HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 1710

As Reported by House Committee On:

Education

Title: An act relating to creating a strategic plan for career and technical education.

Brief Description: Creating a strategic plan for career and technical education.

Sponsors: Representatives Moscoso, Liias, Probst, Ladenburg, Hasegawa, McCoy, Haler, Dahlquist, Green, Wilcox, McCune, Zeiger, Roberts, Stanford, Billig, Maxwell, Hunt and Kenney.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:

Education: 2/11/11, 2/15/11 [DPS].

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 16 members: Representatives Santos, Chair; Lytton, Vice Chair; Anderson, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Angel, Billig, Finn, Haigh, Hargrove, Hunt, Klippert, Ladenburg, Liias, Maxwell, McCoy, Probst and Wilcox.

Minority Report: Without recommendation. Signed by 5 members: Representatives Dammeier, Ranking Minority Member; Ahern, Dahlquist, Fagan and Kretz.

Staff: Barbara McLain (786-7383).

Background:

In 2008 a comprehensive set of initiatives was enacted in legislation, designed to enhance the rigor and relevance of secondary career and technical education (CTE) programs and to align and integrate CTE instruction more closely with academic subjects, high demand fields, industry certification, and postsecondary education.

The Legislature initially provided $2.75 million per year to support such activities as:

• requiring all preparatory CTE programs to lead to industry certification or offer dual high school and college credit;

• expanding state support for middle school CTE programs, especially in science, technology, and engineering;

• providing support for schools to develop or upgrade programs in high demand fields and offer pre-apprenticeships;

• developing model CTE programs of study leading to industry credentials or degrees;

• assisting school districts with identifying academic and CTE course equivalencies;

• pilot-testing programs to integrate academic, career and technical, basic skills, and English as a second language instruction; and

• developing performance measures and targets for accountability.

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Summary of Substitute Bill:

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction must convene a working group to develop a statewide strategic plan for secondary CTE.

The plan must include a vision statement, goals, and measurable annual objectives for continuous improvement that are consistent with those required under the federal Carl Perkins Act for secondary CTE programs. The plan must also recommend activities that:

• can be accomplished within current resources;

• should receive top priority for additional investment; and

• could be phased-in over the next 10 years.

The working group must examine at least the following issues:

• proposed changes to high school graduation requirements and ways to assure that students continue to have opportunities to pursue CTE pathways;

• the relationship between CTE courses and the Common Core Standards;

• ways to improve access to high quality CTE in a variety of school settings;

• ways to improve the transition from K-12 to college;

• methods for replicating innovative middle and high schools; and

• a framework for transferrable and articulated certifications between secondary and postsecondary CTE so that students receive credit for knowledge and skills already mastered.

Membership of the working group is specified, including two legislators who are also members of the Quality Education Council.

A progress report is due to the Education Committees and the Quality Education Council by December 1, 2011, with a final strategic plan due December 1, 2012.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

The goals and measurable objectives in the plan must be consistent with those required under the federal Carl Perkins Act. The working group must examine ways to improve the transition from K-12 to college and methods for replicating innovative middle and high schools. Members are added to the working group.

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Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) It is important to promote and provide CTE programs to prepare students with academic and technical skills necessary for the high demand fields that are currently part of the workforce. The state has been focused on many initiatives to improve the quality of CTE programs by aligning them with leadership, academic, and industry standards. The CTE system starts in seventh grade; feeds into high school and skill center programs; and in the end articulates to postsecondary education and apprenticeships. A strategic plan would build on the work that has been accomplished in the past three or four years. This is not vocational education; it is career and technical education. A former CTE student and now a CTE teacher serves in a school district that believes in the value of CTE and cross crediting. The CTE deserves the focus that this bill provides.

The shipyard in Bremerton is going to need 1,000 engineers per year. South Kitsap School District has created a program that starts in eighth grade and allows students to graduate with both a high school diploma and an Associate Degree at the same time, all completed on campus through partnerships with higher education institutions. Those students go right into the local job market. The CTE programs offer the highest number of dual credit courses and industry certifications. There is a need for continuous improvement in the delivery of secondary CTE programs due to the important role it plays to assure that students leave high school college-ready.

There is a need for a strategic effort to come to grips with the fact that the workforce is going to experience tremendous turnover in skilled labor. The majority of the state's aerospace engineers are eligible to retire in the next five years. The OSPI has a curriculum framework for an airframe mechanics course, but only one course is offered on the west side of the state, and it is not in King County. The state is only graduating 150 airframe mechanics per year, but there is a need for 1,500. A strategic plan is needed to expand development of industry skills in middle and high school. This bill is based on the belief that a strategic plan will enable continuation of the progress that has been made in the past few years. It is timely; it will tie in to a national strategic plan for CTE that is geared around the themes of reflection, transformation, and leadership.

(Opposed) None.

Persons Testifying: Representative Moscoso, prime sponsor; Michael Christianson, Washington Virtual Academies; Craig Dwight, Yakima Valley Skills Center; Adam Corum, Bridgeport School District; Thomas Mosby, South Kitsap School District; Bruce McBurney, SkillsUSA Washington; Wes Pruitt, Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board; Dave Gering, Manufacturing Industrial Council; and Betty Klattenhoff, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.