Summary of Bill (First Substitute): Career Connected Learning. A CCL is defined as a learning experience, integrated with work-related content and skills in the following three categories:

career awareness and exploration;
career preparation; and
Career Launch.

Career Launch Programs. Career Launch programs (CLPs) are defined as registered apprenticeships, registered apprenticeships for youth, and programs that combine the following:

supervised paid work experience;
aligned classroom learning to academic and employer standards; and
culmination in a valuable credential beyond a high school diploma or 45 college credits towards a two-year or four-year postsecondary credential.

CLPs may be offered at a state-approved Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, a Community and Technical College (CTC), or a university, and result in a credential.

Career-Connected Learning Work Group. A CCL cross-agency work group is established to coordinate agencies and external partnerships. The work group shall consist of 12 representatives from certain state agencies pertaining to K-12 and higher education, workforce development, and other related agencies and institutions.

The duties and responsibilities of the work group include, among other things, creating program guidance, inventorying programs, developing support services, creating shared data systems, and addressing articulation issues for CLPs.

The work group shall meet at least six times per calendar year and report to the appropriate committees of the Legislature annually by September 1st.

By September 1, 2019, and by each September 1st thereafter, the work group must make budget recommendations to the Office of Financial Management (OFM). Budget recommendations must include support for:

CCL in the K-12 system;
registered apprenticeship expansion for youth and adults, including access to dual credit;
CCL programs at the two and four-year institutions of higher education;
the CCL grant program;
regional networks; and
the data enclave, administered by the Education Resource and Data Center at OFM.

Career-Connected Learning Grants. The CCL grant program is established and administered by the Employment Security Department (ESD). The purpose of the grant program is to create CCL opportunities that are locally tailored, and across industries throughout the state, to provide students credit towards a degree. Program grant funds shall be used for CCL regional networks and CCL program intermediaries.

Eligible CCL Program Intermediary. Eligible applicants may include new or existing industry associations, joint labor management councils, regional networks, postsecondary education and training institutions working with multiple employer partners, and other community organizations. Program intermediaries shall work with regional networks, CCL coordinators, and industry and education partners to build curricula for CCL programs. If possible, all curricula must be open-sourced and available to transfer anywhere in the state.

Regional CCL Networks. Networks may include regional education networks, school districts, educational service districts, higher education institutions, workforce development councils, chambers of commerce, industry associations, joint labor management councils, multiemployer training partnerships, economic development councils, and nonprofit organizations

The CCL grant will be competitive and subject to appropriation. The Office of the Governor will work with ESD to establish grant criteria, and the process for the selection of awardees, with consultation from the Work Group. The program administrator at the ESD, with the Office of the Governor, shall develop a formal request for proposal for both the regional CCL networks and program intermediaries.

Career-Connected Learning Coordination from K-12 to Higher Education. Institutions of Higher Education. Subject to appropriation, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and the six public baccalaureates shall each employ, or contract with, at least one CCL learning coordinator. The CCL coordinator will work with regional CCL networks and program intermediaries to develop and expand CCL preparation and CLPs offered at the respective institutions and will facilitate transfer of CLP credits.

K-12. Beginning in the 2019-20 school year, to allow students to engage in learning outside of the school day or in a summer program, school districts shall be funded up to one and two-tenths full-time equivalents for CLPs. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall develop procedures to ensure that school districts do not report any student for more than one and two-tenths full-time equivalent students, combining both the student's high school enrollment and Career Launch.

Workforce Coordination. The Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board must ensure that the expansion of K-12 and postsecondary opportunities for CCL is incorporated into the state plan adopted for federal Perkins funding for CTE in the state's K-12 system.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony on Original Bill (Higher Education & Workforce Development): The committee recommended a different version of the bill than what was heard. PRO: This has to do with equity and opportunity. The work done by the Task Force has been thorough and comprehensive. The CTC programs, apprenticeships, and partners have worked in tandem with other stakeholders to ensure this bill works.

Washington has been supporting these types of programs but has not operationalized them in a systematic way. This is about the continuity of education, and allowing young people to explore opportunities. We are now in a digital economy, and we need to make more pathways to the careers that require credentials. It is important that we look at the entire spectrum of students and at students with barriers. The 11 pilots of Career Connect Washington, currently underway, have shown this can be a successful statewide program. There needs to be an emphasis on multiple pathways, measurement and data, and cross-sector regional networks.

The goal of the Task Force, and this bill, is about connecting, increasing, and scaling Career Launch Programs. Career Launch can be a registered apprenticeship, or another related career opportunity that aligns with classroom curriculum. Career Connect is trying to close the attainment gap in this state. The goal is that at the end of the decade, 60% of the students will have gone through Career Launch. Washington STEM supports connecting business, higher education, and K-12 to solve problem related to preparing students for careers. Students need experiences to understand their aptitude. Career Connect is a system with regional leadership and infrastructure to provide those experiences.

This is an economic development bill. The number one priority for businesses is talent. Businesses need employees with a credential beyond a high school diploma. This is about exposing young adults to careers. There needs be a network of support for these students. As a student of the Avista Energy Pathways program, I had a hands-on business learning experience and programs like that should be replicated throughout the state. There is a pilot program with silicon wafer manufacturing related with career connect that has been successful and could benefit from the passage of this bill. Kaiser has developed an apprenticeship program for health professionals that is coordinated with career connect. CTEs such as Core plus, built in partnership with Boeing, is an example of a career-connected program that is successful and could be expanded with this bill. Apprenticeships provide a middle-class living without crushing educational loan debt. There are many career-connected learning opportunities in this state but they need funding to scale up. This is not duplicating programs but connecting them.

