Senate Bill No. 148

Introduced by Senators McGuire and Leyva

(Principal coauthor: Senator Huff)

(Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Burke and Wood)

(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Hall, Mendoza, and Vidak)

(Coauthor: Assembly Member Dodd)

January 29, 2015

An act to add Article 8 (commencing with Section 52465) to Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education Code, relating to career technical education, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 148, as introduced, McGuire. Career technical education: Career and Job Skills Education Act.

(1) Existing law establishes the office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and specifies that the Superintendent is the ex officio Director of the State Department of Education. Under existing law, the State Department of Education administers numerous programs relating to elementary and secondary education.

Existing law authorizes, among other things, the governing board of any high school district to establish and maintain, in connection with any high school or regional occupational center or program under its jurisdiction, cooperative career technical education programs or community classrooms as part of a career technical education course, as specified.

This bill would establish the Career and Job Skills Education Act, which would authorize the governing board of a school district that operates any state-approved career technical education sequence of courses to apply to the Superintendent for a grant for the development and enhancement of high-quality career technical education programs in the school district. The bill would require the governing board of a recipient school district to, among other things, adopt certain policies and procedures and establish a career technical education program that satisfies specified criteria. The bill would establish the Career and Job Skills Education Fund in the State Treasury, and would also require the Superintendent to, among other things, administer the fund and distribute awards through an annual application process to the governing boards of school districts that meet certain requirements. The bill would further require the Superintendent and the State Board of Education to incorporate appropriate metrics into state-adopted accountability measures to determine career readiness of California’s high school pupils.

The bill would appropriate $600,000,000 from the General Fund to the Superintendent, for deposit in the Career and Job Skills Education Fund, for purposes of the Career and Job Skills Education Act, and would express the intent of the Legislature that additional funds be appropriated from the General Fund, as necessary, for those purposes in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years.

(2) Funds appropriated by the bill for purposes of funding this act would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares the following:

(a) Section 51220 of the Education Code states, in part, “The
adopted course of study for grades 7 to 12, inclusive, shall offer
courses in the following areas of study:

(h) Applied arts, including instruction in the areas of consumer
and homemaking education, industrial arts, general business
education, or general agriculture.

(i) Career technical education designed and conducted for the
purpose of preparing youth for gainful employment in the
occupations and in the numbers that are appropriate to the
personnel needs of the state and the community served and relevant
to the career desires and needs of the pupils.”

(b) Section 51224 of the Education Code states, “The governing
board of any school district maintaining a high school shall
prescribe courses of study designed to provide the skills and
knowledge required for adult life for pupils attending the schools
within its school district. The governing board shall prescribe
separate courses of study, including, but not limited to, a course
of study designed to prepare prospective pupils for admission to
state colleges and universities and a course of study for career
technical training.”

(c) California has invested $500 million in Proposition 1D
funding for purposes of modernizing and building new career
technical education facilities for high school pupils.

(d) California has invested $90 million in the purchase of new
career technical education equipment for high school pupils.

(e) California has invested $500 million in the California Career
Pathways Trust for the development of robust career pathways
aligned with regional economies.

(f) California needs to satisfy maintenance of effort requirements
to continue to receive funds pursuant to the federal Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, for
the improvement of career technical education programs.

(g) To remain a competitive economy, California high schools
need to provide resources that promote career readiness and 21st
century career technical skills for its pupils.

(h) California needs to use limited resources more efficiently
to do a better job of preparing pupils for an economy that demands
workers to have strong academic and career knowledge, and skills,
to be adaptable to change, and prepared for college and careers.

(i) The rapid growth of California’s population and the labor
force depends on attracting, supporting, and retaining businesses
that pay sustainable wages to highly skilled and qualified workers.
Therefore, improvement in the overall quality of California’s
workforce is a vital component to the state’s continued economic
development.

(j) California needs to develop and sustain educational programs
that can provide youth with career readiness, organizational help
in their pursuit of career opportunities, leadership skills, networks
of support, and the academic and technical skills necessary to serve
as a foundation for successful careers.

