Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council.  The Washington State Apprenticeship and Training Council (WSATC) regulates apprenticeships for state and federal purposes.  WSATC is administered by the Department of Labor and Industries.  Apprenticeship preparation programs that meet the requirements of WSATC, including having working relationships with one or more registered apprenticeship program sponsors, are designated as officially recognized programs.
 
Work-Integrated Learning Advisory Committee.  Legislation enacted in 2018 directed the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the Employment Security Department and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, to convene a ten-person Work-Integrated Learning Advisory Committee (WILAC) to provide advice to the Legislature and the education and workforce sectors on creating opportunities for students to:

• explore and understand a wide range of career-related opportunities through applied learning;
• engage with industry mentors; and
• plan for career and college success.

 
WILAC, which consisted of legislators and agency appointees, was tasked with numerous duties, including:

• reviewing certain instructional programs and analyzing barriers to statewide adoption of work-integrated and career-related learning opportunities and instructional programs; and
• recommending policies to implement work-integrated and career-related strategies that increase students' college and career readiness.

 
Provisions establishing WILAC and directing its duties expired on September 1, 2022.

Educational Service Districts.  Washington has nine regionally based educational service districts (ESDs) that provide cooperative informational services to local school districts and assist the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the State Board of Education (SBE) in the performance of their duties.  Among other duties, the ESDs serve as a depository and distribution center for instructional materials and assist school districts in the preparation of their budgets.  OSPI and the SBE are authorized to delegate assigned programs, projects, and services to the ESDs, and the ESDs are obligated to comply with the rules of those agencies.

Subject to the appropriation of funding, OSPI and the ESDs are directed to establish the Regional Apprenticeship Preparation Pilot Program (Program).  The purpose of the Program is to identify common best practices and processes for establishing regional apprenticeship preparation programs that support postsecondary success for students and strengthen community engagement in schools and school districts.
 
The Program must consist of the following five sites:  three located west of the crest of the Cascade Mountains; and two located east of the crest of the Cascade Mountains.  OSPI and the ESDs must ensure the sites are geographically dispersed, with one Western Washington site located in a school district with a collaboratively developed regional apprenticeship pathways program, and a second Western Washington site located in a school district with a preapprenticeship program recognized by WSATC after July 1, 2021, but before September 1, 2021.  The Eastern Washington sites must also be geographically dispersed and at least one Eastern Washington site must be located in an ESD with rural communities that lack convenient access to skill centers or other workforce development facilities or programs.
 
When implementing the Program, the ESDs must meet specified requirements, including:

• ensuring the Program is an education-based apprenticeship preparation program recognized by WSATC, and developed as a collaborative partnership involving specified entities;
• providing students with dual credit opportunities to meet high school graduation requirements and earn credit toward a postsecondary degree or industry recognized credential; and
• providing students with preferred or direct entry into an aligned state registered apprenticeship program.

 
Provisions establishing the Program and its requirements expire June 30, 2027.
 
OSPI, in collaboration with the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, WSATC, the Washington Association for Career and Technical Education, and WILAC must evaluate the Program and best practices for increasing:

• awareness about career and technical education, including participation in career and technical student organizations, dual credit opportunities, core plus, and career and technical education course equivalencies;
• awareness about preapprenticeship and postsecondary career opportunities for students and employers;
• the availability and variety of dual credit and industry-related and postsecondary articulation opportunities; and
• community and industry support for preapprenticeships, internships, externships, and all work-integrated learning opportunities.

 
By June 30, 2027, OSPI must report the results of the evaluation to the Governor, SBE, the Student Achievement Council, the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, and the appropriate committees of the Legislature.  The report must include:

• an analysis of barriers to the establishment and support of recognized apprenticeship preparation programs and work-integrated instructional programs;
• recommended policies to implement recognized apprenticeship preparation programs and work-integrated strategies that increase the college and career readiness of students statewide; and
• recommendations for legislative action to establish common standards for the operations of regional apprenticeship preparation programs and other work-integrated learning opportunities, and authorize additional regional apprenticeship preparation programs and other work-integrated learning opportunities.

 
The report may also include recommendations for actions to improve the cohesion, coordination, and quality of work-integrated learning opportunities, including regional apprenticeship preparation programs, throughout the state. 

The expiration date for provisions establishing WILAC and directing its duties is extended to June 30, 2027.

PRO: This bill allows for the implementation of an already-developed curriculum and will bring apprenticeship programs to more kids.  These programs will prepare students for work in skill centers.  Many students are not aware of the skills that they need to enter apprenticeship programs.  The regional sites will bring these programs closer to rural students.  The study in the bill should include CTE programs and skill centers.  The refined language allows students to progress into other programs.  This bill will strengthen oversight of existing programs and provide greater opportunities to students.  Greater protections could be put in place to prevent exploitation of child labor.  The programs under this bill will create pathways for students to enter the workforce.  Many students could have benefited from such a program.

PRO: The Marysville Regional Apprenticeship Program was a pilot and this bill builds upon that. When working with the House please consider the needs of the current program and new programs when making decisions. Oversight outlined in the bill will help manage the existing and new programs. It would be nice to see a program in Sequim as there is no operational skill Center. Rural areas need resources to help students with apprentice based career paths particularly in geographically challenging areas.