OCTAE Program Memorandum 26-3 gives workforce and education leaders a practical federal framework for aligning WIOA and Perkins V. It does not require states or regions to merge the two systems, but it makes the case for sharing labor-market evidence, stakeholder engagement, planning, pathways, and performance conversations.
Source + trust record
Source checked as of September 18, 2026. Primary authority: U.S. Department of Education OCTAE Program Memorandum 26-3.
Check result: Program Memorandum 26-3 remains current federal guidance issued March 26, 2026. It promotes alignment between WIOA and Perkins V in planning, labor-market evidence, stakeholder engagement, career pathways, service delivery, and performance conversations while preserving each program’s separate statutory and regulatory requirements. This AI-assisted brief does not receive human legal or compliance review. Official sources control.
WDB decision strip
| Status | Action | Primary partners | Timing | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ACTIVE FEDERAL GUIDANCE | ALIGN THE WORK, NOT JUST THE PLANS | WDBs + CTE + Colleges + K-12 | Use in current and future planning cycles | Regional analysis · Pathways · CLNA · Stakeholders · Outcomes |
The bottom line
WIOA and Perkins ask many of the same regional questions. Use one evidence base where you can.
Both systems need to understand labor-market demand, employer needs, skills, pathways, access, and outcomes. The memorandum encourages states and partners to reduce duplicative planning and strengthen coordination. For Local Boards, the most useful application is operational: coordinate regional analysis, employer validation, pathway design, and stakeholder engagement with CTE partners while allowing each program to retain its own statutory requirements.
Where the systems overlap
| Shared question | WIOA lens | Perkins lens | Regional opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|
| What jobs matter? | In-demand sectors, occupations, employer needs, wages, openings, skills. | CTE programs aligned to labor-market need and student opportunity. | Use a common regional labor-market fact base. |
| What training exists? | Eligible training, career pathways, apprenticeship, access, participant services. | Programs of study, CTE capacity, credentials, secondary/postsecondary transitions. | Build one training-supply and pathway map. |
| Who needs to be at the table? | Employers, workforce partners, education, community organizations, elected officials. | Education, students, families, business/industry, workforce boards, special populations, tribes and others. | Coordinate stakeholder engagement rather than repeatedly convening the same partners. |
| How do we know it works? | Employment, earnings, credentials, measurable skill gains, employer outcomes. | CTE performance indicators and program-quality evidence. | Use complementary measures to understand pathway performance end to end. |
What the memo does not require
The memorandum is guidance. It does not require California to place Perkins V into a WIOA Combined State Plan, and it does not replace the separate statutory and regulatory requirements that govern WIOA or Perkins. The Department of Education expressly notes that, except for statutory and regulatory requirements described in its guidance, program memoranda do not themselves have the force and effect of law.
Operational considerations for WDBs
- Align the calendars. Put WIOA local/regional planning, Perkins CLNA, Strong Workforce, and major college program-planning cycles on one regional calendar.
- Create a shared evidence layer. Use common occupation, wage, demand, employer, training-supply, and access evidence, then let each funding stream apply its own rules.
- Coordinate employer validation. Reduce repeated outreach to the same employers by clarifying which questions can serve multiple planning processes.
- Compare pathway gaps, not just priority lists. Ask where demand exists but training capacity, access, transitions, work-based learning, or learner supports are weak.
- Include learners and communities. Labor-market demand does not reveal whether people can reach, enter, persist in, or benefit from a pathway.
- Turn planning into a project pipeline. Move from shared evidence to specific actions such as scaling, access expansion, redesign, apprenticeship, shared cohorts, or employer-led short-term training.
Required / local choice / good practice / watch out
| Label | How to apply it |
|---|---|
| Required | Each program must still meet its own WIOA or Perkins statutory and regulatory requirements. |
| Local choice | Regions decide how far to integrate evidence collection, stakeholder engagement, planning routines, and project governance. |
| Good practice | Share the underlying regional intelligence before creating separate funding-specific conclusions. |
| Watch out | Alignment does not mean making every WIOA and Perkins priority identical or substituting one program’s eligibility test for another’s. |
By role
WDB strategy / LMI
Bring demand, job-quality, employer, and access evidence into education planning.
CTE / college leadership
Bring program supply, feasibility, learner outcomes, and curriculum realities into regional workforce decisions.
Regional conveners
Replace parallel planning meetings with shared evidence and clearly separated decision gates.
Source authority
- U.S. Department of Education — OCTAE Program Memorandum 26-3
- OCTAE resource page — Aligning Activities Under WIOA and Perkins V
Interpretation note: The memorandum is federal guidance. Where it describes statutory or regulatory requirements, those authorities control. Regional coordination recommendations above are Workforce Wonkery implementation guidance.