[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 10 (Monday, February 7, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: February 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES ACT
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will now proceed to the consideration of S. 1361, which the
clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (S. 1361) to establish a national framework for the
development of school-to-work opportunities systems in all
States and for other purposes.
The Senate proceeded to consider the bill, which had been reported
from the Committee on Labor and Human Resources with an amendment to
strike out all after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof
the following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``School-to-
Work Opportunities Act of 1993''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes and congressional intent.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
Sec. 5. Federal administration.
TITLE I--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES BASIC PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Sec. 101. General program requirements.
Sec. 102. Work-based learning component.
Sec. 103. School-based learning component.
Sec. 104. Connecting activities component.
TITLE II--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNI- TIES SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
AND IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO STATES
Subtitle A--State Development Grants
Sec. 201. Purpose.
Sec. 202. State development grants.
Subtitle B--State Implementation Grants
Sec. 211. Purpose.
Sec. 212. State implementation grants.
Sec. 213. Limitation on administrative costs.
TITLE III--FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS
Sec. 301. Purposes.
Sec. 302. Federal implementation grants to partnerships.
Sec. 303. School-to-work opportunities program grants in high poverty
areas.
TITLE IV--NATIONAL PROGRAMS
Sec. 401. Research, demonstration, and other projects.
Sec. 402. Performance outcomes and evaluation.
Sec. 403. Training and technical assistance.
TITLE V--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 501. State request and responsibilities for a waiver of statutory
and regulatory requirements.
Sec. 502. Waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements by the
Secretary of Education.
Sec. 503. Waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements by the
Secretary of Labor.
Sec. 504. Requirements.
Sec. 505. Sanctions.
Sec. 506. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 507. Acceptance of gifts, and other matters.
Sec. 508. State authority.
Sec. 509. Construction.
Sec. 510. Effective date.
Sec. 511. Sunset.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) three-fourths of America's high school students enter
the work force without baccalaureate degrees, and many do not
possess the academic and entry-level occupational skills
necessary to succeed in the changing American workplace;
(2) a substantial number of American youth, especially
disadvantaged students, students of diverse racial, ethnic,
and cultural backgrounds, and students with disabilities, do
not complete school;
(3) unemployment among American youth is intolerably high,
and earnings of high school graduates have been falling
relative to earnings of persons with more education;
(4) the American workplace is changing in response to
heightened international competition and new technologies,
and such forces, which are ultimately beneficial to the
Nation, are shrinking the demand for and undermining the
earning power of unskilled labor;
(5) the United States lacks a comprehensive and coherent
system to help its youth acquire the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and information about and access to the labor
market necessary to make an effective transition from school
to career-oriented work or to further education and training;
(6) American students can achieve to high standards, and
many learn better and retain more when the students learn in
context, rather than in the abstract;
(7) while many American students have part-time jobs, there
is infrequent linkage between--
(A) such jobs; and
(B) the career planning or exploration, or the school-based
learning, of such students;
(8) the work-based learning approach, which is modeled
after the time-honored apprenticeship concept, integrates
theoretical instruction with structured on-the-job training,
and this approach, combined with school-based learning, can
be very effective in engaging student interest, enhancing
skill acquisition, developing positive work attitudes, and
preparing youth for high-skill, high-wage careers; and
(9) Federal resources currently fund a series of
categorical, work-related education and training programs,
many of which serve disadvantaged youth, that are not
administered as a coherent whole.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES AND CONGRESSIONAL INTENT.
(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
(1) establish a national framework within which all States
can create statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems
that--
(A) are a part of comprehensive education reform;
(B) are integrated with the State education systems
reformed under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act; and
(C) offer opportunities for all students to participate in
a performance-based education and training program that
will--
(i) enable the students to earn portable credentials;
(ii) prepare the students for first jobs in high-skill,
high-wage careers; and
(iii) increase their opportunities for further education,
including education in a 4-year college or university;
(2) create a universal, high-quality school-to-work
transition system that enables all young Americans to
identify and navigate paths to productive and progressively
more rewarding roles in the workplace;
(3) utilize workplaces as active learning environments in
the educational process by making employers joint partners
with educators in providing opportunities for all students to
participate in high-quality, work-based learning experiences;
(4) use Federal funds under this Act as venture capital, to
underwrite the initial costs of planning and establishing
statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems that will be
maintained with other Federal, State, and local resources;
(5) promote the formation of partnerships that are
dedicated to linking the worlds of school and work, among
secondary schools and postsecondary education institutions,
private and public employers, labor organizations,
government, community-based organizations, parents, students,
State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and
training and human service agencies;
(6) help all students attain high academic and occupational
standards;
(7) build on and advance a range of promising school-to-
work transition programs, such as tech-prep education
programs, career academies, school-to-apprenticeship
programs, cooperative education programs, youth
apprenticeship programs, school-sponsored enterprises, and
business-education compacts, that can be developed into
programs funded under this Act;
(8) improve the knowledge and skills of youth by
integrating academic and occupational learning, integrating
school-based and work-based learning, and building effective
linkages between secondary and postsecondary education;
(9) motivate all youth, including low-achieving youth,
youth who have dropped out of school, and youth with
disabilities, to stay in or return to school or a classroom
setting and strive to succeed, by providing enriched learning
experiences and assistance in obtaining good jobs and
continuing their education in postsecondary education
institutions;
(10) expose students to a vast array of career
opportunities, and facilitate the selection of career majors,
based on individual interests, goals, strengths, and
abilities; and
(11) further the National Education Goals set forth in
title I of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act.
(b) Congressional Intent.--It is the intent of Congress
that the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education
jointly administer this Act, in consultation with the
Secretary of Commerce, in a flexible manner that--
(1) promotes State and local discretion in establishing and
implementing School-to-Work Opportunities systems and
programs; and
(2) contributes to reinventing government by--
(A) building on State and local capacity;
(B) eliminating duplication in education and training
programs for youth by integrating such programs into one
comprehensive system;
(C) maximizing the effective use of resources;
(D) supporting locally established initiatives;
(E) requiring measurable goals for performance; and
(F) offering flexibility in meeting such goals.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act--
(1) the term ``all aspects of the industry'' means all
aspects of the industry or industry sector a student is
preparing to enter, including planning, management, finances,
technical and production skills, underlying principles of
technology, labor and community issues, health and safety
issues, and environmental issues, related to such industry or
industry sector;
(2) the term ``all students'' means students from a broad
range of backgrounds and circumstances, including
disadvantaged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic,
or cultural backgrounds, students with disabilities, students
with limited-English proficiency, students who have dropped
out of school, and academically talented students;
(3) the term ``approved plan'' means a School-to-Work
Opportunities system plan that is submitted by a State under
section 212(a), is determined by the Secretaries to include
the program components described in sections 102 through 104
and otherwise meet the requirements of this Act, and is
consistent with the improvement plan of the State, if any,
under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act;
(4) the term ``career major'' means a coherent sequence of
courses or field of study that prepares a student for a first
job and that--
(A) integrates academic and occupational learning,
integrates school-based and work-based learning, establishes
linkages between secondary and postsecondary education, and
prepares students for admission to 2-year or 4-year
postsecondary education institutions;
(B) prepares the student for employment in broad
occupational clusters or industry sectors;
(C) typically includes at least 2 years of secondary
education and at least 1 or 2 years of postsecondary
education;
(D) provides the students, to the extent practicable, with
strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of the
industry the students are planning to enter;
(E) results in the award of--
(i) a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as--
(I) a general equivalency diploma; or
(II) an alternative diploma or certificate for students
with disabilities for whom such alternative diploma or
certificate is appropriate;
(ii) a certificate or diploma recognizing successful
completion of 1 or 2 years of postsecondary education (if
appropriate); and
(iii) a skill certificate; and
(F) may lead to further education and training, such as
entry into a registered apprenticeship program, or may lead
to admission to a 4-year college or university;
(5) the term ``employer'' includes both public and private
employers;
(6) the term ``Governor'' means the chief executive of a
State;
(7) the term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning
given the term in section 1471(12) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2891(12));
(8) the term ``partnership'' means a local entity that--
(A) is responsible for carrying out local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs;
(B) consists of employers or employer organizations, public
secondary schools and postsecondary educational institutions
(or representatives, such as teachers, counselors, and
administrators), and labor organizations or nonmanagerial
employee representatives; and
(C) may include other entities, such as community-based
organizations, national trade associations working at local
levels, rehabilitation agencies and organizations, registered
apprenticeship agencies, local vocational education entities,
proprietary institutions of higher education as defined in
section 481(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1088(b)) (so long as such institutions meet the requirements
specified in section 498 of such Act), local government
agencies, parent organizations and teacher organizations,
vocational student organizations, private industry councils
established under section 102 of the Job Training Partnership
Act (29 U.S.C. 1512), and Indian tribes, as defined in
section 1 of the Tribally Controlled Community College
Assistance Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801);
(9) the term ``postsecondary education institution'' means
a public or private institution that is authorized within a
State to provide a program of education beyond secondary
education, and includes a community college, a technical
college, a postsecondary vocational institution, a tribally
controlled community college, as defined in section 1 of the
Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978,
and a 4-year college or university;
(10) the term ``registered apprenticeship agency'' means
the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training in the Department
of Labor or a State apprenticeship agency recognized and
approved by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training as the
appropriate body for State registration or approval of local
apprenticeship programs and agreements for Federal purposes;
(11) the term ``registered apprenticeship program'' means a
program registered by a registered apprenticeship agency;
(12) the term ``related services'' includes the types of
services described in section 602(17) of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(17));
(13) the term ``school site mentor'' means a professional
employed at a school who is designated as the advocate for a
particular student, and who works in consultation with
classroom teachers, counselors, related services personnel,
and the employer of the student to design and monitor the
progress of the School-to-Work Opportunities program of the
student;
(14) the term ``School-to-Work Opportunities program''
means a program that meets the requirements of this Act,
other than a program described in section 401(a);
(15) the term ``secondary school'' has the meaning given
the term in section 1201(d) of the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1141(d));
(16) the term ``Secretaries'' means the Secretary of
Education and the Secretary of Labor;
(17) the term ``skill certificate'' means a portable,
industry-recognized credential issued by a School-to-Work
Opportunities program under an approved plan, that certifies
that a student has mastered skills at levels that are at
least as challenging as skill standards endorsed by the
National Skill Standards Board established under the National
Skill Standards Act of 1993, except that until such skill
standards are developed, the term ``skill certificate'' means
a credential issued under a process described in the approved
plan of a State;
(18) the term ``State'' means each of the several States,
the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico;
(19) the term ``State educational agency'' has the meaning
given the term in section 1471(23) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2891(23)); and
(20) the term ``workplace mentor'' means an employee or
other individual, approved by the employer at a workplace,
who possesses the skills and knowledge to be mastered by a
student, and who instructs the student, critiques the
performance of the student, challenges the student to perform
well, and works in consultation with classroom teachers and
the employer of the student.
SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION.
(a) Joint Administration.--Notwithstanding the Department
of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.), the
General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.),
the Act entitled ``An Act To Create a Department of Labor'',
approved March 4, 1913 (29 U.S.C. 551 et seq.), and section
166 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1576), the
Secretaries shall jointly provide for the administration of
the programs established by this Act. The Secretaries shall
jointly issue such uniform procedures, guidelines, and
regulations, in accordance with section 553 of title 5,
United States Code, as the Secretaries determine to be
necessary and appropriate to administer and enforce the
provisions of this Act.
(b) Regulations.--Section 431 of the General Education
Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232) shall not apply to
regulations issued with respect to any programs under this
Act.
(c) Plan.--Within 120 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretaries shall prepare a plan for the joint
administration of this Act and submit such plan to the
appropriate Committees of Congress for review and comment.
TITLE I--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES BASIC PROGRAM COMPONENTS
SEC. 101. GENERAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.
A School-to-Work Opportunities program under this Act
shall--
(1) integrate school-based learning and work-based
learning, as provided for in sections 102 and 103, integrate
academic and occupational learning, and establish effective
linkages between secondary and postsecondary education;
(2) provide participating students with the opportunity to
complete career majors;
(3) incorporate the program components provided in sections
102 through 104;
(4) provide participating students, to the extent
practicable, with strong experience in and understanding of
all aspects of the industry the students are preparing to
enter; and
(5) provide all students with equal access to the full
range of such program components (including both school- and
work-based learning components) and related activities and to
recruitment, enrollment, and placement activities.
SEC. 102. WORK-BASED LEARNING COMPONENT.
(a) Mandatory Activities.--The work-based learning
component of a School-to-Work Opportunities program shall
include--
(1) paid work experience;
(2) a planned program of job training and work experiences
(including training related to preemployment and employment
skills to be mastered at progressively higher levels) that
are coordinated with learning in the school-based learning
component described in section 103 and are relevant to the
career majors of students and lead to the award of skill
certificates;
(3) workplace mentoring; and
(4) instruction in general workplace competencies,
including instruction and activities developing positive work
attitudes, and employability and participative skills.
(b) Permissible Activities.--Such component may include
such activities as job shadowing, school-sponsored
enterprises, or on-the-job training for academic credit.
SEC. 103. SCHOOL-BASED LEARNING COMPONENT.
The school-based learning component of a School-to-Work
Opportunities program shall include--
(1) career exploration and counseling, beginning prior to
the 11th grade year of the students, in order to help
students who may be interested to identify, and select or
reconsider, their interests, goals, and career majors;
(2) initial selection by interested students of career
majors not later than the beginning of the 11th grade;
(3) a program of study designed to meet academic standards
established by the State for all students, including, where
applicable, any content standards developed under the Goals
2000: Educate America Act, and to meet the requirements
necessary to prepare students for postsecondary education and
to earn skill certificates; and
(4) regularly scheduled evaluations involving ongoing
consultation and problem solving with students to identify
academic strengths and weaknesses, academic progress,
workplace knowledge, goals, and the need for additional
learning opportunities to master core academic and vocational
skills.
SEC. 104. CONNECTING ACTIVITIES COMPONENT.
The connecting activities component of a School-to-Work
Opportunities program shall include--
(1) matching students with the work-based learning
opportunities of employers;
(2) serving, with respect to each student, as a liaison
among the student and the employer, school, teacher, and
parent of the student, and, if appropriate, other community
partners;
(3) providing technical assistance and services to
employers, including small- and medium-sized businesses, and
other parties in--
(A) designing work-based learning components described in
section 102 and counseling and case management services; and
(B) training teachers, workplace mentors, school site
mentors, and counselors;
(4) providing assistance to schools and employers to
integrate school-based and work-based learning and integrate
academic and occupational learning in the program;
(5)(A) providing assistance to participants who have
completed the program in finding an appropriate job,
continuing their education, or entering into an additional
training program; and
(B) linking the participants with other community services
that may be necessary to assure a successful transition from
school to work;
(6) collecting and analyzing information regarding post-
program outcomes of participants in the School-to-Work
Opportunities program, including disadvantaged students,
students with diverse racial, ethnic, or cultural
backgrounds, students with disabilities, students with
limited-English proficiency, students who have dropped out of
school, and academically talented students; and
(7) linking youth development activities under this Act
with employer and industry strategies for upgrading the
skills of their workers.
