BILL ANALYSIS
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|Hearing Date:May 11, 2009 |Bill No:SB |
| |515 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod, Chair
Bill No: SB 515Author:Hancock
As Amended:April 20, 2009Fiscal: No
SUBJECT: Career technical education.
SUMMARY: Requires schools and community colleges that receive funds
from the Perkins Act to demonstrate that at least half of sequenced
career technical education courses are linked to regional or state
high priority workforce needs.
NOTE : This measure was heard in the Senate Education Committee on
April 22, 2009, and was passed out of that Committee by a vote of
8 to 0.
Existing law:
1)Existing law establishes various career technical education (CTE)
programs for public schools including but not limited to regional
occupational centers and programs (ROC/P), partnership academies,
adult education programs, and career technical education programs in
secondary and postsecondary institutions.
2)Federal law, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Improvement Act, provides federal funds to states for the purpose of
improving CTE programs, integrating academic and technical
curriculum, serving special populations and meeting gender equity
needs. Federal Law also establishes various conditions for
receiving funds provided under the Carl D. Perkins Act.
3)Requires the governing board of each Regional Occupational Centers
and Programs (ROC/Ps) to ensure, on or before July 1, 2010, that at
least 90 percent of all state-funded courses offered in those
centers or programs, as specified, are part of course sequences that
target comprehensive skills.
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4)Classifies counties on the basis of average daily attendance. For
example, Class One counties have an average daily attendance of
750,000 and over; Class Eight counties have average daily attendance
of less than 1,000 students.
5)Federal law enacts the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) which provides
funding for workforce investment activities to states for specified
activities like job training, employment investment, work incentive
programs and employment training outreach programs.
6)Federal law, under WIA, specifies that 15% of a state's federally
allocated funds can be retained by the state to develop and
coordinate workforce development activities, establishes local
workforce development boards (WIBs) to develop, implement and
coordinate workforce development programs and specifies that the
remaining 85% of federal funds be allocated to the local workforce
investment boards for the purpose of carrying out their workforce
development activities.
7)States that it is the duty of a local workforce board to, among
other things, coordinate workforce development activities in the
local area and take specified actions to promote economic
development and job training programs in the area.
This bill:
1)By January 1, 2013, requires school districts, regional occupational
centers or programs (ROC/Ps) and community college districts to
demonstrate that at least half of the course sequences offered for
students are linked to high priority workforce needs as identified
by the State Department of Labor and Workforce Development for the
State of California, or for the economic region where the ROC/P,
community college district or school district is located.
2)Encourages school districts, ROC/Ps, and community college districts
to work with local WIBs to identify high priority career sectors.
3)Makes a technical and conforming change regarding the Labor and
Workforce Development Agency.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. The measure is keyed "non-fiscal" by
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
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1.Purpose. According to the Author, this bill is needed to ensure
that state and federal Career Technical Education (CTE) funds are
spent in a strategic manner and that local school districts and
ROC/Ps focus their efforts on courses that offer students pathways
to postsecondary and workforce opportunities. The Author states
that the State spends $1.2 billion annually on career technical
education (CTE) and while there are general statements about
workforce needs in federally funded programs and ROC/Ps, there
aren't any specific requirements to link curriculum to high priority
workforce needs in the state or in the region. The Author believes
there needs to be a more strategic approach on how career technical
education funds are used in K-12 schools and community colleges.
2.Background. CDE 2006-07 data shows that, statewide, California has
a 67.6 percent high school graduation rate and 24.2 percent dropout
rate. Graduation and dropout rates vary among counties and the same
data illustrates the following dropout rate disparities among ethnic
groups:
Ethnicity Graduation Rate Dropout Rate
White 84.8% 15.2%
African American 58.4 41.6
American Indian 68.7 31.3
Asian 89.2 10.2
Filipino 88.1 11.9
Hispanic/Latino 69.7 30.3
Pacific Islander 72.1 27.9
Other CDE data on CTE indicates that the number of CTE classes
declined approximately
24 percent between 1997-98 and 2006-07. Recent research by Kenneth
C. Gray and Edwin L. Herr of Pennsylvania State University indicates
that while many high school students matriculate to college,
relatively few go on to both earn a college degree and work in a job
requiring a college degree. Gray and Herr argue that providing a
range of educational coursework, including opportunities for
contextual and applied learning and rigorous academics, creates more
alternatives for high school students and enables them to make more
informed choices about career pathways following high school.
3.California Research Bureau's (CRB) Careers Project Report.
Earlier this year, the CRB released its Careers Project report which
examined the preparation all students in public- and middle-high
schools receive to explore career options and the relationship
between that preparation and California's state and regional
economies. The report was done at the request of a bipartisan group
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of 11 members of the California Legislature and funding support from
the James Irvine Foundation. The study consisted of three distinct
phases; a statewide survey of middle- and high-school counselors and
principals, an economic analysis and a survey of representatives of
business and industry in California and school focus groups.
The following are the findings relevant to this legislation:
There are limited resources available to all students in
grades 7 through 12 for career development.
Half of all respondents reported that their schools
offered a curriculum for career development, less than half had
developed such a curriculum, and about half had provided career
development to all students. This indicates that the provision
of career development information for all students regarding
the various careers and industries in the state is not a high
priority for school districts and schools.
