Legislative Priorities

As the voice of aviation technical education, ATEC consistently advocates for common-sense law, particularly those influencing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Education, and the aviation industry. ATEC's specific legislative priorities are outlined below:

1. Ensure FAA airman certification standards (ACS) are maintained in support of aviation safety and industry workforce needs.

The ACS are a product of a highly successful, decades-long collaboration between the FAA and industry stakeholders to clearly define what a person needs to know, say, and do to obtain airman certification. ATEC asked Congress to ensure FAA Reauthorization Act provisions (Sec. 406) are implemented including directing the agency to carry out industry recommendations on maintaining and updating ACS and engaging the ACS working group to continually approve the certification system including training and testing.

2. Support aviation workforce development by fully funding the FAA workforce grant.

In the 2018 FAA reauthorization bill, Congress established the Aviation Workforce Development Grants program, authorizing $10 million in funding for pilot and maintenance workforce development programs. The 2024 reauthorization bill (Sec. 440) allocates $20 million for each of the three programs (pilot, maintenance, and manufacturing) for FY 2025 through 2028. ATEC encourages Congress to appropriate funding as set forth in the reauthorization legislation to support these programs.

3. Expand access to FAA airman testing by increasing the number of DMEs and removing barriers for AMTS to provide knowledge testing.

Forty percent of aviation technician school graduates do not take the exam necessary for FAA mechanic certification, with testing inaccessibility as a primary obstacle. Mechanic candidates face long wait times for written tests, while schools encounter delays and stringent requirements for on-site testing approval. Additionally, a shortage of Designated Mechanic Examiners (DMEs) exacerbates the issue, as some FAA offices are reluctant to approve more due to resource constraints. ATEC urges the FAA to increase access to written test centers, expand the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program to include examiner delegations, and provide DMEs with more flexibility to conduct tests at any Part 147 program nationwide.

4. Include aviation technical programs as STEM fields across all federal agency classification systems.

For example, the Department of Homeland Security does not include all aviation maintenance programs to be considered a “STEM field of study,” which limits students’ ability to apply for visa extensions to work in the U.S. after graduation. Aviation technical program codes are absent from similar lists maintained by the Department of Labor, meaning they cannot take advantage of STEM-focused programming or all the downstream benefits of having that categorization. The council asks congressional representatives to support and encourage designation of aviation maintenance programs as STEM programs across all federal government agencies.

5. Promote aviation technical career paths and meet rising workforce demands through expansion of secondary education opportunities.

ATEC, in collaboration with Choose Aerospace (www.chooseaerospace.org), has developed curriculum designed to create direct pathways into aviation jobs or FAA-certificated aviation maintenance technician schools. ATEC members are committed to working alongside congressional offices, community partners, and school districts to implement these programs and raise awareness of aviation technical career opportunities.

6. Oppose threats to educational institutions.

ATEC opposes legislation that limits aviation technical schools from serving students and veterans, including public, private non-profit, and private proprietary institutions. The industry is facing a massive technical workforce shortage, all FAA-certificated aviation maintenance trainings schools are vital to industry’s growth and prosperity. ATEC asks legislative leaders to oppose any legislation masked rhetorically as student protection aid (e.g., 90-10 rule, borrower defense to repayment, etc.) that instead threatens a vital source of aviation maintenance professionals and negatively impacts aerospace companies looking to hire technical personnel.