(k) The average high school graduation rate in the United States
for pupils concentrating in career technical education programs is
90.18 percent, compared to an average national freshman
graduation rate of 74.9 percent.

(l) 81 percent of high school dropouts in the United States say
relevant, real-world learning opportunities would have kept them
from dropping out of high school.

(m) In the United States, more than 70 percent of secondary
career technical education concentrators pursued postsecondary
education shortly after graduating from high school.

(n) According to the United States Census for the year 2010,
70 percent of pupils will not go on to receive a four-year
postsecondary education degree.

(o) California’s future of providing high-quality education and
training programs requires greater public-private collaboration and
cooperation.

(p) California’s policies and methods that provide elementary
and secondary education to prepare young people for lifelong
learning, higher educational opportunities, and high-skilled careers
leading to sustainable wages are major components to California’s
continued economic growth.

(q) California’s continued economic development and growth
is critically linked to providing pupils with educational
opportunities that prepare those pupils for lifelong learning, higher
education, and high-skilled, high-wage careers.

(r) Sustaining and developing a strong system for the delivery
of career technical education should be a top priority of California’s
educational systems and must be addressed at the local, regional,
and state levels to establish a seamless system from career technical
education to employment.

(s) California’s career pathways system is a long-term
investment in developing human capital by supplying the demand
for a highly skilled and adaptable workforce. By successfully
matching the skills of the emerging workforce with the needs of
California’s growth economies, high-quality career pathways will
provide essential components to ensure the state’s competitive
edge in the growing global economy.

(t) Career pathway programs are an educational approach that
is designed to improve academic rigor through relevant, real-world
experiences by integrating appropriate academic and essential
career technical education knowledge and skills focused around a
career pathway.

(u) High-quality and coordinated career pathways provide a
much needed nexus between those preparing the future workforce
and those employing the future workforce. The collaboration of
educators, business, and labor fosters the use of contextual and
applied teaching strategies that provide opportunities for all pupils
to gain exposure to career-related coursework, workplace
experiences, internships, and job-site mentoring.

(v) A rigorous high-quality education curriculum encompasses
a range of subjects and grade levels. Incorporating career technical
education into that curriculum can strengthen pupils’ understanding
of career opportunities, provide pupils with direction for education
beyond high school, and produce better informed citizens in the
state.

SEC. 2.  

Article 8 (commencing with Section 52465) is added
to Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code, to read:

 

Article 8.  Career and Job Skills Education Act

 

52465.  

This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Career and Job Skills Education Act.

52466.  

The Career and Job Skills Education Fund is hereby
established in the State Treasury. The moneys in the fund shall be
available to the Superintendent, upon appropriation by the
Legislature pursuant to Section 52471, for the implementation and
administration of this article.

52467.  

(a) (1) The governing board of a school district that
operates any state approved career technical education sequence
of courses may apply to the Superintendent for a grant for the
development and enhancement of high-quality career technical
education courses in the school district.

(2) The department shall retain up to 2 percent of the total funds
apportioned to the governing board of a school district pursuant
to this article, to provide all of the following to that school district
for the purposes of this article:

(A) Technical assistance.

(B) Professional development.

(C) Accountability services and local monitoring.

(b) The Superintendent shall award grants to applicant school
districts that satisfy the following requirements:

(1) The school district shall contribute an amount of funds equal
to the amount of the grant for use in career technical education
programs as defined by the California State Plan for Career
Technical Education.

(2) The school district shall identify to the Superintendent the
school district’s career technical education expenses for that
application year using Goal Code 3800 of the California School
Accounting Manual.

52468.  

(a) Each governing board of a school district that
receives a grant or accepts other funds made available for purposes
of this article shall adopt policies and procedures for the school
district to accomplish both of the following objectives:

(1) Systematically review career technical education courses
offered by the school district to determine the degree to which
each course may offer an alternative means for completing and
receiving credit for specific portions of the school district's
prescribed course of study to graduate from high school pursuant
to subdivision (b) of Section 51225.3. The governing board of the
school district shall ensure that those classes are equivalent, in
terms of content and rigor, to course requirements prescribed in
subdivision (a) of Section 51225.3.

