- Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy introduces TECH Act — a bill designed to boost resources at qualified technical colleges.
- Several members of the state's congressional delegation are championing the higher education bill.
- Utah's higher education board recently initiated strategic reinvestment plans for state's technical colleges.
Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy can’t be accused of being an opponent of degree-granting higher education institutions.
The 57-year-old Republican lawmaker, after all, has spent a sizable chunk of his life in traditional colleges — claiming a bachelor’s degree, a medical degree and a law degree.
But Kennedy also challenges assumptions that the nation’s higher education system is built around a four-year university degree.
“That assumption,” Kennedy said, “is failing America.”
And it’s an assumption, he added, that’s keeping qualified technical schools from receiving many of the federal education grants that their degree-granting counterparts are enjoying.
In an effort to “level the playing field,” Kennedy has introduced the TECH Act (Transforming Education through College and Hands-On Training Act).
The proposed legislation extends eligibility for several existing federal grant programs to qualified technical schools.
“We need skilled nurses, trained technicians, and qualified tradespeople just as badly as we need lawyers and doctors — maybe more so right now,” said Kennedy in a statement announcing his bill.
“The TECH Act is about making sure that choosing a different path doesn’t mean getting less support. America needs every one of these students to succeed.”
Utah’s public technical colleges offer specialized certificates in a variety of high-demand fields including health care, cybersecurity and skilled trades, such as HVAC and welding.
What’s the TECH Act?
The TECH Act’s key provision is granting qualified technical schools “equal eligibility” for four existing federal grant programs.
The grant programs include:
- The Strengthening Institutions Program, which helps schools expand capacities to serve low-income students by providing funds to improve academics.
- The Federal TRIO Program, which provides programs targeted to better serve students from disadvantaged backgrounds — including first-generation college students and students with disabilities.
- The Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) Program, which provides funds for schools to support low-income student-parents with affordable, on-campus child care.
- And the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grants designed to boost a school’s capacity to meet the skill development needs of employers — while helping to place students in high-demand jobs.
Expanding those four grants to qualified technical schools, noted Kennedy, would not exact additional costs to taxpayers.
If the TECH Act is passed by Congress, the secretaries of Education and Labor would have 180 days to update their eligibility criteria and application procedures.
TECH bill earns ‘thumbs-up’ from fellow Utah lawmakers and tech colleges
A couple of Kennedy’s colleagues in Utah’s congressional delegation — Sen. John Curtis and Rep. Burgess Owens — are “co-leading” the TECH Act legislation.
Millions of Americans, noted Curtis, are pursuing “short-term, hands-on” training to capture essential skills for high-demand fields. But outdated federal policies have “left these programs behind” by not offering grant eligibility to technical schools.
“Our commonsense, cost-neutral legislation will align our education system with the realities of today’s workforce — closing skills gaps and expanding opportunities for Americans ready to get to work,” wrote Curtis in a statement.
Added Owens: “America was built by people who learned a trade, mastered a skill and went to work. For too long, the federal government has locked qualified technical schools out of grant programs that most other institutions of higher education can access.”
The TECH Act, added Owens, opens resources for technical college programs “that are filling our workforce gap.”
Uintah Basin Technical College Brian Weight said in a statement that the TECH Act recognizes the role technical colleges perform in serving both Utah students and Utah industry.
“It will enable us to expand short-term, industry-aligned training, strengthen employer partnerships, and connect more Utah students to in-demand careers.”
Meanwhile, Dixie Technical College President Jordan Rushton said technical colleges and universities remain partners in higher education. When both have needed resources, more students succeed.
“The TECH Act,” added Rushton, “helps make that possible.”
Utah’s technical colleges reinvesting resources ‘strategically’
The roles that Utah’s technical colleges are playing to support both local students and industry are receiving heightened awareness.
Just days before Kennedy announced his TECH Act bill, the Utah Board of Higher Education, or UBHE, voted unanimously to begin moving toward strategic reinvestment plans at the state’s public technical colleges: Bridgerland Technical College, Davis Technical College, Dixie Technical College, Mountainland Technical College, Ogden-Weber Technical College, Southwest Technical College, Tooele Technical College and Uintah Basin Technical College.
Currently, Utah’s degree-granting colleges and universities are required by the Legislature to reallocate 10% of their state budget dollars toward strategic reinvestment plans designed to shift resources into “high value” areas.
The plan outlined last Thursday by the UBHE would require half of those percentage amounts — 5% — from the technical colleges. That figure acknowledges that technical colleges have less operational and infrastructure flexibility than the degree-granting schools.
Also, while the Legislature required degree-granting colleges to immediately begin executing their strategic reinvestment plans last year, the higher education board is allowing the technical colleges an “optional planning year” for fiscal year 2027. Then the remainder of their budget reallocations would be implemented in phases over the following three years.
Like their degree-granting counterparts, the technical colleges will meet with UBHE each year for reinvestment plan updates and approvals.
“Strategic reinvestment is about making sure every dollar is working as hard as possible for individual students and the state,” said board vice chair Jon Cox. “We are fortunate to have technical colleges that are such good stewards of these limited resources.”