The involvement of the Education Service Districts in this bill is important. ESDs can show whether a school district, or a site, has capacity for opportunities with Career Connect. Career Connect shows a lot of promise of achieving the state's 70 percent attainment goal. The regional networks are a good idea, as is the data component that allows us to see the gaps in the system.

OTHER: Those who have dropped out of high school, or those that have aged-out of the K-12 without a diploma, are not included in this bill. This is a population that would benefit from this program.

Persons Testifying (Higher Education & Workforce Development): PRO: Senator Lisa Wellman, Prime Sponsor; David Beard, School's Out Washington; Rene Murry, Youth Development Executives of King County; Mark Johnson, Washington Retail Association; Joe Kendo, Washington State Labor Council; Ben Bagherpour, Board Member, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; Carli Schiffner, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; Bob Knight, President, Clark College; Paul Francis, Council of Presidents; Katherine Frank, Central Washington University; David Faro, citizen; Cassidy Peterson, GSI; Vicki Leifer, West Valley School District; Todd Mielke, GSI; Maud Daudon, Career Connect Washington; Ben Bagherpour, SEH; Ted Feller, SW STEM; Nathaniel Salveta, SEH; Sachi Horback, Clark College; Courtney Smith, Kaiser Permanente; Lindsey Grad, SEIU; Carli Schiffner, SBCTC; Amy Morrison, LWIT; Amy Anderson, Association of Washington Business; Neil Strege, WRT; Joe Kendo, WSLC; Neil Hartman, Washington Building Trades; Michele Willms, AGC; Alec Orwall; Lynn Strickland, AJAC; Andy Shouse, Washington STEM; David Beard, School's Out Washington; Reneece Bailey, student, West Valley School District; Sue Kane, North Central ESD and Apple STEM Network; Linda Drake, State Board of Education; LeAsia Johnson, Seattle Goodwill; Eleni Papadakis, Workforce Board; Rebeccaa Wallace, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI); Rebecca Wallace, OSPI; Essence Russ, Southwest Youth and Family Services; Carolyn Logue, South Sound Chamber of Commerce Legislative Coalition. OTHER: Jeff Gombosky, Graduation Alliance.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony on First Substitute (Ways & Means): PRO: We feel that the money for grants for regional applications of CTE programs will be effective in helping to make sure that we have the most efficient use of those dollars. We are especially interested in the expansion of apprenticeship. We encourage you to merge SB 5458 into SSB 5327. We believe this is an excellent investment in our young people and should be a priority of government. We believe the return on investment will be significant. Retailers are hungry for talent in a variety of positions in their stores and online. Washington State has a critical workforce gap and career connected learning and career and technical education can help fill the void. But career connected learning is more than a way to address the economic prosperity of Washington, it also makes a difference in the lives of students. These classes are the reason some students stay in high school. Eighty-one percent of high school dropouts report that relevant real world opportunities would have kept them in school. What makes this particularly interesting is that it is creating one system, comprised of all these agencies and individual programs that are operating as silos. It is unifying them under a system that is going to give students transferable skills and transferable credentials. Work-based learning opportunities provided good opportunity for students to learn basic employability skills that our employers are demanding. Specifically, the regional networks, workforce development is done locally. It is important that our schools are able to accommodate those businesses in their region and the workforce skills that they are needing. There is a health care workforce shortage and Kaiser Permanente, as a major employer, is committed to addressing that shortage. One of the ways that we have done that is through a partnership with Governor Inslee's Career Connect Washington taskforce and through that work we were able to partner with labor, industry and education leaders to develop a registered health care apprenticeship program focused on training medical assistants. The success of Career Connect will be based on the collaboration and partnerships of various agencies. The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges has a successful track record in this work, with numerous agencies and business partners, and we continue to build upon these relationships as career connect gets underway. A great example is our job skills program that provides customized short term jobs-specific training for eligible businesses to recruit retain and expand operations. Key education and workforce state stakeholders have been working diligently throughout the state to prepare youth for jobs and careers of the future. Even with these key stakeholders focusing their efforts on the skills and education training attainment gap, the number of our youth completing a post-secondary degree, certification, or training program is not keeping pace with the workforce demands of the fast growing Washington economy. Workforce development is LSW's top priority. Our companies have great jobs available but the pool of available workers is not meeting the demand. Life Science Washington is 100 percent on board with the mission-critical work of creating meaningful connections to innovative industries for our students. The community and technical college system is prepared and excited to work with community partners to increase youth engagement in quality high demand pathways to careers. We support the continual efforts and scaling the opportunities for individuals and we look forward to working with stakeholders to ensure that the investment results in the high quality outcomes that the Legislature comes to expect. There has been thousands and thousands of individuals involved in helping to put this plan together. This plan is targeting sixteen to twenty-nine-year-olds in that ten-year drift you hear a lot about. It also targets doubling the apprenticeship system from 20,000 to 40,000 in the next ten years. It also tries to make the apprenticeship system as equal to transfer degrees and credentials that are portable and useful within the labor market.