(2) Compare, not less than every five years, the local curriculum,
course contents, and course sequences of career technical education
programs in the school district with the California Career Technical
Education Model Curriculum Standards adopted by the state board.

(b) Commencing after the governing board of a school district
adopts policies and procedures pursuant to subdivision (a), and
every academic year thereafter, the school district shall undergo
annual performance reviews conducted by any or all of the
following for purposes of evaluating career technical education
programs in the school district:

(1) The department.

(2) Local industry advisory committees.

(3) An entity or entities identified and approved by the
Superintendent for purposes of conducting the annual performance
reviews.

52469.  

Each governing board of a school district that receives
a grant or accepts other funds made available for purposes of this
article shall, in consultation with the county office of education,
area workforce development offices, or community colleges serving
the geographic area of the school district, or with any combination
of the entities, offices, or community colleges thereof, adopt a
career technical education program that includes all of the
following criteria:

(a) The program shall provide a series of career technical
education courses aligned with the Career Technical Education
Model Curriculum Standards adopted by the state board, and offer
a coherent sequence of career technical education courses leading
to specific competencies that will enable pupils to manage personal
and work life and attain entry level employment in business or
industry upon their graduation from high school. That plan to
provide a series of career technical education courses shall be
aligned with local agreements between the school district and the
county office of education, area workforce development offices,
or community colleges serving the geographic area of the school
district regarding the responsibilities for the provision and
articulation of services provided by those local entities to the school
district.

(b) The program shall include plans, developed and implemented
by the governing board of the school district, for articulation of
career technical education courses with community colleges or
apprenticeship programs in the geographic area of the school
district to continue the sequence of career technical education
courses through grades 13 and 14.

(c) The program shall include assessments of local business and
industry needs to ensure that the program provides pupils with the
competency, knowledge, and skills necessary to pursue
employment opportunities.

(d) The program shall provide counseling and guidance services
to pupils to help them satisfy all of the requirements for high school
graduation and make informed career preparation choices.
Counseling and guidance services provided for purposes of this
subdivision may include counseling for pupils in grades 6 to 12,
inclusive.

(e) The program shall involve business and industry in
cooperative projects with schools in the school district to provide
internships for pupils, externships for teachers, paid or nonpaid
work experience, job-shadowing or mentoring opportunities,
instructors from business and industry, assistance with needs
assessments and program evaluations, and access to business and
industry employment placement services to help graduating pupils
obtain employment.

(f) The program shall include a system for data collection to be
reported annually to the governing board of the school district on
the success or failure of career technical education courses in the
school district in terms of all of the following:

(1) Number of pupils enrolled in career technical education
courses.

(2) Pupils earning industry recognized certifications, credentials,
or licenses as determined by a list approved by the Superintendent,
or who passed third-party career technical education pathway
specific assessments.

(3) Pupils securing employment, particularly in jobs related to
the area of their career technical preparation in high school.

(4) Pupils proceeding to advanced education or training at the
postsecondary educational level.

(5) Pupils proceeding to advance education or training at the
postsecondary educational level in the same career pathway as his
or her career technical preparation in high school.

(6) Number and types of career technical courses offered and
the number of those courses that qualify as alternative means to
complete the prescribed course of study requirements as described
in subdivision (b) of Section 51225.3.

52470.  

The Superintendent shall do all of the following:

(a) Form and convene a Career Technical Education Council
made up of representatives from industry representing each of the
15 industry sectors described in the California Career Technical
Education Model Curriculum Standards, to advise the
Superintendent on the operational and policy issues important to
the continual improvement of career technical education in public
schools.

(b) Administer the Career and Job Skills Education Fund and
issue grant awards to recipient school districts.