TITLE II--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO STATES
Subtitle A--State Development Grants
SEC. 201. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this subtitle is to assist States in
planning and developing comprehensive, statewide systems for
school-to-work opportunities.
SEC. 202. STATE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Award.--On the application of the Governor on behalf of
a State, the Secretaries may award a development grant to the
State in such amount as the Secretaries determine to be
necessary to enable the State to complete development of a
comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system.
(2) Amount.--The amount of a development grant under this
subtitle may not exceed $1,000,000 for any fiscal year.
(3) Completion.--The Secretaries may award such grant to
complete development initiated with funds awarded under the
Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) or the
Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education
Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.).
(b) Application Contents.--To be eligible to receive a
grant under subsection (a), a State shall submit an
application to the Secretaries that shall--
(1) include a timetable and an estimate of the amount of
funding needed to complete the planning and development
necessary to implement a comprehensive, statewide School-to-
Work Opportunities system, for all students;
(2) describe the manner in which--
(A) the Governor;
(B) the State educational agency;
(C) the State agency officials responsible for job training
and employment;
(D) the State agency officials responsible for economic
development;
(E) the State agency officials responsible for
postsecondary education; and
(F) other appropriate officials,
will collaborate in the planning and development of the
statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(3) describe the manner in which the State has obtained and
will continue to obtain the active and continued
participation, in the planning and development of the
statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system, of employers
and other interested parties such as locally elected
officials, secondary schools and postsecondary educational
institutions (or related agencies), business associations,
employees, labor organizations or associations of such
organizations, teachers, related services personnel,
students, parents, community-based organizations,
rehabilitation agencies and organizations, registered
apprenticeship agencies, vocational educational agencies,
vocational student organizations, and human service agencies;
(4) describe the manner in which the State will coordinate
planning activities with any local school-to-work programs,
including programs that have received a grant under title
III, if any;
(5) designate a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds awarded under this subtitle;
(6) include such other information as the Secretaries may
require;
(7) provide evidence of the support of the officials and
agencies described in paragraph (2) for the application; and
(8) be submitted at such time and in such manner as the
Secretaries may require.
(c) State Development Activities.--Funds awarded under this
section shall be expended by a State only for activities
undertaken to develop a statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system, which may include--
(1) identifying or establishing an appropriate State
structure to administer the School-to-Work Opportunities
system;
(2) identifying secondary and postsecondary school-to-work
programs that might be incorporated into the State system;
(3) identifying or establishing broad-based partnerships
among employers, labor, education, government, and other
community and parent organizations to participate in the
design, development, and administration of School-to-Work
Opportunities programs;
(4) developing a marketing plan to build consensus and
support for School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(5) promoting the active involvement of business, including
small- and medium-sized businesses, in planning, developing,
and implementing local School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(6) identifying ways that local school-to-work programs
could be coordinated with the statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system;
(7) supporting local planning and development activities to
provide guidance, training, and technical assistance in the
development of School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(8) identifying or establishing mechanisms for providing
training and technical assistance to enhance the development
of a statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(9) initiating pilot programs for testing key components of
the program design of programs under the system;
(10) developing a State process for issuing skill
certificates that is, to the extent feasible, consistent with
the efforts of the National Skill Standards Board and the
skill standards endorsed under the National Skill Standards
Act of 1993;
(11) designing challenging curricula, in cooperation with
representatives of local partnerships, that take into account
the diverse learning needs and abilities of the student
population served by the system;
(12) developing a system for labor market analysis and
strategic planning for local targeting, of industry sectors
or broad occupational clusters, that can provide students
with placements in high-skill workplaces;
(13) analyzing the post-high school employment experiences
of recent high school graduates and students who have dropped
out of school;
(14) preparing the plan described in section 212(b); and
(15) developing a training and technical support system for
teachers, employers, mentors, counselors, related services
personnel, and other parties.
Subtitle B--State Implementation Grants
SEC. 211. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this subtitle is to assist States in the
implementation of comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities systems.
SEC. 212. STATE IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Eligibility.--On the application of the Governor on
behalf of a State, the Secretaries may award, on a
competitive basis, a 5-year implementation grant to the
State.
(2) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
paragraph (1), a State shall submit an application to the
Secretaries that shall--
(A) contain--
(i) a plan for a comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system that meets the requirements of
subsection (b);
(ii) a description of the manner in which the State will
allocate funds made available through such a grant to local
School-to-Work Opportunities partnerships under subsection
(g);
(iii) a request, if the State decides to submit such a
request, for one or more waivers of certain statutory or
regulatory requirements, as provided for under title V;
(iv) a description of the manner in which--
(I) the Governor;
(II) the State educational agency;
(III) the State agency officials responsible for job
training and employment;
(IV) the State agency officials responsible for economic
development;
(V) the State agency officials responsible for
postsecondary education;
(VI) other appropriate officials; and
(VII) the private sector,
collaborated in the development of the application; and
(v) such other information as the Secretaries may require;
and
(B) be submitted at such time and in such manner as the
Secretaries may require.
(b) Contents of State Plan.--A State plan referred to in
subsection (a)(2)(A)(i) shall--
(1) designate the geographical areas to be served by
partnerships that receive grants under subsection (g), which
shall, to the extent feasible, reflect local labor market
areas;
(2) describe the manner in which the State will stimulate
and support local School-to-Work Opportunities programs that
meet the requirements of this Act, and the manner in which
the statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system will be
expanded over time to cover all geographic areas in the
State;
(3) describe the procedure by which--
(A) the Governor;
(B) the State educational agency;
(C) the State agency officials responsible for job training
and employment;
(D) the State agency officials responsible for economic
development;
(E) the State agency officials responsible for
postsecondary education; and
(F) other appropriate officials,
will collaborate in the implementation of the statewide
School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(4) describe the manner in which the State has obtained and
will continue to obtain the active and continued involvement,
in the statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system, of
employers and other interested parties such as locally
elected officials, secondary schools and postsecondary
educational institutions (or related agencies), business
associations, employees, labor organizations or associations
of such organizations, teachers, related services personnel,
students, parents, community-based organizations,
rehabilitation agencies and organizations, registered
apprenticeship agencies, vocational educational agencies,
vocational student organizations, State or regional
cooperative education associations, and human service
agencies;
(5) describe the manner in which the School-to-Work
Opportunities system will coordinate with or integrate local
school-to-work programs, including programs financed from
State and private sources, with funds available from such
related Federal programs as programs under the Adult
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), the Carl D. Perkins
Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act (20 U.S.C.
2301, et seq.), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), part F of title IV of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 681 et seq.), the Goals 2000:
Educate America Act, the National Skills Standards Act of
1993, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20
U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), the Job Training Partnership Act (29
U.S.C. 1501 et seq.), the Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly
known as the ``National Apprenticeship Act''; 50 Stat. 664,
chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.); the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.), and the National and Community
Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.);
(6) describe the strategy of the State for providing
training for teachers, employers, mentors, counselors,
related services personnel, and other parties;
(7) describe the strategy of the State for incorporating
project-oriented, experiential learning programs which
integrate theory and academic knowledge with hands-on skills
and applications into the school curriculum for all students
in the State;
(8) describe the resources, including private sector
resources, that the State intends to employ in maintaining
the School-to-Work Opportunities system when funds under this
Act are no longer available;
(9) describe the manner in which the State will ensure
effective and meaningful opportunities for all students in
the State to participate in School-to-Work Opportunities
programs;
(10) describe the goals of the State and the methods the
State will use, such as awareness and outreach, to ensure
opportunities for young women to participate in School-to-
Work Opportunities programs in a manner that leads to
employment in high-performance, high-paying jobs, including
nontraditional employment;
(11) describe the manner in which the State will ensure
opportunities for low-achieving students, students with
disabilities, and former students who have dropped out of
school, to participate in School-to-Work Opportunities
programs;
(12) describe the process of the State for assessing the
skills and knowledge required in career majors, and the
process for awarding skill certificates that is consistent
with the efforts of the National Skill Standards Board and
the skill standards endorsed under the National Skill
Standards Act of 1993;
(13) describe the manner in which the State will ensure
that students participating in the programs are provided, to
the greatest extent possible, with flexibility to develop new
career goals over time and to change career majors without
adverse consequences;
(14) describe the manner in which the State will, to the
extent feasible, continue programs funded under section 302
in the statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(15) describe the manner in which local school-to-work
programs, including programs funded under section 302, if
any, will be integrated into the statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system;
(16) describe the performance standards that the State
intends to meet;
(17) designate a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds awarded under this subtitle; and
(18) provide evidence of the support of the officials and
agencies described in paragraph (3) for the plan, and their
agreement with the plan.
(c) Review of Applications.--In reviewing each application
submitted under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall submit
the application to a peer review process, determine whether
to approve the plan described in subsection (b), and, if such
determination is affirmative, further determine whether to
take one or more of the following actions:
(1) Award an implementation grant described in subsection
(a) to the State submitting the application.
(2) Approve the request of the State, if any, for a waiver
in accordance with the procedures set forth in title V.
(3) Inform the State of the opportunity to apply for
further development funds under subtitle A, by submitting to
the Secretaries an application that includes a timetable and
an estimate of the amount of funding needed to complete the
planning and development necessary to implement a
comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system,
except that further development funds may not be awarded to a
State that receives an implementation grant under subsection
(e).
(d) Review Considerations.--In evaluating an application
submitted under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall--
(1) take into consideration the quality of the application,
including the replicability, sustainability, and innovation
of programs described in the application;
(2) give priority to applications, based on the extent to
which the system described in the application would limit
administrative costs and increase amounts spent on delivery
of services to students enrolled in programs carried out
through the system under this Act; and
(3) give priority to applications that describe systems
that demonstrate the highest levels of collaboration among
appropriate State agencies and officials and the private
sector in the planning, development, and implementation of
the systems.
(e) Grant Amount and Duration of Grant.--
(1) Amount.--The Secretaries shall establish the minimum
and maximum amounts available for an implementation grant
under subsection (a), and shall determine the actual amount
granted to any State under such subsection, based on such
criteria as the scope and quality of the plan described in
subsection (b) and the number of projected participants in
programs carried out through the system.
(2) Duration.--No State shall be awarded more than one
implementation grant.
(f) State Implementation Activities.--A State shall expend
funds awarded through grants under subsection (a) only for
activities undertaken to implement the School-to-Work
Opportunities system of the State, which may include--
(1) recruiting and providing assistance to employers to
provide work-based learning for all students;
(2) conducting outreach activities to promote and support
collaboration, in School-to-Work Opportunities programs, by
businesses, labor organizations, and other organizations;
(3) providing training for teachers, employers, workplace
mentors, school site mentors, counselors, related services
personnel, and other parties;
(4) providing labor market information to local
partnerships that is useful in determining which high-skill,
high-wage occupations are in demand;
(5) designing or adapting model curricula that can be used
to integrate academic and occupational learning, school-based
and work-based learning, and secondary and postsecondary
education, for all students in the State;
(6) designing or adapting model work-based learning
programs and identifying best practices for such programs;
(7) conducting outreach activities and providing technical
assistance to other States that are developing or
implementing School-to-Work Opportunities systems;
(8) reorganizing and streamlining School-to-Work
Opportunities systems in the State to facilitate the
development of a comprehensive statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system;
(9) identifying ways that existing local school-to-work
programs could be integrated with the statewide School-to-
Work Opportunities system;
(10) designing career awareness and exploration activities,
which may begin as early as the elementary grades, such as
job shadowing, job site visits, school visits by individuals
in various occupations, and mentoring;
(11) designing and implementing school-sponsored work
experiences, such as school-sponsored enterprises and
community development projects; and
(12) providing career exploration and awareness services,
counseling and mentoring services, college awareness and
preparation services, and other services to prepare students
for the transition from school to work.
(g) Allocation of Funds to Partnerships.--A State that
receives a grant under subsection (a) shall award grants,
according to criteria established by the State, to
partnerships to carry out local School-to-Work Opportunities
programs. In awarding such grants, the State shall use not
less than 65 percent of the sums awarded to the State under
subsection (a) in the first year in which the State awards
such grants, 75 percent of such sums in the second such year,
and 85 percent of such sums in each such year thereafter.
(h) State Subgrants to Partnerships.--
(1) Application.--A partnership that seeks a grant to carry
out a local School-to-Work Opportunities program, including a
program initiated under section 302, shall submit an
application to the State that--
(A) describes how the program would include the program
components described in sections 102, 103, and 104 and
otherwise meet the requirements of this Act;
(B) sets forth measurable program goals and outcomes;
(C) describes the local strategies and timetables of the
partnership to provide School-to-Work Opportunities program
opportunities for all students in the area served;
(D) provides such other information as the State may
require; and
(E) is submitted at such time and in such manner as the
State may require.
(2) Allowable activities.--A partnership shall expend funds
awarded through grants under this subsection only for
activities undertaken to carry out local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs, and such activities may include, for
each such program--
(A) recruiting and providing assistance to employers,
including small- and medium-size businesses, to provide the
work-based learning components described in section 102 in
the School-to-Work Opportunities program;
(B) establishing consortia of employers to support the
School-to-Work Opportunities program and provide access to
jobs related to the career majors of students;
(C) supporting or establishing intermediaries (selected
from among the members of the partnership) to perform the
activities described in section 104 and to provide assistance
to students in obtaining jobs and further education and
training;
(D) designing or adapting school curricula that can be used
to integrate academic and occupational learning, school-based
and work-based learning, and secondary and postsecondary
education for all students in the area served;
(E) providing training to work-based and school-based staff
on new curricula, student assessments, student guidance, and
feedback to the school regarding student performance;
(F) establishing, in schools participating in the School-
to-Work Opportunities program, a graduation assistance
program to assist at-risk students, low-achieving students,
and students with disabilities, in graduating from high
school, enrolling in postsecondary education or training, and
finding or advancing in jobs;
(G) conducting or obtaining an indepth analysis of the
local labor market and the generic and specific skill needs
of employers to identify high-demand, high-wage careers to
target;
(H) integrating work-based and school-based learning into
existing job training programs for youth who have dropped out
of school;
(I) establishing or expanding school-to-apprenticeship
programs in cooperation with registered apprenticeship
agencies and apprenticeship sponsors;
(J) assisting participating employers, including small- and
medium-size businesses, to identify and train workplace
mentors and to develop work-based learning components;
(K) designing local strategies to provide adequate planning
time and staff development activities for teachers, school
counselors, related services personnel, and school site
mentors;
(L) enhancing linkages between--
(i) after-school, weekend, and summer jobs; and
(ii) opportunities for career exploration and school-based
learning; and
(M) providing career exploration and awareness services,
counseling and mentoring services, college awareness and
preparation services, and other services to prepare students
for the transition from school to work.
