perkins 101 session that illustrated the dos and don’ts of using the Perkins grant. Next, the presenters updated employees about Perkins V Reauthorization, revisions made to the law by Congress, followed by a civil rights overview, which reaffirmed students’ right of equal access to education.
The workshop also covered new requirements under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to include adult education and youth job training, which is likely to impact the Perkins program budget. Most anticipated was the session on federal grants management. Brustein and Spillan emphasized the key element of spending federal dollars: supplement, not supplant. Federal funds cannot be used to pay for services, staff, programs or materials that would otherwise be paid for with state or local funds. Documenting time and effort, inventory management, and consequences of the misuse of federal funds were also covered.
The training wrapped up with the requirements of reporting accurate data and adherence to the rules of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). With over 30 years experience in the U.S. Department of Education grants management and federal education programs, Attorneys Brustein and Spillan provided the Department with the tools needed to successfully manage and allocate federal funds administered through the Perkins Career and Technical Education State Grant.
