BILL REQ. #:  S-4716.1 

READ FIRST TIME 01/27/06.   

     AN ACT Relating to K-12 skill centers; and creating new sections.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature finds that skill centers provide students with high quality educational opportunities through programs that combine academics with career and technical education. The legislature also finds that skill centers provide extremely valuable support to local businesses seeking skilled entry-level employees and to communities attempting to enhance local economic development opportunities. Through skill center programs, students learn the technical knowledge and skills necessary either to pursue additional education through apprenticeships, technical schools, or institutions of higher education, or go directly into entry-level employment and begin careers. The legislature finds that skill centers permit a number of school districts to cooperatively offer programs that the school districts cannot provide individually.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   (1) The work force training and education coordinating board, in collaboration with the office of the superintendent of public instruction, shall conduct a study and report back to the 2007 legislature regarding how best to provide increased opportunities for students living in areas of the state that are currently not adequately served by a skill center. If plausible, the work force training and education coordinating board, in collaboration with the office of the superintendent of public instruction, shall provide preliminary recommendations to Washington Learns by June 2006.
     (2) The study shall be focused on these primary issues:
     (a) A report on current skill center geographic coverage and what geographic gaps in service area currently exist;
     (b) Recommendations on how best to provide students in rural and remote areas increased access to a skill center program as well as how best to address the difficulties in providing adequate services to high density areas of the state. In making these recommendations, the work force board shall, at a minimum, explore the feasibility of creating satellite sites, creating joint programs between high schools and community colleges, using the K-20 network, and offering additional evening and summer programs. The report shall provide analysis on any additional funding needs or different funding methods necessary to implement the recommendations;
     (c) Recommendations on how best to integrate core academic content into skill center programs and how to determine and report skill center course equivalencies for the purpose of meeting high school graduation requirements; and
     (d) Recommendations on the role that skills centers can play as a promising dropout prevention/retrieval program by increasing student engagement through meaningful curriculum and effective instruction, providing opportunities for students to apply their learning in relevant, real world situations, and helping students see the connections to their own futures.