SEC. 213. LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
(a) State System.--A State that receives an implementation
grant under section 212 may not use more than 15 percent of
the amounts received through the grant for any fiscal year
for administrative costs associated with implementing the
School-to-Work Opportunities system of the State for such
fiscal year.
(b) Local Program.--A partnership that receives a grant
under section 212 may not use more than 15 percent of the
amounts received through the grant for any fiscal year for
administrative costs associated with carrying out the School-
to-Work Opportunities programs of the partnership for such
fiscal year.
TITLE III--FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS
SEC. 301. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this title are--
(1) to authorize the Secretaries to award competitive
grants to partnerships in States that have not received, or
have only recently received, implementation grants under
section 212(a), in order to provide funding for communities
that have established a sound planning and development base
for School-to-Work Opportunities programs and are ready to
begin implementing a local School-to-Work Opportunities
program; and
(2) to authorize the Secretaries to award competitive
grants to implement School-to-Work Opportunities programs in
high poverty areas of urban and rural communities to provide
support for a comprehensive range of education, training, and
support services for youth residing in designated high
poverty areas.
SEC. 302. FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS.
(a) In General.--The Secretaries may award Federal
implementation grants, in accordance with competitive
criteria established by the Secretaries, to partnerships in
States that have not received an implementation grant under
section 212, or are carrying out activities for an initial
year of an initial grant under such section, in order to
enable the partnerships to begin implementing local School-
to-Work Opportunities programs.
(b) Application Procedure.--A partnership that desires to
receive or extend a Federal implementation grant under this
section shall submit an application to the Secretaries at
such time and in such manner as the Secretaries may require.
The partnership shall submit the application to the State for
review and comment before submitting the application to the
Secretaries. The Secretaries shall submit the application to
a peer review process.
(c) Application Contents.--The application described in
subsection (b) shall include a plan for local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs that--
(1) describes the manner in which the partnership will meet
the requirements of this Act;
(2) includes the comments of the State on the plan, if any;
(3) contains information that is consistent with the
information required to be submitted as part of a State plan
in accordance with paragraphs (4) through (10) of section
212(b);
(4) designates a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds under this section; and
(5) provides such other information as the Secretaries may
require.
(d) Conformity With Approved Plan.--The Secretaries shall
not award a grant under this section to a partnership in a
State that has an approved plan unless the Secretaries
determine, after consultation with the State, that the plan
submitted by the partnership is in accordance with the
approved plan.
(e) Implementation Activities.--A partnership shall expend
funds awarded under this section only for activities
undertaken to implement School-to-Work Opportunities
programs, which may include the activities specified in
section 212(f).
SEC. 303. SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM GRANTS IN HIGH
POVERTY AREAS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Award of grants.--From the funds reserved under section
506(b), the Secretaries are authorized to award grants, in
accordance with competitive criteria established by the
Secretaries, to partnerships to implement School-to-Work
Opportunities programs that include the program components
described in sections 102, 103, and 104 and otherwise meet
the requirements of title I, in high poverty areas.
(2) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, the term
``high poverty area'' means an urban census tract, the block
number area in a nonmetropolitan county, or an Indian
reservation (as defined in section 403(9) of the Indian Child
Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C.
3202(9)), with a poverty rate of 20 percent or more among
youth aged 5 to 17, inclusive, as determined by the Bureau of
the Census.
(b) Application Procedure.--A partnership that desires to
receive a grant under this section, in addition to any funds
received under section 212 or 302, shall submit an
application to the Secretaries at such time and in such
manner as the Secretaries may require. The partnership shall
submit the application to the State for review and comment
before submitting the application to the Secretaries. The
Secretaries shall submit the application to a peer review
process.
(c) Application Contents.--The application described in
subsection (b) shall include a plan for local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs that--
(1) describes the manner in which the partnership will meet
the requirements of this Act;
(2) includes the comments of the State on the plan, if any;
(3) contains information that is consistent with the
information required to be submitted as part of a State plan
in accordance with paragraphs (4) through (10) of section
212(b);
(4) designates a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds under this section; and
(5) provides such other information as the Secretaries may
require.
(d) Conformity With Approved Plan.--The Secretaries shall
not award a grant under this section to a partnership in a
State that has an approved plan unless the Secretaries
determine, after consultation with the State, that the plan
submitted by the partnership is in accordance with the
approved plan.
(e) Implementation Activities.--A partnership shall expend
funds awarded under this section only for activities
undertaken to implement School-to-Work Opportunities
programs, including the activities specified in section
212(h)(2).
(f) Use of Funds.--Funds awarded under this section may be
awarded in combination with funds awarded under the Youth
Fair Chance Program set forth in part H of title IV of the
Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1782 et seq.).
TITLE IV--NATIONAL PROGRAMS
SEC. 401. RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND OTHER PROJECTS.
(a) In General.--With funds reserved under section 506(c),
the Secretaries shall conduct research and development
projects and establish a program of experimental and
demonstration projects, to further the purposes of this Act.
(b) Additional Use of Funds.--Funds reserved under section
506(c) may be used for programs or services authorized under
any other provision of this Act that are most appropriately
administered at the national level and that will operate in,
or benefit, more than one State.
SEC. 402. PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES AND EVALUATION.
(a) In General.--Using funds reserved under section 506(c),
the Secretaries, in collaboration with the States, shall
establish a system of performance measures for assessing
State and local School-to-Work Opportunities programs
regarding--
(1) progress in the development and implementation of State
plans described in section 212(b) with respect to programs
that include the program components described in sections
102, 103, and 104 and otherwise meet the requirements of
title I;
(2) participation in School-to-Work Opportunities programs
by employers, schools, and students;
(3) progress in developing and implementing strategies for
addressing the needs of all students in the State;
(4) progress in meeting the goals of the State to ensure
opportunities for young women to participate in School-to-
Work Opportunities programs, including participation in
nontraditional employment;
(5) outcomes for students in the programs (including
disadvantaged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic,
or cultural backgrounds, students with disabilities, students
with limited-English proficiency, students who have dropped
out of school, and academically talented students), which
outcomes shall include--
(A) academic learning gains;
(B) progress in staying in school and attaining--
(i) a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as--
(I) a general equivalency diploma; or
(II) an alternative diploma or certificate for students
with disabilities for whom such alternative diploma or
certificate is appropriate;
(ii) a skill certificate; and
(iii) a postsecondary degree;
(C) attainment of strong experience in and understanding of
all aspects of the industry the students are preparing to
enter;
(D) placement and retention in further education or
training, particularly in the career major of the student;
and
(E) job placement, retention, and earnings, particularly in
the career major of the student; and
(6) the extent to which the program has met the needs of
employers.
(b) Evaluation.--Using funds reserved under section 506(c),
the Secretaries shall conduct, through grants, contracts, or
other arrangements, a national evaluation of School-to-Work
Opportunities programs funded under this Act that will track
and assess the progress of implementation of State and local
School-to-Work Opportunities programs and their effectiveness
based on measures such as the measures described in
subsection (a).
(c) Reports to the Secretaries.--
(1) In general.--Each State shall prepare and submit to the
Secretaries periodic reports, at such intervals as the
Secretaries may determine, containing information described
in paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (a).
(2) Federal programs.--Each State shall prepare and submit
reports to the Secretaries, at such intervals as the
Secretaries may determine, containing information on the
extent to which Federal programs implemented at the State and
local level may be duplicative, outdated, overly restrictive,
or otherwise counterproductive to the development of
comprehensive statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems.
(d) Report to the Congress.--Using funds reserved under
section 506(c), not later than 24 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall submit a report
to the Congress on School-to-Work Opportunities programs and
shall, at a minimum, include in such report--
(1) information concerning the programs that receive
assistance under this Act;
(2) a summary of the information contained in the State
reports submitted under subsection (c); and
(3) information regarding the findings and actions taken as
a result of any evaluation conducted by the Secretaries.
SEC. 403. TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) Purpose.--The Secretaries shall work in cooperation
with States, employers and associations of employers,
secondary schools and postsecondary education institutions,
student and teacher organizations, labor organizations, and
community-based organizations, to increase their capacity to
develop and implement effective School-to-Work Opportunities
programs.
(b) Authorized Activities.--Using funds reserved under
section 506(c), the Secretaries shall provide, through
grants, contracts, or other arrangements--
(1) training, technical assistance, and other activities
that will--
(A) enhance the skills, knowledge, and expertise of the
personnel involved in planning and implementing State and
local School-to-Work Opportunities programs; and
(B) improve the quality of services provided to individuals
served under this Act;
(2) assistance to States and partnerships involved in
carrying out School-to-Work Opportunities programs in order
to integrate resources available under this Act with
resources available under other Federal, State, and local
authorities;
(3) assistance to States and such partnerships to recruit
employers to provide the work-based learning component,
described in section 102, of School-to-Work Opportunities
programs; and
(4) assistance to States and such partnerships to design
and implement school-sponsored enterprises.
(c) Peer Review.--The Secretaries may use funds reserved
under section 506(c) for the peer review of State
applications and plans under section 212 and applications
under title III.
(d) Networks and Clearinghouses.--
(1) Establishment.--To carry out their responsibilities
under subsection (b), the Secretaries shall establish,
through grants, contracts, or other arrangements, a
Clearinghouse and Capacity Building Network (hereafter
referred to in this subsection as the ``Clearinghouse'').
(2) Functions.--The Clearinghouse shall--
(A) collect and disseminate information on successful
school-to-work programs, and innovative school-based and
work-based curricula;
(B) collect and disseminate information on research and
evaluation conducted concerning activities carried out
through School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(C) collect and disseminate information that will assist
States and partnerships in undertaking labor market analysis,
surveys, or other activities related to economic development;
(D) collect and disseminate information on skill
certificates, skill standards, and related assessment
technologies;
(E) collect and disseminate information on methods for
recruiting and building the capacity of employers to provide
work-based learning opportunities;
(F) facilitate communication and the exchange of
information and ideas among States and partnerships carrying
out School-to-Work Opportunities programs; and
(G) carry out such other activities as the Secretaries
determine to be appropriate.
(3) Coordination.--The Secretaries shall coordinate the
activities of the Clearinghouse with the activities of other
similar entities to avoid duplication and enhance the sharing
of relevant information.
TITLE V--GENERAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 501. STATE REQUEST AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR A WAIVER OF
STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS.
(a) State Request for Waiver.--A State with an approved
plan may, at any point during the development or
implementation of a School-to-Work Opportunities program,
request a waiver of one or more statutory or regulatory
provisions from the Secretaries in order to carry out the
purposes of this Act, and such requests for waivers shall be
submitted as part of the plan or as amendments to the plan.
(b) Partnership Request for Waiver.--A partnership that
seeks a waiver of any of the provisions specified in sections
502 and 503 shall submit an application for such waiver to
the State, and the State shall determine whether to submit a
request for a waiver to the Secretaries, as provided in
subsection (a).
(c) Waiver Criteria.--Any such request by the State shall
meet the criteria contained in section 502 or 503 and shall
specify the provisions or regulations referred to in such
sections with respect to which the State seeks a waiver.
(d) Support by Appropriate State Agencies.--In requesting
such a waiver, the State shall provide evidence of support
for the waiver request by the State agencies or officials
with jurisdiction over the provisions or regulations that
would be waived.
SEC. 502. WAIVERS OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS BY
THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION.
(a) In General.--
(1) Waiver.--Except as provided in subsection (c), the
Secretary of Education may waive any requirement of any
provisions specified in subsection (b) or of the regulations
issued under such provisions for a State that requests such a
waiver--
(A) if, and only to the extent that, the Secretary of
Education determines that such requirement impedes the
ability of the State or a partnership to carry out the
purposes of this Act;
(B) if the State waives, or agrees to waive, similar
requirements of State law; and
(C) if the State--
(i) has provided all partnerships that carry out programs
under this Act, and local educational agencies participating
in such a partnership, in the State with notice and an
opportunity to comment on the proposal of the State to seek a
waiver; and
(ii) has submitted the comments of the partnerships and
local educational agencies to the Secretary of Education.
(2) Action.--The Secretary of Education shall act promptly
on any request submitted pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Term.--Each waiver approved pursuant to this subsection
shall be for a period not to exceed 5 years, except that the
Secretary of Education may extend such period if the
Secretary of Education determines that the waiver has been
effective in enabling the State or partnership to carry out
the purposes of this Act.
(b) Included Programs.--The provisions subject to the
waiver authority of this section are--
(1) chapter 1 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), including the
Even Start programs carried out under part B of such chapter
(20 U.S.C. 2741 et seq.);
(2) part A of chapter 2 of title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2921 et seq.);
(3) part A of title II of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2981 et seq.);
(4) part D of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3121 et seq.);
(5) title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3171 et seq.); and
(6) the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.).
(c) Waivers Not Authorized.--The Secretary of Education may
not waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of the
provisions specified in subsection (b) relating to--
(1) the basic purposes or goals of the affected programs
under such provisions;
(2) maintenance of effort;
(3) comparability of services;
(4) the equitable participation of students attending
private schools;
(5) student and parental participation and involvement;
(6) the distribution of funds to State or to local
educational agencies;
(7) the eligibility of an individual for participation in
the affected programs;
(8) public health or safety, labor, civil rights,
occupational safety and health, or environmental protection;
or
(9) prohibitions or restrictions relating to the
construction of buildings or facilities.
(d) Termination of Waivers.--The Secretary of Education
shall periodically review the performance of any State or
partnership for which the Secretary of Education has granted
a waiver under this section and shall terminate the waiver
under this section if the Secretary determines that the
performance of the State, partnership, or local educational
agency affected by the waiver has been inadequate to justify
a continuation of the waiver, or the State fails to waive
similar requirements of State law as required or agreed to in
accordance with subsection (a)(1)(B).
SEC. 503. WAIVERS OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS BY
THE SECRETARY OF LABOR.
(a) In General.--
(1) Waiver.--Except as provided in subsection (c), the
Secretary of Labor may waive any requirement of the Act, or
any provisions of the Act, specified in subsection (b) or of
the regulations issued under such Act or provisions for a
State that requests such a waiver--
(A) if, and only to the extent that, the Secretary of Labor
determines that such requirement impedes the ability of the
State or a partnership to carry out the purposes of this Act;
(B) if the State waives, or agrees to waive, similar
requirements of State law; and
(C) if the State--
(i) has provided all partnerships that carry out programs
under this Act in the State with notice and an opportunity to
comment on the proposal of the State to seek a waiver; and
(ii) has submitted the comments of the partnerships to the
Secretary of Labor.
