JROTC POWER Act

The JROTC Pay Oversight for Workforce Evaluation and Retention (POWER) Act aims to address concerns regarding the recruitment and retention of instructors for the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC). Following a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that found the Department of Defense (DOD) lacked the data to evaluate a new standardized pay scale, this bill would require the DOD to establish clear metrics to measure the program's workforce health. These metrics would include tracking vacancy rates, the time it takes to hire new instructors, and overall retention levels.

If enacted, the bill would increase transparency for Congress to determine if current pay structures are sufficient to maintain high-quality leadership for the nation's 3,400 JROTC programs. By requiring regular evaluations of how the pay scale impacts the instructor workforce, the legislation seeks to ensure that schools can continue to offer these character development and citizenship programs to high school students without facing staffing shortages. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Armed Services for further consideration.