1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Skilled Labor Education Act of 2018 . 2. Scholarships to prepare career and technical education teachers Part B of title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1031 et seq.) is amended— (1) in section 230, by inserting , except subpart 6, after this part ; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subpart: 6 Scholarships to prepare career and technical education teachers. 259. Scholarships to prepare career and technical education teachers (a) Grants by Secretary (1) Authorization The Secretary is authorized to award grants to eligible institutions to enable such institutions to make scholarship awards to qualified teacher candidates in accordance with the provisions of this section. (2) Designation A scholarship under this section— (A) for a teacher candidate pursuing a baccalaureate or master’s degree in education shall be known as a Career and Technical Educator Scholarship or a CTE Scholarship ; and (B) for a teacher candidate pursuing an associate’s degree, certification in education, or industry-recognized certification or licensure, shall be known as a Skilled Labor Educator Scholarship or a SLE Scholarship . (3) Considerations In awarding grants and contracts under this subsection the Secretary shall make every effort to ensure— (A) the equitable distribution of scholarship funds to teacher candidates pursuing baccalaureate degrees, master’s degrees, and associate’s degrees or certifications; (B) the equitable participation of public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education (including community colleges); and (C) the equitable geographic participation of such institutions. (b) Eligible Institutions In this section, the term eligible institution means an institution of higher education, as defined in section 101 or section 102(c), that— (1) offers a program of undergraduate or graduate education awarding a baccalaureate or master’s degree in education