(2) Action.--The Secretary of Labor shall act promptly on
any request submitted pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Term.--Each waiver approved pursuant to this subsection
shall be for a period not to exceed 5 years, except that the
Secretary of Labor may extend such period if the Secretary of
Labor determines that the waiver has been effective in
enabling the State or partnership to carry out the purposes
of this Act.
(b) Included Programs.--The Act subject to the waiver
authority of this section is the Job Training Partnership Act
(29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
(c) Waivers Not Authorized.--The Secretary of Labor may not
waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of the Act, or
any provision of the Act, specified in subsection (b)
relating to--
(1) the basic purposes or goals of the affected programs
under such provisions;
(2) maintenance of effort;
(3) the allocation of funds under the affected programs;
(4) the eligibility of an individual for participation in
the affected programs;
(5) public health or safety, labor, civil rights,
occupational safety and health, or environmental protection;
or
(6) prohibitions or restrictions relating to the
construction of buildings or facilities.
(d) Termination of Waivers.--The Secretary of Labor shall
periodically review the performance of any State or
partnership for which the Secretary of Labor has granted a
waiver under this section and shall terminate the waiver
under this section if the Secretary determines that the
performance of the State or partnership affected by the
waiver has been inadequate to justify a continuation of the
waiver, or the State fails to waive similar requirements of
State law as required or agreed to in accordance with
subsection (a)(1)(B).
SEC. 504. REQUIREMENTS.
The following requirements shall apply to School-to-Work
Opportunities programs under this Act:
(1) No student participating in such a program shall
displace any currently employed worker (including a partial
displacement, such as a reduction in the hours of nonovertime
work, wages, or employment benefits).
(2) No School-to-Work Opportunities program shall impair
existing contracts for services or collective bargaining
agreements, and no program under this Act that would be
inconsistent with the terms of a collective bargaining
agreement shall be undertaken without the written concurrence
of the labor organization and employer concerned.
(3) No student shall be employed or fill a position--
(A) when any other individual is on temporary layoff from
the participating employer, with the clear possibility of
recall, from the same or any substantially equivalent job; or
(B) when the employer has terminated the employment of any
regular employee or otherwise reduced the work force of the
employer with the intention of filling the vacancy so created
with a student.
(4) Students participating in such programs shall be
provided with adequate and safe equipment and safe and
healthful workplaces in conformity with all health and safety
standards of Federal, State, and local law.
(5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify or
affect any Federal or State law prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of race, religion, color, ethnicity, national
origin, gender, age, or disability.
(6) Funds appropriated under authority of this Act shall
not be expended for wages of students participating in such
programs.
(7) The Secretaries shall establish such other requirements
as the Secretaries may determine to be appropriate, in order
to ensure that participants in such programs are afforded
adequate supervision by skilled adult workers, or to
otherwise further the purposes of this Act.
SEC. 505. SANCTIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretaries may terminate or suspend
financial assistance, in whole or in part, to a recipient or
refuse to extend a grant for a recipient, if the Secretaries
determine that the recipient has failed to meet the
requirements of this Act, including requirements under
section 402(c), or any regulations under this Act, or any
approved plan submitted pursuant to this Act. The Secretaries
shall provide to the recipient prompt notice of such
termination, suspension, or refusal to extend a grant and the
opportunity for a hearing within 30 days after such notice.
(b) Nondelegation.--The Secretaries shall not delegate any
of the functions or authority specified in this section,
other than to an officer whose appointment is required to be
made by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
SEC. 506. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) Authorization.--There are authorized to be appropriated
to the Secretaries $300,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and
such sums as may be necessary for each of the 7 succeeding
fiscal years to carry out this Act.
(b) High Poverty Areas.--Of the amounts appropriated under
subsection (a), the Secretaries may reserve up to $30,000,000
for fiscal year 1995, and such sums as may be necessary for
each of the succeeding 7 years to carry out section 303,
which reserved funds may be used in conjunction with funds
available under the Youth Fair Chance Program set forth in
part H of title IV of the Job Training Partnership Act (29
U.S.C. 1782 et seq.).
(c) National Programs.--Of the amounts appropriated under
subsection (a), the Secretaries may reserve up to $30,000,000
for fiscal year 1995 and such sums as may be necessary for
each of the 7 succeeding fiscal years to carry out title IV.
(d) Territories.--
(1) In general.--Of the amounts appropriated for a fiscal
year under subsection (a), the Secretaries may reserve up to
\1/4\ of 1 percent to make Federal implementation grants to
territories under section 212 on the same basis as the
Secretaries make grants to States under such section. The
territories shall use funds made available through such
grants to implement School-to-Work Opportunities programs in
accordance with the requirements applicable to States under
subtitle B of title II.
(2) Definition.--As used in this subsection, the term
``territory'' means the United States Virgin Islands, Guam,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American
Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic
of the Marshall Islands, and includes the Republic of Palau
(until the Compact of Free Association is ratified).
(e) Native American Programs.--
(1) Reservation.--The Secretaries may reserve up to \1/4\
of 1 percent of the funds appropriated for any fiscal year
under subsection (a) to make Federal implementation grants to
appropriate entities under section 212 on the same basis as
the Secretaries make grants to States under such section. The
territories shall use funds made available through such
grants to implement School-to-Work Opportunities programs,
for students who are Indians (as defined in section 1(1) of
the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of
1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801(1)), that involve Bureau funded schools,
as defined in section 1139(3) of the Education Amendments of
1978 (25 U.S.C. 2019(3)), in accordance with the requirements
applicable to States under subtitle B of title II.
(2) Implementation.--The Secretaries may carry out this
subsection through such means as the Secretaries determine to
be appropriate, including--
(A) the transfer of funds to the Secretary of the Interior;
and
(B) the provision of financial assistance to tribes and
Indian organizations, as defined in paragraphs (13) and (7),
respectively, of section 1139 of such Act.
(f) Availability of Funds.--Funds obligated for any fiscal
year for programs authorized under this Act shall remain
available until expended.
SEC. 507. ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS, AND OTHER MATTERS.
The Secretaries are authorized, in carrying out this Act,
to accept, purchase, or lease in the name of the Department
of Labor or the Department of Education, and employ or
dispose of in furtherance of the purposes of this Act, any
money or property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or
intangible, received by gift, devise, bequest, or otherwise,
and to accept voluntary and uncompensated services
notwithstanding the provisions of section 1342 of title 31,
United States Code.
SEC. 508. STATE AUTHORITY.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede the
legal authority, under State law or other applicable law, of
any State agency or State public official over programs that
are under the jurisdiction of the agency or official.
SEC. 509. CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to establish a right
for any person to bring an action to obtain services under
this Act.
SEC. 510. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this
Act.
SEC. 511. SUNSET.
The authority provided by this Act shall terminate on
October 1 of the ninth calendar year after the date of
enactment of this Act.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is a 1-hour time agreement on
the bill.
The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the previous
agreement governing the consideration of the bill be modified to permit
me to modify the committee substitute on behalf of the majority of the
members of the Labor and Human Resources Committee.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. KENNEDY. I send the modified substitute to the desk.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The committee substitute is so
modified.
The committee amendment, as modified, is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``School-to-
Work Opportunities Act of 1994''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Purposes and congressional intent.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
Sec. 5. Federal administration.
TITLE I--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES BASIC PROGRAM COMPONENTS
Sec. 101. General program requirements.
Sec. 102. Work-based learning component.
Sec. 103. School-based learning component.
Sec. 104. Connecting activities component.
TITLE II--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO STATES
Subtitle A--State Development Grants
Sec. 201. Purpose.
Sec. 202. State development grants.
Subtitle B--State Implementation Grants
Sec. 211. Purpose.
Sec. 212. State implementation grants.
Sec. 213. Limitation on administrative costs.
TITLE III--FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS
Sec. 301. Purposes.
Sec. 302. Federal implementation grants to partnerships.
Sec. 303. School-to-work opportunities program grants in high poverty
areas.
TITLE IV--NATIONAL PROGRAMS
Sec. 401. Research, demonstration, and other projects.
Sec. 402. Performance outcomes and evaluation.
Sec. 403. Training and technical assistance.
TITLE V--GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 501. State request and responsibilities for a waiver of statutory
and regulatory requirements.
Sec. 502. Waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements by the
Secretary of Education.
Sec. 503. Waivers of statutory and regulatory requirements by the
Secretary of Labor.
Sec. 504. Combination of Federal funds for high poverty schools.
Sec. 505. Requirements.
Sec. 506. Sanctions.
Sec. 507. Authorization of appropriations.
Sec. 508. Acceptance of gifts, and other matters.
Sec. 509. State authority.
Sec. 510. Construction.
TITLE VI--OTHER PROGRAMS
Sec. 601. Tech-prep education.
TITLE VII--TECHNICAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 701. Effective date.
Sec. 702. Sunset.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) three-fourths of America's high school students enter
the work force without baccalaureate degrees, and many do not
possess the academic and entry-level occupational skills
necessary to succeed in the changing American workplace;
(2) a substantial number of American youth, especially
disadvantaged students, students of diverse racial, ethnic,
and cultural backgrounds, and students with disabilities, do
not complete school;
(3) unemployment among American youth is intolerably high,
and earnings of high school graduates have been falling
relative to earnings of persons with more education;
(4) the American workplace is changing in response to
heightened international competition and new technologies,
and such forces, which are ultimately beneficial to the
Nation, are shrinking the demand for and undermining the
earning power of unskilled labor;
(5) the United States lacks a comprehensive and coherent
system to help its youth acquire the knowledge, skills,
abilities, and information about and access to the labor
market necessary to make an effective transition from school
to career-oriented work or to further education and training;
(6) American students can achieve to high standards, and
many learn better and retain more when the students learn in
context, rather than in the abstract;
(7) while many American students have part-time jobs, there
is infrequent linkage between--
(A) such jobs; and
(B) the career planning or exploration, or the school-based
learning, of such students;
(8) the work-based learning approach, which is modeled
after the time-honored apprenticeship concept, integrates
theoretical instruction with structured on-the-job training,
and this approach, combined with school-based learning, can
be very effective in engaging student interest, enhancing
skill acquisition, developing positive work attitudes, and
preparing youth for high-skill, high-wage careers; and
(9) Federal resources currently fund a series of
categorical, work-related education and training programs,
many of which serve disadvantaged youth, that are not
administered as a coherent whole.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES AND CONGRESSIONAL INTENT.
(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
(1) establish a national framework within which all States
can create statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems
that--
(A) are a part of comprehensive education reform;
(B) are integrated with the State education systems
reformed under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act; and
(C) offer opportunities for all students to participate in
a performance-based education and training program that
will--
(i) enable the students to earn portable credentials;
(ii) prepare the students for first jobs in high-skill,
high-wage careers; and
(iii) increase their opportunities for further education,
including education in a 4-year college or university;
(2) create a universal, high-quality school-to-work
transition system that enables all young Americans to
identify and navigate paths to productive and progressively
more rewarding roles in the workplace;
(3) utilize workplaces as active learning environments in
the educational process by making employers joint partners
with educators in providing opportunities for all students to
participate in high-quality, work-based learning experiences;
(4) use Federal funds under this Act as venture capital, to
underwrite the initial costs of planning and establishing
statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems that will be
maintained with other Federal, State, and local resources;
(5) promote the formation of partnerships that are
dedicated to linking the worlds of school and work, among
secondary schools and postsecondary education institutions,
private and public employers, labor organizations,
government, community-based organizations, parents, students,
State educational agencies, local educational agencies, and
training and human service agencies;
(6) help all students attain high academic and occupational
standards;
(7) build on and advance a range of promising school-to-
work transition programs, such as tech-prep education
programs, career academies, school-to-apprenticeship
programs, cooperative education programs, youth
apprenticeship programs, school-sponsored enterprises, and
business-education compacts, that can be developed into
programs funded under this Act;
(8) improve the knowledge and skills of youth by
integrating academic and occupational learning, integrating
school-based and work-based learning, and building effective
linkages between secondary and postsecondary education;
(9) motivate all youth, including low-achieving youth,
youth who have dropped out of school, and youth with
disabilities, to stay in or return to school or a classroom
setting and strive to succeed, by providing enriched learning
experiences and assistance in obtaining good jobs and
continuing their education in postsecondary education
institutions;
(10) expose students to a vast array of career
opportunities, and facilitate the selection of career majors,
based on individual interests, goals, strengths, and
abilities; and
(11) further the National Education Goals set forth in
title I of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act.
(b) Congressional Intent.--It is the intent of Congress
that the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education
jointly administer this Act, in consultation with the
Secretary of Commerce, in a flexible manner that--
(1) promotes State and local discretion in establishing and
implementing School-to-Work Opportunities systems and
programs; and
(2) contributes to reinventing government by--
(A) building on State and local capacity;
(B) eliminating duplication in education and training
programs for youth by integrating such programs into one
comprehensive system;
(C) maximizing the effective use of resources;
(D) supporting locally established initiatives;
(E) requiring measurable goals for performance; and
(F) offering flexibility in meeting such goals.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act--
(1) the term ``all aspects of the industry'' means all
aspects of the industry or industry sector a student is
preparing to enter, including planning, management, finances,
technical and production skills, underlying principles of
technology, labor and community issues, health and safety
issues, and environmental issues, related to such industry or
industry sector;
(2) the term ``all students'' means students from a broad
range of backgrounds and circumstances, including
disadvantaged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic,
or cultural backgrounds, students with disabilities, students
with limited-English proficiency, students who have dropped
out of school, and academically talented students;
(3) the term ``approved plan'' means a School-to-Work
Opportunities system plan that is submitted by a State under
section 212(a), is determined by the Secretaries to include
the program components described in sections 102 through 104
and otherwise meet the requirements of this Act, and is
consistent with the improvement plan of the State, if any,
under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act;
(4) the term ``career major'' means a coherent sequence of
courses or field of study that prepares a student for a first
job and that--
(A) integrates academic and occupational learning,
integrates school-based and work-based learning, establishes
linkages between secondary and postsecondary education, and
prepares students for admission to 2-year or 4-year
postsecondary education institutions;
(B) prepares the student for employment in broad
occupational clusters or industry sectors;
(C) typically includes at least 2 years of secondary
education and at least 1 or 2 years of postsecondary
education;
(D) provides the students, to the extent practicable, with
strong experience in and understanding of all aspects of the
industry the students are planning to enter;
(E) results in the award of--
(i) a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as--
(I) a general equivalency diploma; or
(II) an alternative diploma or certificate for students
with disabilities for whom such alternative diploma or
certificate is appropriate;
(ii) a certificate or diploma recognizing successful
completion of 1 or 2 years of postsecondary education (if
appropriate); and
(iii) a skill certificate; and
(F) may lead to further education and training, such as
entry into a registered apprenticeship program, or may lead
to admission to a 4-year college or university;
(5) the term ``employer'' includes both public and private
employers;
(6) the term ``Governor'' means the chief executive of a
State;
(7) the term ``local educational agency'' has the meaning
given the term in section 1471(12) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2891(12));
(8) the term ``partnership'' means a local entity that--
(A) is responsible for carrying out local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs;
(B) consists of employers or employer organizations, public
secondary schools and postsecondary educational institutions
(or representatives, such as teachers, counselors, and
administrators), and labor organizations or nonmanagerial
employee representatives; and
(C) may include other entities, such as community-based
organizations, national trade associations working at local
levels, rehabilitation agencies and organizations, registered
apprenticeship agencies, local vocational education entities,
proprietary institutions of higher education as defined in
section 481(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C.