Of the schools providing career development services, only
10 percent had evaluated the effectiveness of their career
development activities, programs or tools. Moreover, of the
schools that had engaged with local businesses, about a fifth
had evaluated the effectiveness of these partnerships.
Schools not providing career development to all students
or not engaging with entities in their local community (such as
community colleges, local businesses or other community
organizations) might provide it if they had more staff.
Principals and counselors concurred that students are
interested in receiving more career development information;
since this was the least cited reason for not providing career
development to all students.
1.BP&ED Informational Hearing on Workforce Development. On March
23rd, the Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development held an informational hearing entitled "The Role of
Private Education Institutions in Preparing California's Diverse
Workforce: Meeting the Challenges of our Workforce and Job Training
Needs." The hearing examined the ability of private postsecondary
institutions to fill the career preparation needs of California's
workforce and evaluate policy options that allow them to expand
their workforce development programs with the requisite amount of
oversight required to protect students.
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Automotive, biotech, construction, health and manufacturing industry
representatives were invited to participate in the hearing and they
offered testimony on their industries' difficulty in hiring
qualified employees. They also provided the Committee with
information on workforce development programs in which they have
engaged to help address those workforce shortages. This information
provided the basis for one of the hearing's main findings;
specifically, that industries are facing shortages in hiring workers
with the minimum skills needed for entry into the field.
2.State Approved CTE Curriculum. The State Board of Education adopted
model curriculum standards for career technical education in May
2005, and adopted the curriculum frameworks for those standards in
January 2007. The standards are organized in 15 industry sectors of
interrelated occupations and broad industries. The standards also
identify 58 career pathways and the academic and technical courses
required for each pathway.
3.Regional Occupational Centers and Programs (ROC/Ps). ROC/Ps
provides students opportunities to attend CTE programs. ROC/P are
designed to provide a focused occupational training and typically
include more advanced capstone courses that students take during
grades 11 and 12 to prepare them for entry level jobs or transition
to postsecondary education, technical training, or apprenticeships.
This bill seeks to create specialized ROC/P programs that will
prepare pupils to enter postsecondary apprenticeship programs and to
provide guidance to schools seeking to develop apprenticeship
preparation programs.
4.Structure and Background of Workforce Investment Boards and Local
Workforce Investment Areas. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is
administered by 49 Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) in California.
WIBs are administered by a variety of agencies, including county
and city governments, non-profits and joint power authorities.
Within county and city government, WIBs are placed in a variety of
organizational structures. Some WIBs are housed in welfare
agencies, economic development departments and still others are
their own agencies or separate non-profit organizations.
There are five ways that WIBs can carry out their role and each WIB
incorporates most of these roles in varying degrees in all aspects
of their work.
Convener: Bringing together business, labor, education
and economic development to focus on community workforce
issues.
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Workforce Analyst: Developing, disseminating and
understanding current labor market and economic information and
trends.
Broker: Bringing together systems to solve common
problems, or broker new relationships with businesses and
workers.
Community Voice: Advocating for the importance of
workforce policy, providing perspective about the need for
skilled workers.
Capacity Builder: Enhancing the region's ability to meet
the workforce needs of local employers.
In all of these roles, California WIBs are working towards building
a competitive workforce advantage in their communities and regions.
1.Identifying Regional Economic Needs. The California Labor and
Workforce Development Agency has published a report on California's
economic profile and has designated nine economic regions of the
state for purposes of identifying workforce needs and to aid local
Workforce Investment Boards develop and address economic development
strategies closely related to the unique needs of each region.
2.Related Legislation this Session. This measure is part of a package
of bills currently pending in the Legislature aimed at linking the
state's public education system to workforce needs in current and
future economies.
SB 43 (Alquist) authorizes the healing arts boards within the
Department of Consumer Affairs to collect cultural and linguistic
competency information from their licensees and requires the
information to be shared with the relevant state agencies to assist
with workforce development policy and efforts. That bill was
approved 8-1 in this Committee on April 20th and was a 28.8 out of
the Appropriations Committee and is now on the Senate Floor.
SB 471 (Romero and Steinberg) establishes the Stem Cell and
Biotechnology Education and Workforce Development Act of 2009. The
measure requires specified activities relating to stem cell
education and workforce development and states findings and
declarations relating to stem cell science and regenerative
medicine. The measure was heard in the Senate Education Committee
on April 29, and passed by a vote of 7-1, and is now in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
SB 675 (Steinberg) enacts Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job
Training, Career Technical Education, and Dropout Prevention Act of
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2010, to provide funds to qualifying entities for construction or
reconfiguring of facilities to provide program participants with
skills and knowledge necessary for successful employment related to
clean technology, renewable energy or energy efficiency. The
measure was approved 8-1 in this Committee on April 27th and is now
pending in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SB 747 (Romero) establishes a pilot pre-apprenticeship program, to
be implemented by the California Community Colleges for the purpose
of preparing high school pupils to work in the aerospace industry.
The measure was heard on April 29th in the Senate Education
Committee and passed 9-0.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support: None as of May 5, 2009.
Opposition: None as of May 5, 2009.
Consultant:Sarah Mason