(c) Provide for a state-wide system to ensure that career technical
education pathways are aligned with the 15 industry sectors
described in the California Career Technical Education Model
Curriculum Standards. That system shall include subject matter
expertise, curricular materials, professional development, career
technical education pupil organization expertise, a networking
system for sharing best practices and innovative approaches, and
other resources.

(d) Develop a system of accountability, data collecting, and
monitoring, including periodic schoolsite visits to assess the
effectiveness and quality of career technical education course
sequences, to ensure the goals of career technical education
programs are satisfied.

(e) Align accountability measures developed pursuant to
subdivision (d) into a uniform accountability metric based on any
career-ready standards adopted pursuant to the federal Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.) and
the 11 quality indicators described in the California State Plan for
Career Technical Education.

(f) Award grant funds only to eligible applicants who meet or
exceed quality criteria developed and required by the department.
The Superintendent may grant a one-year exemption or impose a
probationary period from this requirement for school districts that
experience extenuating circumstances, including natural disasters
or dramatic changes in industry opportunities within the geographic
region of the school district.

(g) Adopt a list of approved high-quality industry certifications
and licenses that the department will recognize for purposes of
awarding grant funds pursuant to this article, make that list
available to school districts, and report the list to the department
pursuant to the reporting requirements of the federal Carl D.
Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006
(20 U.S.C. Sec. 2301 et seq.).

(h) Adopt a list of approved third-party career technical
education pathway assessments in each career technical education
pathway for purposes of awarding grant funds pursuant to this
article, make that list available to school districts, and report the
list to the department pursuant to the reporting requirements of the
federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Improvement Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 2301 et seq.).

(i) Ensure continued funding pursuant to this article is based on
a strong accountability system and include data measures
established by the Superintendent.

(j) Provide technical and professional assistance to all grant
award recipient school districts.

52471.  

(a) The amount of six hundred million dollars
($600,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to
the Superintendent, for deposit in the Career and Job Skills
Education Fund, for purposes of this article.

(b) Moneys in the fund shall be awarded pursuant to this article
to a school district through an annual application process. The
amount of that award shall be determined as follows:

(1) Thirty percent shall be determined based on the school
district’s proportional share of career technical education
participants who were enrolled in state approved career technical
education courses the prior academic year.

(2) Thirty percent shall be determined based on the school
district’s proportional share of career technical education
concentrators from the prior academic year. For purposes of this
article, “concentrator” is a pupil who has completed one career
technical education course and has enrolled in a second course
within a particular sequence of career technical education courses.

(3) Thirty-eight percent shall be based on the number of pupils
who complete a sequence of career technical education courses
and earn an industry recognized certification, credential, or license,
or pass a third-party pathway assessment during the prior academic
year.

(4) An amount equal to 2 percent of the total funds appropriated
pursuant to this article shall be set aside and distributed separately
to applicants of rural school districts, as defined by the State Board
of Equalization, and regions with higher than average rates of high
school dropouts, as defined by the California Longitudinal Public
Achievement Data System.

(c) Funds shall be awarded only to school districts that
demonstrate attainment of the accountability measurements
developed pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 52470.

(d) Funds shall be awarded only to school districts that
demonstrate alignment of career technical education programs
with the quality indicators described in the California State Plan
for Career Technical Education.

(e) The department may, with the advice of the Superintendent,
adopt rules and regulations governing the distribution of funds
provided for purposes of this article and shall adopt criteria for
assessing whether school districts have met the requirements of
this article. The Superintendent shall not be required to fund any
school district if the department concludes that the school district’s
application for that year does not satisfy application requirements
developed by the department for the receipt of grant funds pursuant
this article.

(f) Funds may be used by each recipient school district for
purposes of this article for any or all of the following purposes:

(1) Matching pupils with work-based learning opportunities.

(2) Using intermediaries as liaisons between educators,
businesses, parents, and community partners.

(3) Providing technical assistance to help employers and
educators design comprehensive career technical education course
sequences and programs.

(4) Providing technical assistance to help teachers integrate
academic, career technical education, and work-based learning
activities.