1088(b)) (so long as such institutions meet the requirements
specified in section 498 of such Act), local government
agencies, parent organizations and teacher organizations,
vocational student organizations, private industry councils
established under section 102 of the Job Training Partnership
Act (29 U.S.C. 1512), and Indian tribes, as defined in
section 1 of the Tribally Controlled Community College
Assistance Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801);
(9) the term ``postsecondary education institution'' means
a public or private institution that is authorized within a
State to provide a program of education beyond secondary
education, and includes a community college, a technical
college, a postsecondary vocational institution, a tribally
controlled community college, as defined in section 1 of the
Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of 1978,
and a 4-year college or university;
(10) the term ``registered apprenticeship agency'' means
the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training in the Department
of Labor or a State apprenticeship agency recognized and
approved by the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training as the
appropriate body for State registration or approval of local
apprenticeship programs and agreements for Federal purposes;
(11) the term ``registered apprenticeship program'' means a
program registered by a registered apprenticeship agency;
(12) the term ``related services'' includes the types of
services described in section 602(17) of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401(17));
(13) the term ``school site mentor'' means a professional
employed at a school who is designated as the advocate for a
particular student, and who works in consultation with
classroom teachers, counselors, related services personnel,
and the employer of the student to design and monitor the
progress of the School-to-Work Opportunities program of the
student;
(14) the term ``School-to-Work Opportunities program''
means a program that meets the requirements of this Act,
other than a program described in section 401(a);
(15) the term ``secondary school'' has the meaning given
the term in section 1201(d) of the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1141(d));
(16) the term ``Secretaries'' means the Secretary of
Education and the Secretary of Labor;
(17) the term ``skill certificate'' means a portable,
industry-recognized credential issued by a School-to-Work
Opportunities program under an approved plan, that certifies
that a student has mastered skills at levels that are at
least as challenging as skill standards endorsed by the
National Skill Standards Board established under the National
Skill Standards Act of 1993, except that until such skill
standards are developed, the term ``skill certificate'' means
a credential issued under a process described in the approved
plan of a State;
(18) the term ``State'' means each of the several States,
the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico;
(19) the term ``State educational agency'' has the meaning
given the term in section 1471(23) of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2891(23)); and
(20) the term ``workplace mentor'' means an employee or
other individual, approved by the employer at a workplace,
who possesses the skills and knowledge to be mastered by a
student, and who instructs the student, critiques the
performance of the student, challenges the student to perform
well, and works in consultation with classroom teachers and
the employer of the student.
SEC. 5. FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION.
(a) Joint Administration.--Notwithstanding the Department
of Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3401 et seq.), the
General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.),
the Act entitled ``An Act To Create a Department of Labor'',
approved March 4, 1913 (29 U.S.C. 551 et seq.), and section
166 of the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1576), the
Secretaries shall jointly provide for the administration of
the programs established by this Act. The Secretaries shall
jointly issue such uniform procedures, guidelines, and
regulations, in accordance with section 553 of title 5,
United States Code, as the Secretaries determine to be
necessary and appropriate to administer and enforce the
provisions of this Act.
(b) Regulations.--Section 431 of the General Education
Provisions Act (20 U.S.C. 1232) shall not apply to
regulations issued with respect to any programs under this
Act.
(c) Plan.--Within 120 days after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretaries shall prepare a plan for the joint
administration of this Act and submit such plan to the
appropriate Committees of Congress for review and comment.
TITLE I--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES BASIC PROGRAM COMPONENTS
SEC. 101. GENERAL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.
A School-to-Work Opportunities program under this Act
shall--
(1) integrate school-based learning and work-based
learning, as provided for in sections 102 and 103, integrate
academic and occupational learning, and establish effective
linkages between secondary and postsecondary education;
(2) provide participating students with the opportunity to
complete career majors;
(3) incorporate the program components provided in sections
102 through 104;
(4) provide participating students, to the extent
practicable, with strong experience in and understanding of
all aspects of the industry the students are preparing to
enter; and
(5) provide all students with equal access to the full
range of such program components (including both school- and
work-based learning components) and related activities and to
recruitment, enrollment, and placement activities.
SEC. 102. WORK-BASED LEARNING COMPONENT.
(a) Mandatory Activities.--The work-based learning
component of a School-to-Work Opportunities program shall
include--
(1) paid work experience;
(2) a planned program of job training and work experiences
(including training related to preemployment and employment
skills to be mastered at progressively higher levels) that
are coordinated with learning in the school-based learning
component described in section 103 and are relevant to the
career majors of students and lead to the award of skill
certificates;
(3) workplace mentoring; and
(4) instruction in general workplace competencies,
including instruction and activities developing positive work
attitudes, and employability and participative skills.
(b) Permissible Activities.--Such component may include
such activities as job shadowing, school-sponsored
enterprises, or on-the-job training for academic credit.
SEC. 103. SCHOOL-BASED LEARNING COMPONENT.
The school-based learning component of a School-to-Work
Opportunities program shall include--
(1) career exploration and counseling, beginning prior to
the 11th grade year of the students, in order to help
students who may be interested to identify, and select or
reconsider, their interests, goals, and career majors;
(2) initial selection by interested students of career
majors not later than the beginning of the 11th grade;
(3) a program of study designed to meet academic standards
established by the State for all students, including, where
applicable, any content standards developed under the Goals
2000: Educate America Act, and to meet the requirements
necessary to prepare students for postsecondary education and
to earn skill certificates; and
(4) regularly scheduled evaluations involving ongoing
consultation and problem solving with students to identify
academic strengths and weaknesses, academic progress,
workplace knowledge, goals, and the need for additional
learning opportunities to master core academic and vocational
skills.
SEC. 104. CONNECTING ACTIVITIES COMPONENT.
The connecting activities component of a School-to-Work
Opportunities program shall include--
(1) matching students with the work-based learning
opportunities of employers;
(2) serving, with respect to each student, as a liaison
among the student and the employer, school, teacher, school
administrator, and parent of the student, and, if
appropriate, other community partners;
(3) providing technical assistance and services to
employers, including small- and medium-sized businesses, and
other parties in--
(A) designing work-based learning components described in
section 102 and counseling and case management services; and
(B) training teachers, workplace mentors, school site
mentors, and counselors;
(4) providing assistance to schools and employers to
integrate school-based and work-based learning and integrate
academic and occupational learning in the program;
(5) encouraging the active participation of employers, in
cooperation with local education officials, in the
implementation of local activities described in section 102,
103, or this section;
(6)(A) providing assistance to participants who have
completed the program in finding an appropriate job,
continuing their education, or entering into an additional
training program; and
(B) linking the participants with other community services
that may be necessary to assure a successful transition from
school to work;
(7) collecting and analyzing information regarding post-
program outcomes of participants in the School-to-Work
Opportunities program, including disadvantaged students,
students with diverse racial, ethnic, or cultural
backgrounds, students with disabilities, students with
limited-English proficiency, students who have dropped out of
school, and academically talented students; and
(8) linking youth development activities under this Act
with employer and industry strategies for upgrading the
skills of their workers.
TITLE II--SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND
IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO STATES
Subtitle A--State Development Grants
SEC. 201. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this subtitle is to assist States in
planning and developing comprehensive, statewide systems for
school-to-work opportunities.
SEC. 202. STATE DEVELOPMENT GRANTS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Award.--On the application of the Governor on behalf of
a State, the Secretaries may award a development grant to the
State in such amount as the Secretaries determine to be
necessary to enable the State to complete development of a
comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system.
(2) Amount.--The amount of a development grant under this
subtitle may not exceed $1,000,000 for any fiscal year.
(3) Completion.--The Secretaries may award such grant to
complete development initiated with funds awarded under the
Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.) or the
Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education
Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.).
(b) Application Contents.--To be eligible to receive a
grant under subsection (a), a State shall submit an
application to the Secretaries that shall--
(1) include a timetable and an estimate of the amount of
funding needed to complete the planning and development
necessary to implement a comprehensive, statewide School-to-
Work Opportunities system, for all students;
(2) describe the manner in which--
(A) the Governor;
(B) the State educational agency;
(C) the State agency officials responsible for job training
and employment;
(D) the State agency officials responsible for economic
development;
(E) the State agency officials responsible for
postsecondary education;
(F) representatives of the private sector; and
(G) other appropriate officials,
will collaborate in the planning and development of the
statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(3) describe the manner in which the State has obtained and
will continue to obtain the active and continued
participation, in the planning and development of the
statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system, of employers
and other interested parties such as locally elected
officials, secondary schools and postsecondary educational
institutions (or related agencies), business associations,
employees, labor organizations or associations of such
organizations, teachers, related services personnel,
students, parents, community-based organizations, clergy,
rehabilitation agencies and organizations, registered
apprenticeship agencies, vocational educational agencies,
vocational student organizations, and human service agencies;
(4) describe the manner in which the State will coordinate
planning activities with any local school-to-work programs,
including programs that have received a grant under title
III, if any;
(5) designate a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds awarded under this subtitle;
(6) include such other information as the Secretaries may
require; and
(7) be submitted at such time and in such manner as the
Secretaries may require.
(c) State Development Activities.--Funds awarded under this
section shall be expended by a State only for activities
undertaken to develop a statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system, which may include--
(1) identifying or establishing an appropriate State
structure to administer the School-to-Work Opportunities
system;
(2) identifying secondary and postsecondary school-to-work
programs that might be incorporated into the State system;
(3) identifying or establishing broad-based partnerships
among employers, labor, education, government, and other
community and parent organizations to participate in the
design, development, and administration of School-to-Work
Opportunities programs;
(4) developing a marketing plan to build consensus and
support for School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(5) promoting the active involvement of business, including
small- and medium-sized businesses, in planning, developing,
and implementing local School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(6) identifying ways that local school-to-work programs
could be coordinated with the statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system;
(7) supporting local planning and development activities to
provide guidance, training, and technical assistance in the
development of School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(8) identifying or establishing mechanisms for providing
training and technical assistance to enhance the development
of a statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(9) initiating pilot programs for testing key components of
the program design of programs under the system;
(10) developing a State process for issuing skill
certificates that is, to the extent feasible, consistent with
the efforts of the National Skill Standards Board and the
skill standards endorsed under the National Skill Standards
Act of 1993;
(11) designing challenging curricula, in cooperation with
representatives of local partnerships, that take into account
the diverse learning needs and abilities of the student
population served by the system;
(12) developing a system for labor market analysis and
strategic planning for local targeting, of industry sectors
or broad occupational clusters, that can provide students
with placements in high-skill workplaces;
(13) analyzing the post-high school employment experiences
of recent high school graduates and students who have dropped
out of school;
(14) preparing the plan described in section 212(b); and
(15) developing a training and technical support system for
teachers, employers, mentors, counselors, related services
personnel, and other parties.
Subtitle B--State Implementation Grants
SEC. 211. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this subtitle is to assist States in the
implementation of comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities systems.
SEC. 212. STATE IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Eligibility.--On the application of the Governor on
behalf of a State, the Secretaries may award, on a
competitive basis, a 5-year implementation grant to the
State.
(2) Application.--To be eligible to receive a grant under
paragraph (1), a State shall submit an application to the
Secretaries that shall--
(A) contain--
(i) a plan for a comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system that meets the requirements of
subsection (b);
(ii) a description of the manner in which the State will
allocate funds made available through such a grant to local
School-to-Work Opportunities partnerships under subsection
(g);
(iii) a request, if the State decides to submit such a
request, for one or more waivers of certain statutory or
regulatory requirements, as provided for under title V;
(iv) a description of the manner in which--
(I) the Governor;
(II) the State educational agency;
(III) the State agency officials responsible for job
training and employment;
(IV) the State agency officials responsible for economic
development;
(V) the State agency officials responsible for
postsecondary education;
(VI) other appropriate officials; and
(VII) the private sector,
collaborated in the development of the application; and
(v) such other information as the Secretaries may require;
and
(B) be submitted at such time and in such manner as the
Secretaries may require.
(b) Contents of State Plan.--A State plan referred to in
subsection (a)(2)(A)(i) shall--
(1) designate the geographical areas, including urban and
rural areas, to be served by partnerships that receive grants
under subsection (g), which shall, to the extent feasible,
reflect local labor market areas;
(2) describe the manner in which the State will stimulate
and support local School-to-Work Opportunities programs that
meet the requirements of this Act, and the manner in which
the statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system will be
expanded over time to cover all geographic areas in the
State;
(3) describe the procedure by which--
(A) the Governor;
(B) the State educational agency;
(C) the State agency officials responsible for job training
and employment;
(D) the State agency officials responsible for economic
development;
(E) the State agency officials responsible for
postsecondary education;
(F) representatives of the private sector; and
(G) other appropriate officials,
will collaborate in the implementation of the statewide
School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(4) describe the manner in which the State has obtained and
will continue to obtain the active and continued involvement,
in the statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system, of
employers and other interested parties such as locally
elected officials, secondary schools and postsecondary
educational institutions (or related agencies), business
associations, employees, labor organizations or associations
of such organizations, teachers, related services personnel,
students, parents, community-based organizations, clergy,
rehabilitation agencies and organizations, registered
apprenticeship agencies, vocational educational agencies,
vocational student organizations, State or regional
cooperative education associations, and human service
agencies;
(5) describe the manner in which the School-to-Work
Opportunities system will coordinate with or integrate local
school-to-work programs, including programs financed from
State and private sources, with funds available from such
related Federal programs as programs under the Adult
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.), the Carl D. Perkins
Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act (20 U.S.C.
