Expanding Access to High-Quality Truck Driver Training
 

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provides a critical lifeline to individuals pursuing trucking careers who otherwise lack the financial resources to access training.
Of the roughly 100,000 students trained at CVTA member schools in 2019, 9,516 used WIOA funding to launch their trucking careers.
Without this support, many aspiring drivers would struggle to secure stable employment and might instead remain dependent on public assistance programs.

Barriers Preventing Full Participation
 

CVTA members are committed to serving low-income students but often face significant obstacles when working within the WIOA system:

• Some local workforce boards limit funding for truck driver training based on the false perception that trucking jobs are not “in-demand.”

• In many states, schools encounter complex and redundant administrative hurdles when attempting to register on the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL), despite offering federally recognized, high-demand training programs.

These unnecessary barriers restrict access for individuals ready and willing to join the industry and hinder the nation’s ability to meet critical supply-chain and workforce needs.
 

A Bipartisan Opportunity for Reform
 

In December 2024, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to reauthorize WIOA for the first time since 2014.

Although Congress did not pass the measure before the end of the 118th Congress, the 119th Congress now has an opportunity to reintroduce and pass the A Stronger Workforce for America Act, a balanced, modernized reauthorization framework that strengthens training access and accountability.
 

The proposed legislation empowers workforce boards to better assess and prioritize training programs with measurable regional or statewide economic impact — including truck driver training, which remains essential to every sector of the U.S. economy.

CVTA’s Position

If full passage is achieved, CVTA calls on Congress to include as many of the following provisions as possible in any related workforce legislation:

• Encourage regional consolidation of local workforce boards to improve efficiency and consistency.

• Increase funding for governors’ reserve funds to target training in critical industries such as trucking.

• Establish a national mechanism for identifying “in-demand” occupations.

• Require transparency: ensure all prospective WIOA participants receive information about nationally in-demand occupations.

• Guarantee that at least 50% of Title I funds for the Adult, Youth, and Dislocated Worker programs are dedicated to training services.

• Streamline ETPL registration for multi-state training providers.

• Ensure full funding for WIOA participants equal to the total cost of approved training programs.