BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2063 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 6, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION Patrick O'Donnell, Chair AB 2063 (Gallagher) - As Introduced February 17, 2016 SUBJECT: Work-based learning opportunities: work experience education, registered student apprentices, and job shadowing SUMMARY: Lowers, from 16 years of age to 14 years of age, the minimum age required for student participation in work experience education, job shadowing experiences, and apprenticeship programs. Raises the hour limit on student participation in job shadowing experiences from 25 to 40 hours per semester. Specifically, this bill: 1)Lowers the age for participation in work experience education programs from 16 to 14 years of age. 2)Lowers the age for participation in job shadowing experiences from 16 to 14 years of age. 3)Lowers the grade limit for participation in job shadowing experiences from 10th grade to 9th grade. 4)Lowers the age for participation in apprenticeship programs from 16 to 14 years of age. AB 2063 Page 2 5)Lowers the grade limit for participation in apprenticeship programs from 10th grade to 9th grade. 6)Raises the amount of hours a student can participate in job shadowing experiences from 25 hours to 40 hours per semester. EXISTING LAW: 1)Authorizes school districts that maintain high schools to establish work-based learning or work experience programs for the purpose of providing pupils with instruction in skills, attitudes, and understanding necessary for success in employment. 2)Defines "work-based learning" as an educational approach or instructional methodology that uses the workplace or real work to provide pupils with knowledge and skills that help them connect school experiences to real-life work activities and career opportunities. 3)Provides that work-based learning opportunities for pupils may be delivered by partnership academies, regional occupational programs, and other educational programs, and may include work experience education, community classrooms, cooperative career technical education (CTE) programs, and job shadowing. 4)Requires students to be at least 16 years of age in order to receive credit for completing a work experience education AB 2063 Page 3 program. Allows students younger than 16 to participate in work experience education under any of the following conditions: a) the student is in grade 11 or higher b) the principal of the school which the students attends certifies that the student is in need of immediate work experience in order to pursue employment opportunities c) the principal of the school in which the student attends certifies that there is a probability that the student will no longer be enrolled as a full-time student without being provided the opportunity to enroll in a work experience education program d) the student's individual education program (IEP) prescribes the type of training for which participation in work experience education is deemed appropriate 5)Defines a registered student apprentice as a student who is at least 16 years of age, a full time high school student in the grade 10 or higher, and in an apprenticeship program registered with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. AB 2063 Page 4 6)Specifies that school districts providing training to students through work experience education, cooperative vocational education, community classrooms, or student apprenticeship programs are considered the employer of the student receiving the training, unless the student is being paid a cash wage. FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. COMMENTS: Need for the bill. According to the author's office, "Every 26 seconds, a student drops out of school in the United States. Students living in low-income families are more likely to drop out of school. Data from the National Center on Education Statistics shows that low-income students drop out at a rate 10 times higher compared to their peers. What is more troublesome is that most students who drop out leave in the middle of 10th grade. Exposing students to Career Technical education is crucial. A California study showed that high school dropout rates in CTE programs averaged about half the rate of the general population. Additionally, exposing students earlier allows them to explore more career options and gives them the knowledge and experience they need to launch their careers or further their education. This will also help California close the predicted 1.5 million worker gap. Career Technical Education is key to providing students a pathway to postsecondary education and careers." Focus on CTE in California has grown. With dramatic changes in industry and workforce demands, as well as renewed focus on supporting students' "career readiness," policymakers, business leaders and educators have in recent years enacted numerous reforms to increase student access to CTE courses. There are AB 2063 Page 5 several different state programs that support CTE opportunities, including Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROC/Ps), the CTE Incentive Grant Program, the Career Pathways Trust, and Partnership Academies. The Legislature has also supported CTE as an option to meet state graduation requirements. In January, 2013, the SBE adopted revised CTE Model Curriculum Standards, which reflect the specific conditions and expectations of each industry sector. The standards are organized into 15 industry sectors, which each contain anywhere from three to seven different pathway learning approaches. Work Experience Education: According to the CDE, work experience education (WEE) is a course of study that may be established by a governing board of any local education agency (LEA) to provide paid or unpaid on-the-job experiences for high school students through training agreements with employers. WEE programs combine an on-the-job component with related classroom instruction designed to maximize the value of the on-the-job experiences. The goal of WEE programs is to: Link the academic core curriculum with the world of work and promote the students' school-to-career transition Help students develop skills, habits, and attitudes conductive to job success and personal growth Assist students in career exploration and forgoing rewarding relationships with employers Develop a positive work ethic and acquire or refine work related skills and job performance in actual work settings AB 2063 Page 6 WEE includes both paid and non-paid experiences. The school district may offer any one or more of the following types of WEE: Exploratory Work Experience Education (EWEE): The objective of EWEE is to provide career guidance to students and ascertain their interests and aptitudes for specific careers through opportunities to observe and sample a variety of conditions of work. EWEE includes a combination of job observations and related classroom instruction in WEE. The student may be required to perform non-paid work activities while exploring the occupation on a limited, periodic, and sampling basis. Students may not participate in EWEE programs if pay is received for similar work at the same work station or a similar job during hours when not assigned to the EWEE program. The LEA must provide Workers' Compensation Insurance for the student. Students enrolled in EWEE may be as young as 12 years of age, and students participating in EWEE do not need a work permit. In the 2014-15 school year, EWEE was offered in 96 schools, with a total of 316 different courses taught. A total of 2,383 students were enrolled in a EWEE