2301, et seq.), the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), part F of title IV of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 681 et seq.), the Goals 2000:
Educate America Act, the National Skills Standards Act of
1993, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20
U.S.C. 1400 et seq.), the Job Training Partnership Act (29
U.S.C. 1501 et seq.), the Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly
known as the ``National Apprenticeship Act''; 50 Stat. 664,
chapter 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.); the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.), and the National and Community
Service Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12501 et seq.);
(6) describe the strategy of the State for providing
training for teachers, employers, mentors, counselors,
related services personnel, and other parties;
(7) describe the strategy of the State for incorporating
project-oriented, experiential learning programs which
integrate theory and academic knowledge with hands-on skills
and applications into the school curriculum for all students
in the State;
(8) describe the resources, including private sector
resources, that the State intends to employ in maintaining
the School-to-Work Opportunities system when funds under this
Act are no longer available;
(9) describe the manner in which the State will ensure
effective and meaningful opportunities for all students in
the State to participate in School-to-Work Opportunities
programs;
(10) describe the goals of the State and the methods the
State will use, such as awareness and outreach, to ensure
opportunities for young women to participate in School-to-
Work Opportunities programs in a manner that leads to
employment in high-performance, high-paying jobs, including
nontraditional employment;
(11) describe the manner in which the State will ensure
opportunities for low-achieving students, students with
disabilities, and former students who have dropped out of
school, to participate in School-to-Work Opportunities
programs;
(12) describe the process of the State for assessing the
skills and knowledge required in career majors, and the
process for awarding skill certificates that is consistent
with the efforts of the National Skill Standards Board and
the skill standards endorsed under the National Skill
Standards Act of 1993;
(13) describe the manner in which the State will ensure
that students participating in the programs are provided, to
the greatest extent possible, with flexibility to develop new
career goals over time and to change career majors without
adverse consequences;
(14) describe the manner in which the State will, to the
extent feasible, continue programs funded under section 302
in the statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system;
(15) describe the manner in which local school-to-work
programs, including programs funded under section 302, if
any, will be integrated into the statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system;
(16) describe the performance standards that the State
intends to meet; and
(17) designate a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds awarded under this subtitle.
(c) Review of Applications.--In reviewing each application
submitted under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall submit
the application to a peer review process, determine whether
to approve the plan described in subsection (b), and, if such
determination is affirmative, further determine whether to
take one or more of the following actions:
(1) Award an implementation grant described in subsection
(a) to the State submitting the application.
(2) Approve the request of the State, if any, for a waiver
in accordance with the procedures set forth in title V.
(3) Inform the State of the opportunity to apply for
further development funds under subtitle A, by submitting to
the Secretaries an application that includes a timetable and
an estimate of the amount of funding needed to complete the
planning and development necessary to implement a
comprehensive, statewide School-to-Work Opportunities system,
except that further development funds may not be awarded to a
State that receives an implementation grant under subsection
(e).
(d) Review Considerations.--In evaluating an application
submitted under subsection (a), the Secretaries shall--
(1) take into consideration the quality of the application,
including the replicability, sustainability, and innovation
of programs described in the application;
(2) give priority to applications, based on the extent to
which the system described in the application would limit
administrative costs and increase amounts spent on delivery
of services to students enrolled in programs carried out
through the system under this Act; and
(3) give priority to applications that describe the highest
levels of--
(A) concurrence with the plan for the system; and
(B) collaboration in the development and implementation of
the system;
by appropriate State agencies and officials and the private
sector.
(e) Grant Amount and Duration of Grant.--
(1) Amount.--The Secretaries shall establish the minimum
and maximum amounts available for an implementation grant
under subsection (a), and shall determine the actual amount
granted to any State under such subsection, based on such
criteria as the scope and quality of the plan described in
subsection (b) and the number of projected participants in
programs carried out through the system.
(2) Duration.--No State shall be awarded more than one
implementation grant.
(f) State Implementation Activities.--A State shall expend
funds awarded through grants under subsection (a) only for
activities undertaken to implement the School-to-Work
Opportunities system of the State, which may include--
(1) recruiting and providing assistance to employers to
provide work-based learning for all students;
(2) conducting outreach activities to promote and support
collaboration, in School-to-Work Opportunities programs, by
businesses, labor organizations, and other organizations;
(3) providing training for teachers, employers, workplace
mentors, school site mentors, counselors, related services
personnel, and other parties;
(4) providing labor market information to local
partnerships that is useful in determining which high-skill,
high-wage occupations are in demand;
(5) designing or adapting model curricula that can be used
to integrate academic and occupational learning, school-based
and work-based learning, and secondary and postsecondary
education, for all students in the State;
(6) designing or adapting model work-based learning
programs and identifying best practices for such programs;
(7) conducting outreach activities and providing technical
assistance to other States that are developing or
implementing School-to-Work Opportunities systems;
(8) reorganizing and streamlining School-to-Work
Opportunities systems in the State to facilitate the
development of a comprehensive statewide School-to-Work
Opportunities system;
(9) identifying ways that existing local school-to-work
programs could be integrated with the statewide School-to-
Work Opportunities system;
(10) designing career awareness and exploration activities,
which may begin as early as the elementary grades, such as
job shadowing, job site visits, school visits by individuals
in various occupations, and mentoring;
(11) designing and implementing school-sponsored work
experiences, such as school-sponsored enterprises and
community development projects; and
(12) providing career exploration and awareness services,
counseling and mentoring services, college awareness and
preparation services, and other services to prepare students
for the transition from school to work.
(g) Allocation of Funds to Partnerships.--A State that
receives a grant under subsection (a) shall award grants,
according to criteria established by the State, to
partnerships to carry out local School-to-Work Opportunities
programs. In awarding such grants, the State shall use not
less than 65 percent of the sums awarded to the State under
subsection (a) in the first year in which the State awards
such grants, 75 percent of such sums in the second such year,
and 85 percent of such sums in each such year thereafter.
(h) State Subgrants to Partnerships.--
(1) Application.--A partnership that seeks a grant to carry
out a local School-to-Work Opportunities program, including a
program initiated under section 302, shall submit an
application to the State that--
(A) describes how the program would include the program
components described in sections 102, 103, and 104 and
otherwise meet the requirements of this Act;
(B) sets forth measurable program goals and outcomes;
(C) describes the local strategies and timetables of the
partnership to provide School-to-Work Opportunities program
opportunities for all students in the area served;
(D) describes the process that will be used to ensure
employer involvement in the development and implementation of
the School-to-Work Opportunities program;
(E) provides such other information as the State may
require; and
(F) is submitted at such time and in such manner as the
State may require.
(2) Allowable activities.--A partnership shall expend funds
awarded through grants under this subsection only for
activities undertaken to carry out local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs, and such activities may include, for
each such program--
(A) recruiting and providing assistance to employers,
including small- and medium-size businesses, to provide the
work-based learning components described in section 102 in
the School-to-Work Opportunities program;
(B) establishing consortia of employers to support the
School-to-Work Opportunities program and provide access to
jobs related to the career majors of students;
(C) supporting or establishing intermediaries (selected
from among the members of the partnership) to perform the
activities described in section 104 and to provide assistance
to students in obtaining jobs and further education and
training;
(D) designing or adapting school curricula that can be used
to integrate academic and occupational learning, school-based
and work-based learning, and secondary and postsecondary
education for all students in the area served;
(E) providing training to work-based and school-based staff
on new curricula, student assessments, student guidance, and
feedback to the school regarding student performance;
(F) establishing, in schools participating in the School-
to-Work Opportunities program, a graduation assistance
program to assist at-risk students, low-achieving students,
and students with disabilities, in graduating from high
school, enrolling in postsecondary education or training, and
finding or advancing in jobs;
(G) conducting or obtaining an indepth analysis of the
local labor market and the generic and specific skill needs
of employers to identify high-demand, high-wage careers to
target;
(H) integrating work-based and school-based learning into
existing job training programs for youth who have dropped out
of school;
(I) establishing or expanding school-to-apprenticeship
programs in cooperation with registered apprenticeship
agencies and apprenticeship sponsors;
(J) assisting participating employers, including small- and
medium-size businesses, to identify and train workplace
mentors and to develop work-based learning components;
(K) designing local strategies to provide adequate planning
time and staff development activities for teachers, school
counselors, related services personnel, and school site
mentors;
(L) enhancing linkages between--
(i) after-school, weekend, and summer jobs; and
(ii) opportunities for career exploration and school-based
learning; and
(M) providing career exploration and awareness services,
counseling and mentoring services, college awareness and
preparation services, and other services to prepare students
for the transition from school to work.
SEC. 213. LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.
(a) State System.--A State that receives an implementation
grant under section 212 may not use more than 15 percent of
the amounts received through the grant for any fiscal year
for administrative costs associated with implementing the
School-to-Work Opportunities system of the State for such
fiscal year.
(b) Local Program.--A partnership that receives a grant
under section 212 may not use more than 15 percent of the
amounts received through the grant for any fiscal year for
administrative costs associated with carrying out the School-
to-Work Opportunities programs of the partnership for such
fiscal year.
TITLE III--FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS
SEC. 301. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this title are--
(1) to authorize the Secretaries to award competitive
grants to partnerships in States that have not received, or
have only recently received, implementation grants under
section 212(a), in order to provide funding for communities
that have established a sound planning and development base
for School-to-Work Opportunities programs and are ready to
begin implementing a local School-to-Work Opportunities
program; and
(2) to authorize the Secretaries to award competitive
grants to implement School-to-Work Opportunities programs in
high poverty areas of urban and rural communities to provide
support for a comprehensive range of education, training, and
support services for youth residing in designated high
poverty areas.
SEC. 302. FEDERAL IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS TO PARTNERSHIPS.
(a) In General.--The Secretaries may award Federal
implementation grants, in accordance with competitive
criteria established by the Secretaries, to partnerships in
States that have not received an implementation grant under
section 212, or are carrying out activities for an initial
year of an initial grant under such section, in order to
enable the partnerships to begin implementing local School-
to-Work Opportunities programs. A partnership may not receive
funds under this section for any fiscal year subsequent to
such initial fiscal year.
(b) Application Procedure.--A partnership that desires to
receive or extend a Federal implementation grant under this
section shall submit an application to the Secretaries at
such time and in such manner as the Secretaries may require.
The partnership shall submit the application to the State for
review and comment before submitting the application to the
Secretaries. The Secretaries shall submit the application to
a peer review process.
(c) Application Contents.--The application described in
subsection (b) shall include a plan for local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs that--
(1) describes the manner in which the partnership will meet
the requirements of this Act;
(2) includes the comments of the State on the plan, if any;
(3) contains information that is consistent with the
information required to be submitted as part of a State plan
in accordance with paragraphs (4) through (10) of section
212(b);
(4) designates a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds under this section; and
(5) provides such other information as the Secretaries may
require.
(d) Conformity With Approved Plan.--The Secretaries shall
not award a grant under this section to a partnership in a
State that has an approved plan unless the Secretaries
determine, after consultation with the State, that the plan
submitted by the partnership is in accordance with the
approved plan.
(e) Implementation Activities.--A partnership shall expend
funds awarded under this section only for activities
undertaken to implement School-to-Work Opportunities
programs, which may include the activities specified in
section 212(f).
SEC. 303. SCHOOL-TO-WORK OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM GRANTS IN HIGH
POVERTY AREAS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Award of grants.--From the funds reserved under section
507(b), the Secretaries are authorized to award grants, in
accordance with competitive criteria established by the
Secretaries, to partnerships to implement School-to-Work
Opportunities programs that include the program components
described in sections 102, 103, and 104 and otherwise meet
the requirements of title I, in high poverty areas.
(2) Definition.--For purposes of this subsection, the term
``high poverty area'' means an urban census tract, the block
number area in a nonmetropolitan county, or an Indian
reservation (as defined in section 403(9) of the Indian Child
Protection and Family Violence Prevention Act (25 U.S.C.
3202(9)), with a poverty rate of 20 percent or more among
youth aged 5 to 17, inclusive, as determined by the Bureau of
the Census.
(b) Application Procedure.--A partnership that desires to
receive a grant under this section, in addition to any funds
received under section 212 or 302, shall submit an
application to the Secretaries at such time and in such
manner as the Secretaries may require. The partnership shall
submit the application to the State for review and comment
before submitting the application to the Secretaries. The
Secretaries shall submit the application to a peer review
process.
(c) Application Contents.--The application described in
subsection (b) shall include a plan for local School-to-Work
Opportunities programs that--
(1) describes the manner in which the partnership will meet
the requirements of this Act;
(2) includes the comments of the State on the plan, if any;
(3) contains information that is consistent with the
information required to be submitted as part of a State plan
in accordance with paragraphs (4) through (10) of section
212(b);
(4) designates a fiscal agent to receive and be accountable
for funds under this section; and
(5) provides such other information as the Secretaries may
require.
(d) Conformity With Approved Plan.--The Secretaries shall
not award a grant under this section to a partnership in a
State that has an approved plan unless the Secretaries
determine, after consultation with the State, that the plan
submitted by the partnership is in accordance with the
approved plan.
(e) Implementation Activities.--A partnership shall expend
funds awarded under this section only for activities
undertaken to implement School-to-Work Opportunities
programs, including the activities specified in section
212(h)(2).
(f) Use of Funds.--Funds awarded under this section may be
awarded in combination with funds awarded under the Youth
Fair Chance Program set forth in part H of title IV of the
Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1782 et seq.).
TITLE IV--NATIONAL PROGRAMS
SEC. 401. RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION, AND OTHER PROJECTS.
(a) In General.--With funds reserved under section 507(c),
the Secretaries shall conduct research and development
projects and establish a program of experimental and
demonstration projects, to further the purposes of this Act.
(b) Additional Use of Funds.--Funds reserved under section
507(c) may be used for programs or services authorized under
any other provision of this Act that are most appropriately
administered at the national level and that will operate in,
or benefit, more than one State.
SEC. 402. PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES AND EVALUATION.
(a) In General.--Using funds reserved under section 507(c),
the Secretaries, in collaboration with the States, shall
establish a system of performance measures for assessing
State and local School-to-Work Opportunities programs
regarding--
(1) progress in the development and implementation of State
plans described in section 212(b) with respect to programs
that include the program components described in sections
102, 103, and 104 and otherwise meet the requirements of
title I;
(2) participation in School-to-Work Opportunities programs
by employers, schools, and students;
(3) progress in developing and implementing strategies for
addressing the needs of all students in the State;
(4) progress in meeting the goals of the State to ensure
opportunities for young women to participate in School-to-
Work Opportunities programs, including participation in
nontraditional employment;
(5) outcomes for students in the programs (including
disadvantaged students, students with diverse racial, ethnic,
or cultural backgrounds, students with disabilities, students
with limited-English proficiency, students who have dropped
out of school, and academically talented students), which
outcomes shall include--
(A) academic learning gains;
(B) progress in staying in school and attaining--
(i) a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as--
(I) a general equivalency diploma; or
(II) an alternative diploma or certificate for students
with disabilities for whom such alternative diploma or
certificate is appropriate;
(ii) a skill certificate; and
(iii) a postsecondary degree;
(C) attainment of strong experience in and understanding of
all aspects of the industry the students are preparing to
enter;
(D) placement and retention in further education or
training, particularly in the career major of the student;
and
(E) job placement, retention, and earnings, particularly in
the career major of the student; and
(6) the extent to which the program has met the needs of
employers.