(5) Encouraging active business involvement in school district
work-based learning activities and providing teacher externships.

(6) Assisting pupils in finding appropriate work, continuing
education or training, and linking pupils to other community
services.

(7) Evaluating post-career technical education program outcomes
for pupils to assess the success of those programs, particularly
with reference to special populations, as that term is defined in the
federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Improvement Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 2301 et seq.).

(8) Linking youth development activities with employer and
industry strategies to upgrade worker skills.

(9) Funding career technical education pupil organizations and
activities.

(10) Funding costs incurred through career technical education
program-related planning, development, validation, and
accountability.

(11) Funding career technical education curriculum
development.

(12) Funding career technical education professional
development, including industry externships for teachers.

(13) Funding career technical education instructional equipment
and material purchases.

(14) Providing support in career technical education programs
to pupils of special populations, as that term is defined in the
federal Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Improvement Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 2301 et seq.).

(15) Funding costs incurred through the expansion of career
technical education programs in effect as of January 1, 2016, or
the establishment of new career technical education programs or
pathways, including the cost of salaries for additional career
technical education staff. Salary expenditures for career technical
education staff shall be limited to the first three years of the
expansion or establishment of those career technical education
programs or pathways and capped at 50 percent of the annual
amount apportioned to the recipient school district.

52472.  

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, funds allocated
pursuant to this article may be expended only to ensure the
development, enhancement, and improvement of a high-quality
career technical education courses and programs pursuant to the
quality indicators described in the California State Plan for Career
Technical Education.

(b) As a condition of receiving funds pursuant to this article,
the governing board of each recipient school district shall do all
of the following:

(1) Develop a plan for establishing aligned course sequences
for career technical education programs in the school district.

(2) Certify to the department that each career technical education
pathway has been developed with input from an industry based
career pathway advisory committee and includes a logical sequence
of career technical education courses pursuant to the California
State Plan for Career Technical Education.

(3) Submit new or revised career technical education programs
or pathways to the department for approval no later than September
1 of the fiscal year in which those changes are implemented
pursuant to requirements developed by the department, for purposes
of determining the annual funding award to the school district.

(4) Certify to the department that each course within a sequence
of career technical education courses is aligned with the California
Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards, adopted
by the state board, for grades 7 to 12, inclusive.

(5) Certify to the department that each course, where
appropriate, is aligned with the Common Core State Standards.

(6) Certify to the department that each career technical education
teacher in the school district has the appropriate credential
authorizing him or her to teach his or her assigned career technical
education course.

(7) Except as provided in paragraph (15) of subdivision (f) of
Section 52471, certify to the department that no grant funds
awarded to the school district pursuant to this article are used for
staff salaries, benefits, or both.

(8) Collect and report data as required by the department and
the school district’s local control and accountability plan.

52473.  

The Superintendent and the state board shall incorporate
appropriate metrics into state-adopted accountability measures to
determine career readiness of California’s high school pupils.
These metrics shall be aligned with the federal Carl D. Perkins
Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (20
U.S.C. Sec. 2301 et seq.), California’s Standards for Career Ready
Practice, and the quality indicators described in the California State
Plan for Career Technical Education.

SEC. 3.  

It is the intent of the Legislature that additional funds
be appropriated from the General Fund, as necessary, to the
Superintendent, for deposit in the Career and Job Skills Education
Fund, for purposes of Article 8 (commencing with Section 52465)
of Chapter 9 of Part 28 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code, in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 fiscal years.

SEC. 4.  

For purposes of making the computations required by
Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution, the funds
appropriated pursuant to this act shall be deemed to be “General
Fund revenues appropriated for school districts,” as defined in
subdivision (c) of Section 41202 of the Education Code, for the
fiscal year for which the funds are appropriated, and included
within the “total allocations to school districts and community
college districts from General Fund proceeds of taxes appropriated
pursuant to Article XIII B,” as defined in subdivision (e) of Section
41202 of the Education Code, for the fiscal year for which the
funds are appropriated.