WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today met with Ivanka Trump to discuss her work to promote apprenticeships and career and technical education programs.

Wicker has introduced two proposals that align with President Trump’s efforts to promote learning opportunities for students interested in technical education.

The Apprenticeship Enhancement Act of 2017 would make it easier for employers to create or update apprenticeship programs by streamlining the review process at the U.S. Department of Labor. It would set into statute one of the goals outlined by President Trump in an executive order to expand apprenticeships and improve job training programs.

Wicker also introduced the Computer Science Career Education Act which would offer states competitive federal grants within the U.S. Department of Education to help develop computer science career education programs.  The grants would be awarded to a consortia of state and local education agencies, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations, and employers within the computer science sector.

As a senior advisor to the president, Ivanka Trump has worked to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs and computer science education. She has engaged with stakeholders in both the public and private sectors to address the lack of resources facing many K-12 schools that are working to implement high-quality STEM and computer science programs.