(b) Evaluation.--Using funds reserved under section 507(c),
the Secretaries shall conduct, through grants, contracts, or
other arrangements, a national evaluation of School-to-Work
Opportunities programs funded under this Act that will track
and assess the progress of implementation of State and local
School-to-Work Opportunities programs and their effectiveness
based on measures such as the measures described in
subsection (a).
(c) Reports to the Secretaries.--
(1) In general.--Each State shall prepare and submit to the
Secretaries periodic reports, at such intervals as the
Secretaries may determine, containing information described
in paragraphs (1) through (5) of subsection (a).
(2) Federal programs.--Each State shall prepare and submit
reports to the Secretaries, at such intervals as the
Secretaries may determine, containing information on the
extent to which Federal programs implemented at the State and
local level may be duplicative, outdated, overly restrictive,
or otherwise counterproductive to the development of
comprehensive statewide School-to-Work Opportunities systems.
(d) Report to the Congress.--Using funds reserved under
section 507(c), not later than 24 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall submit a report
to the Congress on School-to-Work Opportunities programs and
shall, at a minimum, include in such report--
(1) information concerning the programs that receive
assistance under this Act;
(2) a summary of the information contained in the State
reports submitted under subsection (c); and
(3) information regarding the findings and actions taken as
a result of any evaluation conducted by the Secretaries.
SEC. 403. TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.
(a) Purpose.--The Secretaries shall work in cooperation
with States, employers and associations of employers,
secondary schools and postsecondary education institutions,
student and teacher organizations, labor organizations, and
community-based organizations, to increase their capacity to
develop and implement effective School-to-Work Opportunities
programs.
(b) Authorized Activities.--Using funds reserved under
section 507(c), the Secretaries shall provide, through
grants, contracts, or other arrangements--
(1) training, technical assistance, and other activities
that will--
(A) enhance the skills, knowledge, and expertise of the
personnel involved in planning and implementing State and
local School-to-Work Opportunities programs; and
(B) improve the quality of services provided to individuals
served under this Act;
(2) assistance to States and partnerships involved in
carrying out School-to-Work Opportunities programs in order
to integrate resources available under this Act with
resources available under other Federal, State, and local
authorities;
(3) assistance to States and such partnerships to recruit
employers to provide the work-based learning component,
described in section 102, of School-to-Work Opportunities
programs; and
(4) assistance to States and such partnerships to design
and implement school-sponsored enterprises.
(c) Peer Review.--The Secretaries may use funds reserved
under section 507(c) for the peer review of State
applications and plans under section 212 and applications
under title III.
(d) Networks and Clearinghouses.--
(1) Establishment.--To carry out their responsibilities
under subsection (b), the Secretaries shall establish,
through grants, contracts, or other arrangements, a
Clearinghouse and Capacity Building Network (hereafter
referred to in this subsection as the ``Clearinghouse'').
(2) Functions.--The Clearinghouse shall--
(A) collect and disseminate information on successful
school-to-work programs, and innovative school-based and
work-based curricula;
(B) collect and disseminate information on research and
evaluation conducted concerning activities carried out
through School-to-Work Opportunities programs;
(C) collect and disseminate information that will assist
States and partnerships in undertaking labor market analysis,
surveys, or other activities related to economic development;
(D) collect and disseminate information on skill
certificates, skill standards, and related assessment
technologies;
(E) collect and disseminate information on methods for
recruiting and building the capacity of employers to provide
work-based learning opportunities;
(F) facilitate communication and the exchange of
information and ideas among States and partnerships carrying
out School-to-Work Opportunities programs; and
(G) carry out such other activities as the Secretaries
determine to be appropriate.
(3) Coordination.--The Secretaries shall coordinate the
activities of the Clearinghouse with the activities of other
similar entities to avoid duplication and enhance the sharing
of relevant information.
TITLE V--GENERAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 501. STATE REQUEST AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR A WAIVER OF
STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS.
(a) State Request for Waiver.--A State with an approved
plan may, at any point during the development or
implementation of a School-to-Work Opportunities program,
request a waiver of one or more statutory or regulatory
provisions from the Secretaries in order to carry out the
purposes of this Act, and such requests for waivers shall be
submitted as part of the plan or as amendments to the plan.
(b) Partnership Request for Waiver.--A partnership that
seeks a waiver of any of the provisions specified in sections
502 and 503 shall submit an application for such waiver to
the State, and the State shall determine whether to submit a
request for a waiver to the Secretaries, as provided in
subsection (a).
(c) Waiver Criteria.--Any such request by the State shall
meet the criteria contained in section 502 or 503 and shall
specify the provisions or regulations referred to in such
sections with respect to which the State seeks a waiver.
(d) Support by Appropriate State Agencies.--In requesting
such a waiver, the State shall provide evidence of support
for the waiver request by the State agencies or officials
with jurisdiction over the provisions or regulations that
would be waived.
SEC. 502. WAIVERS OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS BY
THE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION.
(a) In General.--
(1) Waiver.--Except as provided in subsection (c), the
Secretary of Education may waive any requirement of any
provisions specified in subsection (b) or of the regulations
issued under such provisions for a State that requests such a
waiver--
(A) if, and only to the extent that, the Secretary of
Education determines that such requirement impedes the
ability of the State or a partnership to carry out the
purposes of this Act;
(B) if the State waives, or agrees to waive, similar
requirements of State law; and
(C) if the State--
(i) has provided all partnerships that carry out programs
under this Act, and local educational agencies participating
in such a partnership, in the State with notice and an
opportunity to comment on the proposal of the State to seek a
waiver; and
(ii) has submitted the comments of the partnerships and
local educational agencies to the Secretary of Education.
(2) Action.--The Secretary of Education shall act promptly
on any request submitted pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Term.--Each waiver approved pursuant to this subsection
shall be for a period not to exceed 5 years, except that the
Secretary of Education may extend such period if the
Secretary of Education determines that the waiver has been
effective in enabling the State or partnership to carry out
the purposes of this Act.
(b) Included Programs.--The provisions subject to the
waiver authority of this section are--
(1) chapter 1 of title I of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), including the
Even Start programs carried out under part B of such chapter
(20 U.S.C. 2741 et seq.);
(2) part A of chapter 2 of title I of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2921 et seq.);
(3) part A of title II of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 2981 et seq.);
(4) part D of title IV of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3121 et seq.);
(5) title V of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3171 et seq.); and
(6) the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2301 et seq.).
(c) Waivers Not Authorized.--The Secretary of Education may
not waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of the
provisions specified in subsection (b) relating to--
(1) the basic purposes or goals of the affected programs
under such provisions;
(2) maintenance of effort;
(3) comparability of services;
(4) the equitable participation of students attending
private schools;
(5) student and parental participation and involvement;
(6) the distribution of funds to State or to local
educational agencies;
(7) the eligibility of an individual for participation in
the affected programs;
(8) public health or safety, labor, civil rights,
occupational safety and health, or environmental protection;
or
(9) prohibitions or restrictions relating to the
construction of buildings or facilities.
(d) Termination of Waivers.--The Secretary of Education
shall periodically review the performance of any State or
partnership for which the Secretary of Education has granted
a waiver under this section and shall terminate the waiver
under this section if the Secretary determines that the
performance of the State, partnership, or local educational
agency affected by the waiver has been inadequate to justify
a continuation of the waiver, or the State fails to waive
similar requirements of State law as required or agreed to in
accordance with subsection (a)(1)(B).
SEC. 503. WAIVERS OF STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS BY
THE SECRETARY OF LABOR.
(a) In General.--
(1) Waiver.--Except as provided in subsection (c), the
Secretary of Labor may waive any requirement of the Act, or
any provisions of the Act, specified in subsection (b) or of
the regulations issued under such Act or provisions for a
State that requests such a waiver--
(A) if, and only to the extent that, the Secretary of Labor
determines that such requirement impedes the ability of the
State or a partnership to carry out the purposes of this Act;
(B) if the State waives, or agrees to waive, similar
requirements of State law; and
(C) if the State--
(i) has provided all partnerships that carry out programs
under this Act in the State with notice and an opportunity to
comment on the proposal of the State to seek a waiver; and
(ii) has submitted the comments of the partnerships to the
Secretary of Labor.
(2) Action.--The Secretary of Labor shall act promptly on
any request submitted pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) Term.--Each waiver approved pursuant to this subsection
shall be for a period not to exceed 5 years, except that the
Secretary of Labor may extend such period if the Secretary of
Labor determines that the waiver has been effective in
enabling the State or partnership to carry out the purposes
of this Act.
(b) Included Programs.--The Act subject to the waiver
authority of this section is the Job Training Partnership Act
(29 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.).
(c) Waivers Not Authorized.--The Secretary of Labor may not
waive any statutory or regulatory requirement of the Act, or
any provision of the Act, specified in subsection (b)
relating to--
(1) the basic purposes or goals of the affected programs
under such provisions;
(2) maintenance of effort;
(3) the allocation of funds under the affected programs;
(4) the eligibility of an individual for participation in
the affected programs;
(5) public health or safety, labor, civil rights,
occupational safety and health, or environmental protection;
or
(6) prohibitions or restrictions relating to the
construction of buildings or facilities.
(d) Termination of Waivers.--The Secretary of Labor shall
periodically review the performance of any State or
partnership for which the Secretary of Labor has granted a
waiver under this section and shall terminate the waiver
under this section if the Secretary determines that the
performance of the State or partnership affected by the
waiver has been inadequate to justify a continuation of the
waiver, or the State fails to waive similar requirements of
State law as required or agreed to in accordance with
subsection (a)(1)(B).
SEC. 504. COMBINATION OF FEDERAL FUNDS FOR HIGH POVERTY
SCHOOLS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
(A) to integrate activities under this Act with school-to-
work transition activities carried out under other programs;
and
(B) to maximize the effective use of resources.
(2) Combination of funds.--To carry out such purposes, a
local partnership that receives assistance under title II or
III may carry out schoolwide school-to-work activities in
schools that meet the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and
(B) of section 263(g)(1) of the Job Training Partnership Act
(29 U.S.C. 1643(g)(1)(A) and (B)) with funds obtained by
combining--
(A) Federal funds under this Act; and
(B) other Federal funds made available from among programs
under--
(i) the provisions of law listed in paragraphs (2) through
(6) of section 502(b); and
(ii) the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et
seq.); and
(b) Use of Funds.--A local partnership may use the Federal
funds combined under subsection (a) under the requirements of
this Act, except that the provisions relating to the matters
specified in paragraphs (1) through (6) and paragraphs (8)
and (9) of section 502(c), and paragraph (1) and paragraphs
(3) through (6) of section 503(c), that relate to the program
through which the funds described in subsection (a)(2)(B)
were made available, shall remain in effect with respect to
the use of such funds.
(c) Additional Information in Application.--A local
partnership seeking to combine funds under subsection (a)
shall include in the application of the partnership under
title II or III--
(1) a description of the funds the partnership proposes to
combine under the requirements of this Act;
(2) the activities to be carried out with such funds;
(3) the specific outcomes expected of participants in
schoolwide school-to-work activities; and
(4) such other information as the State, or Secretaries, as
the case may be, may require.
(d) Dissemination of Information.--The local partnership
shall, to the extent feasible, provide information on the
proposed combination of Federal funds under subsection (a) to
parents, students, educators, advocacy and civil rights
organizations, and the public.
SEC. 505. REQUIREMENTS.
The following requirements shall apply to School-to-Work
Opportunities programs under this Act:
(1) No student participating in such a program shall
displace any currently employed worker (including a partial
displacement, such as a reduction in the hours of nonovertime
work, wages, or employment benefits).
(2) No School-to-Work Opportunities program shall impair
existing contracts for services or collective bargaining
agreements, and no program under this Act that would be
inconsistent with the terms of a collective bargaining
agreement shall be undertaken without the written concurrence
of the labor organization and employer concerned.
(3) No student shall be employed or fill a position--
(A) when any other individual is on temporary layoff from
the participating employer, with the clear possibility of
recall, from the same or any substantially equivalent job; or
(B) when the employer has terminated the employment of any
regular employee or otherwise reduced the work force of the
employer with the intention of filling the vacancy so created
with a student.
(4) Students participating in such programs shall be
provided with adequate and safe equipment and safe and
healthful workplaces in conformity with all health and safety
standards of Federal, State, and local law.
(5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to modify or
affect any Federal or State law prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of race, religion, color, ethnicity, national
origin, gender, age, or disability.
(6) Funds appropriated under authority of this Act shall
not be expended for wages of students participating in such
programs.
(7) The Secretaries shall establish such other requirements
as the Secretaries may determine to be appropriate, in order
to ensure that participants in such programs are afforded
adequate supervision by skilled adult workers, or to
otherwise further the purposes of this Act.
SEC. 506. SANCTIONS.
(a) In General.--The Secretaries may terminate or suspend
financial assistance, in whole or in part, to a recipient or
refuse to extend a grant for a recipient, if the Secretaries
determine that the recipient has failed to meet the
requirements of this Act, including requirements under
section 402(c), or any regulations under this Act, or any
approved plan submitted pursuant to this Act. The Secretaries
shall provide to the recipient prompt notice of such
termination, suspension, or refusal to extend a grant and the
opportunity for a hearing within 30 days after such notice.
(b) Nondelegation.--The Secretaries shall not delegate any
of the functions or authority specified in this section,
other than to an officer whose appointment is required to be
made by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
SEC. 507. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) Authorization.--There are authorized to be appropriated
to the Secretaries $300,000,000 for fiscal year 1995, and
such sums as may be necessary for each of the 7 succeeding
fiscal years to carry out this Act.
(b) High Poverty Areas.--Of the amounts appropriated under
subsection (a) for a fiscal year, the Secretaries may reserve
not more than 10 percent of such amounts for the fiscal year
to carry out section 303, which reserved funds may be used in
conjunction with funds available under the Youth Fair Chance
Program set forth in part H of title IV of the Job Training
Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1782 et seq.).
(c) National Programs.--Of the amounts appropriated under
subsection (a) for a fiscal year, the Secretaries may reserve
not more than 10 percent of such amounts for the fiscal year
to carry out title IV.
(d) Territories.--
(1) In general.--Of the amounts appropriated for a fiscal
year under subsection (a), the Secretaries may reserve up to
\1/4\ of 1 percent to make Federal implementation grants to
territories under section 212 on the same basis as the
Secretaries make grants to States under such section. The
territories shall use funds made available through such
grants to implement School-to-Work Opportunities programs in
accordance with the requirements applicable to States under
subtitle B of title II.
(2) Definition.--As used in this subsection, the term
``territory'' means the United States Virgin Islands, Guam,
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American
Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic
of the Marshall Islands, and includes the Republic of Palau
(until the Compact of Free Association is ratified).