program. General Work Experience Education (GWEE): The purpose of GWEE is to provide students with opportunities for applying the basic skills of reading, writing, and computation through a combination of supervised paid employment in any occupational field and related classroom instruction. Students participating in GWEE typically require a work permit. In the 2014-15 school year, GWEE was offered in 304 California schools, with a total of 1,048 different courses taught. A total of 9,772 students were enrolled in a GWEE program. Career Technical Work Experience Education (CTWEE). The AB 2063 Page 7 intent of CTWEE is to reinforce and extend vocational learning opportunities for students through a combination of related classroom instruction and supervised paid or unpaid employment. Students enrolled in CTWEE must have a worksite placement or employment that is related to a previous or concurrently enrolled Career Technical Education course of study. In the 2014-15 school year, CTWEE was offered in 179 California schools, with a total of 643 different courses taught. A total of 5,284 students were enrolled in a GWEE program. Enrollment in WEE relatively small compared to other CTE options. According to the CDE, in the 2014-15 school year, 523 schools offer some type of WEE program, with 2,007 different courses taught. There were 17,439 students enrolled in WEE programs. Compared to the enrollment in other CTE courses, these numbers are relatively low. For example, 1,140 schools offer a CTE program on Arts, Media, and Entertainment, (just one of the 15 CTE industry sectors) with 7,068 courses taught, and a total of 162,093 students enrolled. Does current law for WEE pose barriers to CTE? Currently, students must be at least 16 years of age to receive credit for completing a work experience program, but provides several exemptions to this age limit. A student younger than 16 may participate in WEE under any of the following conditions: the student is in 11th grade or higher the student's principal certifies that the student is in need of immediate work experience in order to pursue employment opportunities AB 2063 Page 8 the student's principal certifies that there is a probability that the student will no longer be enrolled as a full time student without the ability to enroll in a WEE program the student has an IEP providing that participation in WEE is necessary The statutes authorizing WEE date to the 1970s, and haven't been amended in over 20 years. CTE has evolved significantly since this time. It now includes a much broader range of occupations/career pathways, has been integrated with standards-based coursework, and generally involves a more rigorous instructional methodology. Based on the age of the authorizing statutes and low participation numbers shown below, the Committee may wish to consider if WEE is well aligned to current CTE programs and standards. The Committee may also wish to consider if the limits in current law really pose barriers to participation in the three WEE programs: In EWEE courses, students may be as young as 12 years old to participate. GWEE courses require a work permit, which may be issued to students as young as 12 years old. However, the state does prohibit 12 and 13 year olds from working before, after, or during the work day, and limits the amount of hours 14 and 15 year old students may work to 18 hours a week. According to the CDE, the majority of work permits are issued to students 16 and 17 years of age, who can work AB 2063 Page 9 a maximum of 48 hours per week. For CTWEE courses, staff is unaware of any concrete examples of how the age limits in current law pose a barrier. If a student is engaged in a career pathway program starting in 9th grade, for example, there appear to be other avenues for work experience than enrollment in WEE courses, including job shadowing and internships. According to the author, the hour participation limit creates a barrier to participation in CTE programs as 25 hours only amounts to roughly 3 days a semester. However, if the student were allowed to job shadow for 40 hours, as proposed in this bill, then she could spend an entire week on an internship during a school break or over the summer, providing a much more immersive experience. The author states that the intent of this bill is to allow younger students to engage in WEE as a means of preventing them from dropping out of high school, and to allow for early participation in work-based education. Current law appears to provide an exemption for students at risk of dropping out of school without access to such an option, but does not provide an exemption for students engaged in career pathway programs. Staff recommends that the bill be amended to replace its current contents with an addition to the existing list of exemptions relating to participation in career pathways programs. This new exemption would allow, if a student's principal certifies that it is necessary for participation in a career pathway program, as specified, a lowering of the age limit (down to 14 years) for WEE programs, and/or the time limits on job shadowing (up to 40 hours). Related legislation. AB 2237 (Olsen) of this Session establishes the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics AB 2063 Page 10 Partnership Academies program, for the purposes of providing grants to school districts to establish up to 100 partnership academies dedicated to training students in STEM occupations. This bill is currently pending in the Assembly Education Committee. SB 1123 (Leyva) of this Session extends the existing authority for pupils to use CTE as an option to fulfill the high school graduation requirement to complete a course in visual or performing arts or foreign language until January 1, 2023. This bill is currently pending in the Senate Education Committee. Prior legislation. AB 86 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 48, Statutes 2014, created the California Career Pathways Trust, and appropriated $250 million in competitive grants to districts to build and improve career pathways programs. AB 104 (Committee on Budget), Chapter 13, Statutes 2014, established the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, a competitive grant program administered by the CDE to provide support for career technical education in grades K-12, and provided $400 million in 2015-16, $300 million in 2016-17, and $200 million in 2017-18 for this program. AB 1330 (Furutani), Chapter 621, Statutes of 2011, added CTE, as defined, as an option for pupils to fulfill the existing high school graduation requirement to complete a course in visual or performing arts or foreign language and sunsets these provisions on January 1, 2017. SB 381 (Wright) of the 2009-10 Session would have required districts adopting a college preparation curriculum for high school graduation to require students to also compete CTE courses in order to earn the high school diploma. This bill was AB 2063 Page 11 held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. SB 515 (Hancock) of the 2009-10 Session would have required that at least half of sequenced CTE courses met are linked to regional or state high priority workforce needs. This measure was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. SB 725 (Hancock) of the 2009-10 Session would have authorized ROC/Ps to offer apprenticeship preparation programs. This bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support None received Opposition None received Analysis Prepared by:Christine Aurre and Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087 AB 2063 Page 12