HB 1561

Report Title:

School-to-Work; Work-Based Learning; School-to-Career; DOE

Description:

Appropriates funds for the school-to-work system. Requires the Hawaii state school-to-work executive council strategic plan to target specific best practices relating to career development.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1561
TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that education is a hot-button issue in all fifty states. In the twenty-first state legislature, two great possibilities exist for Hawaii's students in the New Economy; schools that have fully integrated workforce readiness proficiencies in their curricula and realization of the full potential of private/public partnerships. These possibilities directly link to the mission of the school-to-work system: develop an educational system involving partnerships to link educational experiences with career opportunity and community, thereby helping Hawaii students achieve their potential.

Federal grant moneys for the state school-to-work system end on October 1, 2001. In the past four years (1996-1999), state and regional partnerships supporting school-based and work-based learning produced four exemplary accomplishments which directly benefit our students:

(1) CISCO Academies: this hands-on training program currently involves four community colleges and seventeen high schools. Academy graduates receive A+ certification in advanced or journeyman knowledge of technology networks;

(2) Running Start: this legislation allows qualifying juniors and seniors to take college-level courses and receive both high school and college credit for each course they pass;

(3) Project-Based Learning: ninety teachers have been trained in complex, integrated, real-world projects that are academically rigorous, relevant to students and the community and empower over 10,000 students in applied learning, to date; and

(4) Environmental and Spatial Technology Labs: one Big Island and two Maui high schools are allowing lab students to work in teams to research real world problems and devise advanced technological solutions under the guidance of teachers and partners from the business community.

School-to-career initiatives enhance academic, performance, and industry standards. School-to-career programs, such as CISCO and project-based learning, improve academic rigor through relevant, real-world experiences by integrating school-based learning, work-based learning, and information technology with the formal academic curriculum. In order to sustain and further develop a strong school-to-work career development system for kindergarten to grade sixteen students, Hawaii must support youths with career guidance, intra-agency help in developing careers, and networks of support that will serve as the foundation for lifelong learning.

Past and present members of the Hawaii state school-to-work executive council believe that a career development system establishes much needed cohesion, coherence, and infrastructure from kindergarten to postsecondary levels.

This Act declares the importance of preparing students for an economy that demands strong academic and career skills. This Act will support the operational transition from the current Hawaii school-to-work office to the career development system. These are urgent goals requiring a system management plan that builds on existing programs such as vocational education, transition centers, learning centers, academies, and alternative programs.

Establishment of a career development system within the department of education's comprehensive school support services program will encourage collaboration towards enabling all students to earn transferable/portable credentials, prepare them for jobs in highly skilled careers, and increase the opportunities for further education, including four-year colleges and universities.

SECTION 2. The legislature finds and declares the following:

(1) Hawaii must make more efficient use of limited resources to do a better job of preparing students for an economy that demands that workers have strong academic and career knowledge and skills, are adaptable to change, and are prepared for lifelong learning;

(2) The growth of Hawaii's population and the labor force require special efforts to attract, support, and retain businesses that pay high wages to highly skilled workers. Improvement in the overall quality of the workforce is a vital component of economic development of Hawaii;

(3) The current array of education and training programs needs to continue to move towards a more coherent system based on public-private collaboration and cooperation;

(4) The policies and methods through which Hawaii provides education to prepare all young people for lifelong learning, higher education, and highly skilled careers that are highly paid may be the most important component of Hawaii's economic growth;

(5) Sustaining and further developing a strong career development system needs to be the top priority in establishing the most efficient and effective educational system and in establishing a seamless system of lifelong education and employment for all citizens in the Hawaii; and

(6) Hawaii's career development system will be a long-term investment in supplying a highly skilled adaptable workforce. By successfully matching the skills of the emerging workforce with the needs of Hawaii's growing economy, the career development system will be one of the most essential components to ensuring the State's competitive edge in an increasingly global economy.

SECTION 3. The Hawaii state school-to-work executive council strategic plan shall address the findings and declarations in section 2 by targeting these best practices of career development:

(1) Career pathways development. The school-to-work executive council shall administer a grant award program for local partnerships that meet certain requirements and submit a detailed plan demonstrating the following:

(A) Academies and smaller learning communities which focus on a career path with postsecondary alignment emphasizing learning options for all students;

(B) Career paths which emphasize contextual learning, integrated academic and applied learning with information technology, work-based learning, and collaborations with business partners;

(D) The ability to provide school-based learning, work-based learning, and service learning to an appropriate level for that local partnership; and

(E) Accountability measurements that demonstrate increased academic performance, postsecondary enrollment, decreased dropout rates, and transition to appropriate employment, apprenticeship, or any other job training school.

Funds shall be awarded through a competitive grant process and technical assistance shall be provided to awardees from the career development system office;

(2) Career development centers. One career center shall be located in each high school and service complex schools and the community. The foci of the career centers shall be to provide group career activities, individual career guidance, information about careers, post-high school training programs, and educational options to students, parents, and staff;

(3) Technical and professional training for staff. The career development management plan shall include professional development strategies which, when practiced, will integrate curriculum with work-based connections and student-centered assessment with a priority for project-based learning and information technology; and

(4) Career development system transition office. The current Hawaii school-to-work office shall facilitate the transition to a systems approach for career development by:

(A) Establishing an intradepartmental/interagency partnership with chambers of commerce, the department of labor and industrial relations, the department of business, economic development, and tourism, the department of human services, the Hawaii Business Roundtable, Workforce Development, and the University of Hawaii to transition to a career development system located within the department of education's comprehensive school support system program, and supportive of the department's strategic plan for standards-based education;

(B) Defining the responsibility and authority of the career development system within the organizational structure of the department of education; and

SECTION 4. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $1,100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, and the sum of $1,100,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2002-2003, for the following activities and programs:

(1) Career pathway development grant awards to schools, $500,000;

(2) Career development centers, $250,000 (five centers);

(3) Professional development for project-based learning, $100,000; and

(4) Career development transition office, $250,000 (administrator, intradepartmental/interagency liaison, evaluator, secretary, and operational costs).

SECTION 5. The sums appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________