BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Alan Lowenthal, Chair
2011-12 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1323
AUTHOR: Wyland
INTRODUCED: February 23, 2012
FISCAL COMM: Yes HEARING DATE: April 25, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT:Beth Graybill
SUBJECT : Career Technical Education: Advisory committees.
SUMMARY
This bill expands local career technical education advisory
committees to include representatives of industry sectors and
labor and trade organizations and requires the Superintendent
of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education to
consider ways to expand career technical education programs.
BACKGROUND
Existing law requires the governing board of each school
district participating in a career technical education (CTE)
program to appoint an advisory committee to develop
recommendations on the program and to provide liaison between
the district and employers. By law, advisory committees must
consist of one or more representatives of the general public
knowledgeable about the disadvantaged, students, teachers,
business, industry, school administration, and the field office
of the Department of Employment Development. (Education Code �
8070)
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 that reflect
California's labor market:
a) Agriculture and Natural Resources.
b) Arts, Media, and Entertainment.
c) Building and Trades Construction.
d) Education, Child Development, and Family
Services.
e) Energy and Utilities.
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f) Engineering and Design.
g) Fashion and Interior Design.
h) Finance and Business.
i) Health Science and Medical Technology.
j) Hospitality, Tourism, and Recreation.
k) Information Technology.
l) Manufacturing and Product Development.
m) Marketing, Sales, and Service.
n) Public Services.
o) Transportation.
ANALYSIS
This bill :
1) Deletes the requirement that career technical education
(CTE) advisory committee members include members of
business and industry and instead, requires the advisory
committee to include members of labor and trade
organizations and representatives of at least five CTE
industry sectors, as specified.
2) Specifies that if the governing board of a school district
selects the building, trades and construction sector,
there shall be at least two representatives of the
industry sector appointed to the committee.
3) Authorizes a school district that demonstrates it is
unable to find representatives from the industry sectors
to appoint representatives from other industry sectors as
potential employer liaisons.
4) Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI)
and the State Board of Education (SBE) to consider ways to
expand career technical education (CTE) in middle and high
schools in California, including:
a) Seeking public-private partnerships to provide
facilities and equipment for CTE courses.
b) Incorporating CTE courses in the standard high
school curriculum.
c) Allowing high schools to include a significant
number of CTE courses in their requirements for
graduation.
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d) Developing extensive curriculum frameworks,
guidelines, and instructional materials for CTE
courses.
e) Creating robust district advisory committees.
5) Makes findings and declarations about the demand for
skilled workers, the state's high school dropout rates,
and the lack of opportunities for high school pupils to be
exposed to career technical education.
6) Requires local agencies and school districts to be
reimbursed for costs if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the
state.
STAFF COMMENTS
1) Need for the bill : According to the author's office,
California has, on average, a 30% dropout rate, with
thousands more students disengaged from their education
and bored in school. The author's office maintains that
CTE courses can engage students in their education and
keep them from leaving school without a diploma. In
addition, the author indicates that many industries such
as construction and manufacturing anticipate a large
number of retirements and will face a shortage of workers
unless there are more skilled workers in the pipeline. SB
1323 addresses these twin problems by strengthening local
industry representation on local CTE advisory committees
and by encouraging the SPI and the SBE to look at ways to
expand CTE opportunities in schools.
2) What do CTE Advisory Committees Do ? These committees are
responsible for developing recommendations about the CTE
programs offered by schools within a district. School
districts may have one committee for all of its programs;
there may be a countywide committee for several programs,
or one committee for a single program. These committees
may review curriculum and facilities, identify equipment
needs, sponsor mentoring activities, help identify
industry needs, assist in professional development of CTE
teachers, and facilitate placement of CTE program
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completers.
3) Local needs . A guiding principal of career technical
education and workforce development programs is
collaboration with local industry to address and meet
local workforce needs. Ensuring greater representation of
the industry sectors will strengthen the voice of local
businesses on the committee and potentially create better
articulation between school programs and local employers.
To be consistent with recent legislative action to support
CTE programs that focus on goods movement and green
technologies, staff recommends amendments to add
green/clean technology to the list of industry sectors
specified in Section 2 of the bill.
4) Mandated costs . By requiring the governing board of a
school district to work with industry organizations to
appoint additional members to an advisory committee, this
bill would impose unknown but probably minor mandated
costs.
5) Related and prior legislation . This bill is identical to
SB 281 (Wyland), which was introduced in February 2011,
scheduled to be heard by this Committee on March 23, 2011,
and pulled from the agenda at the request of the author.
The bill was subsequently returned to the Secretary of the
Senate.
SB 314 (Wyland, 2007) which would have reconstituted local CTE
advisory committees and would have required at least five
CTE industry sectors to be represented on advisory
committees. This bill was passed by this Committee on a
9-0 vote and subsequently held in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
SUPPORT
None received.
OPPOSITION
None received.
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