6379-S AMH HE H5177.1 [atlas:amendment]

6379-S AMH HE H5177.1

SSB 6379 - H COMM AMD ADOPTED 2/6/96

By Committee on Higher Education

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"Sec. 1. RCW 28C.18.005 and 1991 c 238 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The legislature finds that the state's system of work force training and education is inadequate for meeting the needs of the state's workers, employers, and economy. A growing shortage of skilled workers is already hurting the state's economy. There is a shortage of available workers and too often prospective employees lack the skills and training needed by employers. Moreover, with demographic changes in the state's population employers will need to employ a more culturally diverse work force in the future.

The legislature further finds that the state's current work force training and education system is fragmented among numerous agencies, councils, boards, and committees, with inadequate overall coordination. No comprehensive strategic plan guides the different parts of the system. There is no single point of leadership and responsibility. There is insufficient guidance from employers and workers built into the system to ensure that the system is responsive to the needs of its customers. Adult work force education lacks a uniform system of governance, with an inefficient division in governance between community colleges and vocational technical institutes, and inadequate local authority. The parts of the system providing adult basic skills and literacy education are especially uncoordinated and lack sufficient visibility to adequately address the needs of the large number of adults in the state who are functionally illiterate. The work force training and education system's data and evaluation methods are inconsistent and unable to provide adequate information for determining how well the system is performing on a regular basis so that the system may be held accountable for the outcomes it produces. Much of the work force training and education system provides inadequate opportunities to meet the needs of people from culturally diverse backgrounds. Finally, our public and private educational institutions are not producing the number of people educated in vocational/technical skills needed by employers.

The legislature recognizes that we must make certain that our public and private institutions of education place appropriate emphasis on the needs of employers and on the needs of the approximately eighty percent of our young people who enter the world of work without completing a four-year program of higher education. We must make our work force education and training system better coordinated, more efficient, more responsive to the needs of business and workers and local communities, more accountable for its performance, and more open to the needs of a culturally diverse population.

Sec. 2. RCW 28C.18.010 and 1991 c 238 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this title.

(1) "Board" means the work force training and education coordinating board.

(2) "Director" means the director of the work force training and education coordinating board.

(3) "Training system" means programs and courses of secondary vocational education, technical college programs and courses, community college vocational programs and courses, private career school and college programs and courses, employer-sponsored training, adult basic education programs and courses, programs and courses funded by the job training partnership act, programs and courses funded by the federal vocational act, programs and courses funded under the federal adult education act, publicly funded programs and courses for adult literacy education, and apprenticeships, and programs and courses offered by private and public nonprofit organizations that are representative of communities or significant segments of communities and provide job training or adult literacy services.

(4) "Work force skills" means skills developed through applied learning that strengthen and reinforce an individual's academic knowledge, critical thinking, problem solving, and work ethic and, thereby, develop the employability, occupational skills, and management of home and work responsibilities necessary for economic independence.

(5) "Vocational education" means organized educational programs offering a sequence of courses which are directly related to the preparation or retraining of individuals in paid or unpaid employment in current or emerging occupations requiring other than a baccalaureate or advanced degree. Such programs shall include competency-based applied learning which contributes to an individual's academic knowledge, higher-order reasoning, and problem-solving skills, work attitudes, general employability skills, and the occupational-specific skills necessary for economic independence as a productive and contributing member of society. Such term also includes applied technology education.

(6) "Adult basic education" means instruction designed to achieve mastery of skills in reading, writing, oral communication, and computation at a level sufficient to allow the individual to function effectively as a parent, worker, and citizen in the United States, commensurate with that individual's actual ability level, and includes English as a second language and preparation and testing service for the general education development exam.

Sec. 3. RCW 28C.18.030 and 1991 c 238 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

The purpose of the board is to provide planning, coordination, evaluation, monitoring, and policy analysis for the state training system as a whole, and advice to the governor and legislature concerning the state training system, in cooperation with ((~~the agencies which comprise~~)) the state training system((,)) and the higher education coordinating board.

Sec. 4. RCW 28C.18.060 and 1993 c 280 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:

The board, in cooperation with the operating agencies of the state training system and private career schools and colleges shall:

(1) Concentrate its major efforts on planning, coordination evaluation, policy analysis, and recommending improvements to the state's training system.

(2) Advocate for the state training system and for meeting the needs of employers and the work force for work force education and training.

(3) Establish and maintain an inventory of the programs of the state training system, and related state programs, and perform a biennial assessment of the vocational education, training, and adult basic education and literacy needs of the state; identify ongoing and strategic education needs; and assess the extent to which employment, training, vocational and basic education, rehabilitation services, and public assistance services represent a consistent, integrated approach to meet such needs.

