Iowa Schools Acknowledge Federal Limits on CTE Courses

The Iowa Department of Education is requiring school districts and community colleges to affirm that undocumented high school students can’t participate in college-level career and technical education classes, in line with recent federal guidance. Most school districts complied, according to records obtained by Chalkbeat, which first reported the story.

Iowa’s Education Department issued a memo last year, noting that college-level programs funded by Perkins grants—federal funding for CTE programs—are now considered a “federal public benefit” by the Trump administration, meaning undocumented students would no longer be considered eligible for them under federal law. That includes Perkins-funded dual-enrollment courses, even if taught at high schools, according to the memo.

The message was in response to the Trump administration’s decision last year to nix Clinton-era guidance that allowed undocumented students to participate in postsecondary adult and career and technical education programs. Federal officials argued that the Supreme Court’s Plyler v. Doe decision, which prevents states from barring undocumented students from public schools, only protects “basic public education,” not college-level career and technical education or adult education.

“Postsecondary education programs funded by the federal government should benefit American citizens, not illegal aliens,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a news release at the time. “Under President Trump’s leadership, hardworking American taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for illegal aliens to participate in our career, technical, or adult education programs or activities.”

Some Democratic-led states, like New York and Massachusetts, pushed back on federal agencies’ expansive interpretations of “federal public benefits” in court, securing a preliminary injunction from a federal judge last September. The judge, Mary S. McElroy, a Trump appointee, said the agencies failed to give appropriate notice and allow for public comment for such sweeping changes and the administration’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious.” She was also “skeptical” of the government’s argument that past administrations “incorrectly” interpreted federal statute for almost three decades.

But Iowa took a different approach. School districts in the state and community colleges that partner with them on Perkins-funded CTE programs for college credit “must affirm that they acknowledge and understand” the latest federal guidance “regarding eligibility for federal public benefits” as part of the state’s Perkins grant–renewal process, said Heather Doe, the Iowa Education Department’s communications director, in an email to Inside Higher Ed.

Records uncovered by Chalkbeat found that most school districts, either individually or through CTE consortia, gave this acknowledgment to the state.

Doe emphasized that the federal guidance doesn’t affect high school–level CTE courses or college-level CTE courses high schools offer to meet K–12 course requirements. Of the 325 public school districts, 126 offered CTE courses for college credit in the 2025–26 academic year, which would not be impacted, she said.

It’s also unclear if or how the state or federal governments would check for compliance with the federal guidance. Schools and colleges typically don’t track students’ immigration status, though some community colleges in other states have wrestled with whether to do so in response to the federal government’s stance. Notably, an instructor at Johnson County Community College in Kansas quit last year after the college asked students to prove their immigration status to enroll in adult education programs.

“The Iowa Department of Education does not require the reporting of immigration status,” Doe said.

The memo, however, told school districts that they “should be prepared to demonstrate that ineligible students are not being served using Perkins funds during U.S. Department of Education routine monitoring, audits, or compliance visits.”