(4) Develop and maintain a state comprehensive plan for work force training and education, including but not limited to, goals, objectives, and priorities for the state training system, and review the state training system for consistency with the state comprehensive plan. In developing the state comprehensive plan for work force training and education, the board shall use, but shall not be limited to: Economic, labor market, and populations trends reports in office of financial management forecasts; joint office of financial management and employment security department labor force, industry employment, and occupational forecasts; the results of scientifically based outcome, net-impact and cost-benefit evaluations; the needs of employers as evidenced in formal employer surveys and other employer input; and the needs of program participants and workers as evidenced in formal surveys and other input from program participants and the labor community.

(5) In consultation with the higher education coordinating board, review and make recommendations to the office of financial management and the legislature on operating and capital facilities budget requests for operating agencies of the state training system for purposes of consistency with the state comprehensive plan for work force training and education.

(6) Provide for coordination among the different operating agencies and components of the state training system at the state level and at the regional level.

(7) Develop a consistent and reliable data base on vocational education enrollments, costs, program activities, and job placements from publicly funded vocational education programs in this state.

(8) Establish standards for data collection and maintenance for the operating agencies of the state training system in a format that is accessible to use by the board. The board shall require a minimum of common core data to be collected by each operating agency of the state training system.

The board shall develop requirements for minimum common core data in consultation with the office of financial management and the operating agencies of the training system.

(9) Establish minimum standards for program evaluation for the operating agencies of the state training system, including, but not limited to, the use of common survey instruments and procedures for measuring perceptions of program participants and employers of program participants, and monitor such program evaluation.

(10) Every two years administer scientifically based outcome evaluations of the state training system, including, but not limited to, surveys of program participants, surveys of employers of program participants, and matches with employment security department payroll and wage files. Every five years administer scientifically based net-impact and cost-benefit evaluations of the state training system.

(11) In cooperation with the employment security department, provide for the improvement and maintenance of quality and utility in occupational information and forecasts for use in training system planning and evaluation. Improvements shall include, but not be limited to, development of state-based occupational change factors involving input by employers and employees, and delineation of skill and training requirements by education level associated with current and forecasted occupations.

(12) Provide for the development of common course description formats, common reporting requirements, and common definitions for operating agencies of the training system.

(13) Provide for effectiveness and efficiency reviews of the state training system.

(14) In cooperation with the higher education coordinating board, facilitate transfer of credit policies and agreements between institutions of the state training system, and encourage articulation agreements for programs encompassing two years of secondary work force education and two years of postsecondary work force education.

(15) In cooperation with the higher education coordinating board, facilitate transfer of credit policies and agreements between private training institutions and institutions of the state training system.

(16) Participate in the development of coordination criteria for activities under the job training partnership act with related programs and services provided by state and local education and training agencies.

(17) Make recommendations to the commission of student assessment, the state board of education, and the superintendent of public instruction, concerning basic skill competencies and essential core competencies for K‑12 education. Basic skills for this purpose shall be reading, writing, computation, speaking, and critical thinking, essential core competencies for this purpose shall be English, math, science/technology, history, geography, and critical thinking. The board shall monitor the development of and provide advice concerning secondary curriculum which integrates vocational and academic education.

(18) Establish and administer programs for marketing and outreach to businesses and potential program participants.

(19) Facilitate the location of support services, including but not limited to, child care, financial aid, career counseling, and job placement services, for students and trainees at institutions in the state training system, and advocate for support services for trainees and students in the state training system.

(20) Facilitate private sector assistance for the state training system, including but not limited to: Financial assistance, rotation of private and public personnel, and vocational counseling.

(21) Facilitate programs for school-to-work transition that combine classroom education and on-the-job training in industries and occupations without a significant number of apprenticeship programs.

(22) Encourage and assess progress for the equitable representation of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and people with disabilities among the students, teachers, and administrators of the state training system. Equitable, for this purpose, shall mean substantially proportional to their percentage of the state population in the geographic area served. This function of the board shall in no way lessen more stringent state or federal requirements for representation of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and people with disabilities.

(23) Participate in the planning and policy development of governor set-aside grants under P.L. 97‑300, as amended.

(24) Administer veterans' programs, licensure of private vocational schools, the job skills program, and the Washington award for vocational excellence.

(25) Allocate funding from the state job training trust fund.

(26) Work with the director of community, trade, and economic development to ensure coordination between work force training priorities and that department's economic development efforts.

(27) Adopt rules as necessary to implement this chapter.

The board may delegate to the director any of the functions of this section."

SSB 6379 - H COMM AMD

By Committee on Higher Education

On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "board;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "and amending RCW 28C.18.005, 28C.18.010, 28C.18.030, and 28C.18.060."