(e) Native American Programs.--
(1) Reservation.--The Secretaries may reserve up to \1/4\
of 1 percent of the funds appropriated for any fiscal year
under subsection (a) to make Federal implementation grants to
appropriate entities under section 212 on the same basis as
the Secretaries make grants to States under such section. The
territories shall use funds made available through such
grants to implement School-to-Work Opportunities programs,
for students who are Indians (as defined in section 1(1) of
the Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act of
1978 (25 U.S.C. 1801(1)), that involve Bureau funded schools,
as defined in section 1139(3) of the Education Amendments of
1978 (25 U.S.C. 2019(3)), in accordance with the requirements
applicable to States under subtitle B of title II.
(2) Implementation.--The Secretaries may carry out this
subsection through such means as the Secretaries determine to
be appropriate, including--
(A) the transfer of funds to the Secretary of the Interior;
and
(B) the provision of financial assistance to tribes and
Indian organizations, as defined in paragraphs (13) and (7),
respectively, of section 1139 of such Act.
(f) Availability of Funds.--Funds obligated for any fiscal
year for programs authorized under this Act shall remain
available until expended.
SEC. 508. ACCEPTANCE OF GIFTS, AND OTHER MATTERS.
The Secretaries are authorized, in carrying out this Act,
to accept, purchase, or lease in the name of the Department
of Labor or the Department of Education, and employ or
dispose of in furtherance of the purposes of this Act, any
money or property, real, personal, or mixed, tangible or
intangible, received by gift, devise, bequest, or otherwise,
and to accept voluntary and uncompensated services
notwithstanding the provisions of section 1342 of title 31,
United States Code.
SEC. 509. STATE AUTHORITY.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to supersede the
legal authority, under State law or other applicable law, of
any State agency or State public official over programs that
are under the jurisdiction of the agency or official.
SEC. 510. CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to establish a right
for any person to bring an action to obtain services under
this Act.
TITLE VI--OTHER PROGRAMS
SEC. 601. TECH-PREP EDUCATION.
(a) Contents of Program.--Paragraph (2) of section 344(b)
of the Tech-Prep Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2394b(b)(2)) is
amended by inserting ``or 4 years'' before ``of secondary
school''.
(b) Special Consideration; Priority.--Section 345 of the
Tech-Prep Education Act (20 U.S.C. 2394c) is amended--
(1) in subsection (d)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and (3) as paragraphs
(3) and (4), respectively; and
(B) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new
paragraph:
``(2) are developed in consultation with institutions of
higher education that award baccalaureate degrees;'';
(2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections
(f) and (g), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new
subsection:
``(e) Priority.--The Secretary or the State board, as
appropriate, shall give highest priority to applications that
provide for effective employment placement activities or
transfer of students to 4-year baccalaureate degree
programs.''.
TITLE VII--TECHNICAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 701. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Act shall take effect on the date of enactment of this
Act.
SEC. 702. SUNSET.
The authority provided by this Act shall terminate on
October 1 of the ninth calendar year after the date of
enactment of this Act.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the modifications--so the membership has
an understanding--deal with the new section 504 that allow local
partnerships to consolidate their Federal funds from programs listed in
the waiver section of the act, except more in chapter 1, for schoolwide
activities for schools in high-poverty areas.
We followed a similar procedure in our Goals 2000 legislation.
Language that required States to provide, in their grant
applications, evidence that relevant State agencies and the private
sector support and agree with State development and implementation
grant proposals was removed. Instead, the ``review considerations''
language was strengthened to require that Secretaries give priority to
applications that show the highest level of collaboration in the
development and implementation of the State plan and the highest levels
of concurrence with the proposed plans by appropriate State agencies
and the private sector. We will have an opportunity to elaborate on
that during the course of the debate.
Then the partnerships applying for the State subgrants must show how
they intend to get the employers involved in the development and
implementation of the school-to-work programs.
Those are basically the changes.
There is a modification also by Senator Gregg with regard to allowing
clergy to participate in the development of the process when States
determine what geographical areas will be served by the school-to-work
programs. We will have a further opportunity, and I know the Senator
from Illinois will expand on those proposals.
First of all, Mr. President, I again thank my friend and colleague
from Illinois, Senator Simon, who has really been the leader in the
development of this legislation, and for his strong and continuing
commitment in this area.
I always enjoy working with the Senator on legislation, particularly
this kind of legislation that will impact most dramatically, I believe,
the sons and daughters of working families.
I enjoyed very much the opportunity to visit a school program in
Chicago with him in the not too distant past. I have seen, in a very
important and practical way, how this legislation can open up
opportunities for young teenagers. We will have a chance to elaborate.
I want to tell him I received wonderful letters from all of those
students thanking us for the visit. We will get back to talking about
that program, I expect, during the course of the debate.
Mr. President, we are under tight time considerations so I want to
make sure we understand where we are. How much time is there? There is
a time agreement.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is 1 hour equally divided.
Mr. KENNEDY. Then there is opportunity to debate various amendments
to the committee substitute, is that correct?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. That is correct. Most amendments do
not have a time agreement.
Mr. KENNEDY. I will yield myself 10 minutes, Mr. President.
Mr. President, it is appropriate that we are taking up the School-to-
Work Opportunities Act as we complete action on the Goals 2000
legislation, because the two measures closely complement each other.
Together, they form the foundation for far-reaching reform in education
system and in training our work force.
Building a world class work force starts with world class schools and
education. The Goals 2000 Act recognizes that we need to set high
standards for all students and schools, and provide incentives and
opportunities to help them meet those standards.
But the education and training of the work force cannot end at the
schoolhouse door. In the highly competitive global economy in which we
operate, education and training must be viewed as an ongoing process
that continues throughout each worker's working life.
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act addresses a major deficiency in
our current education and training system--the lack of a coherent
system to help students in school prepare for the world of work.
We have the best higher education system in the world. For those who
go on to college, we offer a wealth of opportunity, and a great deal of
financial aid and other support. But we do virtually nothing for the
vast numbers of high school students who do not go on to college--which
is why this group is so aptly referred to as the ``forgotten half.''
High schools link their courses to college requirements. They advise
students on the connection between academic achievement and college
admission. They offer guidance to students in applying to colleges.
But students who are not college-bound get virtually no help in
relating their education to work opportunities. We do not motivate them
to do well. We do not enable them to plan courses of study relevant to
long-term career goals. We do not help them find suitable jobs or
training programs when they leave school. Frequently, they are
tracked--we should really say side-tracked--into watered-down general
curriculum courses. Academic achievement is not expected, and the
system hits them in the face with that stark reality at an early age.
Although the majority of students work during their school years,
there is no real link between their jobs and their studies. As a
result, students who do not go on to college typically spend the first
5 or 6 years after high school moving from one dead-end job to another.
By age 23 or 24, they may have enough work experience to be hired for a
long-term job. But they have little more in the way of skills than they
had when they were 18.
Government spending helps to lock in these gross differentials. We
spend an average of more than $10,000 in taxpayer funds for each
student who attends college, and an average of $15,000 for those who
graduate from a 4-year college. In contrast, the average public
expenditure after high school for noncollege youth is only $1,500--one-
tenth the amount for college graduates.
This disparity has real consequences for students, not just in school
but for the rest of their working lives. Since the late 1970's, the
differential between the wages of the college-educated work force and
the high-school educated work force has risen dramatically, as real
wages for those without a college education have plummeted.
Our legislation addresses this problem by helping States and
localities work together with employers, schools, labor organizations,
parents and community groups to build school-to-work transition systems
at the local level.
Federal seed money will help these partnerships combine academic
programs with supervised work experience and give students the
opportunity to pursue career majors that will prepare them for work in
particular occupations or industries.
School-to-work programs developed under this legislation will
emphasize work-based learning in the form of job training and paid work
experience to provide students with job skills. They will also include
career exploration, career counseling, and a program of study based on
the academic and job skill standards under the Goals 2000 Act.
Typical programs will involve at least 1 year of postsecondary
education, will lead to a high school diploma, a certificate or diploma
from a postsecondary institution, and an occupational skill certificate
certifying mastery of specific occupational skills. Secretary Reich and
Secretary Riley deserve great credit for their leadership in developing
this initiative. I also commend Senator Simon for the excellent job he
has done in moving the legislation through the committee process.
Based on hearings and the very helpful comments we have received from
a wide variety of individuals and groups who share the administration's
commitment to improving the skills of our work force, we have made
improvements in the bill as it has moved through the committee process
and to the Senate floor. But these changes do not alter the basic
design of the bill as proposed by the administration nor its essential
elements.
For the most part, these amendments are intended to clarify the goals
the legislation seeks to achieve and to provide greater guidance to
States and localities seeking grants as to the kinds of programs we are
seeking to create at the State and local level.
This legislation involves broad support from the business leaders,
education experts, State and local government officials, labor unions
and community-based organizations. I congratulate all those who have
had a hand in fashioning the bill. I look forward to its enactment into
law. We are very grateful for the excellent suggestions that we have
had from members of our committee on a bipartisan basis during the
consideration of the legislation and also in the markup.
We had the extraordinary occasion of the Secretary of Labor and the
Secretary of Education commenting and interrelating both the Goals 2000
and the School-to-Work Program so that we could have a common approach
in terms of enhancing academic achievement and also providing skills
for young people to move into more constructive and productive lives.
We have had the support of the Chamber of Commerce, the National
Association of Manufacturers, and a number of the other groups, which
we will include in the Record.
There is a continuum of effort by the Members of the Senate and the
House, as well as the administration, in focusing on putting people--in
this case the young people--first, with the expansion of the Head Start
Program, with the reaching out, going down to the youngest of ages,
actually even to the prenatal care. We are talking about enhancing the
quality of those programs. We are talking about the Goals 2000. We are
talking about the School-to-Work Program. We are talking about the
involvement of national service programs. We are talking about direct
loan programs that will help provide some savings to our young people,
and we are talking about the tuition pay-back programs that will make
it easier for our young people as well.
We are talking about the introduction of help and assistance, in
terms of technology, into the classrooms so that the young people will
be technology-current in terms of the progress that is being made in
those areas.
We are very, very grateful to all of those people for their
cooperation and for their help. It is entirely appropriate that both
the Goals 2000 and the School-to-Work Program are working really side
by side, as hopefully we will be taking action on both measures in the
next couple of days.
I withhold whatever remainder of the 10 minutes I have and yield to
the Senator from Illinois for whatever comments he may make.
Mr. SIMON addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I yield myself 10 minutes.
I am pleased to be part of the school-to-work opportunities proposal.
I want to commend Senator Kennedy for his leadership. Senator Kassebaum
at this point is not supporting it but she has been great in the
education matters generally. I appreciate that. Senator Wofford has
been absolutely superb in this whole field. He has shown leadership in
Pennsylvania on this, and I really appreciate his interest. Senators
Jeffords and Hatfield and Durenberger all are cosponsors, and they have
been superb.
This is just one piece of the education puzzle, as Senator Kennedy
pointed out a number of things. But this is part of it. We talk about
higher education and that is clearly part of what we have to do. This
is higher education spelled a little differently. This is h-i-r-e, hire
education, where you learn as you work. We have done this in some
schools.
As Senator Kennedy mentioned, he visited a high school along with me
in Chicago where we saw a program. I visited a suburban Milwaukee high
school where they had a program in a graphics plant. At the college
level, Northeastern University in Massachusetts has done a great deal
of work. Berea College in Kentucky and Blackburn College in Illinois
have done this. We have to invest in our young people. The countries
that are moving ahead are investing in education. That is one of the
clear lessons as you look at the whole economic picture.
This calls for partnerships between schools, between educators,
between labor unions, everyone working together. Educators tell me, if
you can get a student interested in one subject, that person will stay
in school. We have had testimony from young people about how they had a
chance for a job and all of a sudden those courses in math or English
made so much more sense to them.
This does not, incidentally, create a new Federal program. Senator
Kennedy mentioned the cooperation of the Secretaries of Labor and
Education on this. They are determined that shall not take place, and
there is cooperation. I do not recall ever being visited by two Cabinet
members in my office at the same time on any subject. Both of them came
in on this subject.
We say that this has to be established from the ground up, building
on State and local successes. We provide flexibility in this. We call
for partnership between business, education and labor. This is not
another track for those who are going to college, but it does meet the
needs of many who will not go to college. Seventy-five percent of those
who go to high school are not going to be getting bachelors degrees,
and yet we invest a disproportionate amount of our resources in the 25
percent. I am not suggesting that we should not invest in 25 percent,
but we also have to be thinking about the 75 percent. This is something
that can be available for all young people. In fact, some who are going
on to college now have been part of this kind of a program.
We also have language in this to make sure there is no displacement
so we are not going to move a high school student in to take someone
else's job.
The bill establishes four types of start-up grants: Development
grants for all States to plan and create what is here; 5-year
implementation grants to get things started; direct grants can be made
to localities that are ready to move right away. And we encourage--we
do not have a set aside specifically for poverty areas--but we
encourage the use of some of the funds in the poverty areas.
The three things that the program has to include is a work-based
learning experience--it cannot just be something where you are not
learning--a school-based component so we mesh the two, and a connecting
activities component.
Originally, the bill required that we have pay for work, and it is
interesting that both the labor unions and the business side suggested
this was desirable. We worked out, with Senator Thurmond, an amendment,
because there has been some resistance to this, where paid work gets a
priority.
Real candidly, I think the experience is overwhelming that when you
are paid, both the student and the employer pay more attention to the
responsibility. And so this is a practical compromise which we have
worked out.
We have also worked with Senator Tom Harkin, who has shown such
leadership in the area of disabilities, to make sure that young people
with disabilities have an opportunity.
I cannot remember the last time I had a bill that was endorsed by the
Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers Association, the labor unions,
the Business Round Table, the National Association of Business, Service
Employees International Union, the National Education Association,
American Vocational Education Association, U.S. Conference of Mayors,
and on and on--National Governors, Urban League, Wider Opportunities
For Women, Council on Competitiveness. I am usually in the Chamber
supporting Senator Kennedy on some controversial measure he has. I seem
to be attracted like flies to certain things, to controversial things.
All of a sudden, I have something here that is relatively
noncontroversial. It is a pleasant experience for a change, I have to
say.
We call for demonstration projects. This, frankly, is an opportunity
for the United States to develop its work force. Secretary Reich has
said very eloquently if you are prepared, technology is your friend. If
you are not prepared, technology is your enemy. We have too many people
who are not prepared. This is a way of moving us forward. This is
again, as I said, one piece of the puzzle. There are no quick fixes in
the area of education any more than there are in crime or any other
range of problems. But this is something that is significant.
I ask unanimous consent, Mr. President, to put into the Record an op-
ed piece in the Washington Post by the chairman of the board of Circuit
City stores. Let me just read one paragraph from that op-ed piece.
Two years ago, I served on the Commission on the Skills of
the American Workforce. The Commission concluded that without
an effective system for moving young people from school to
work, American businesses' need for work-ready, skilled
employees soon would far surpass the number available. At the
time, the Commission called for immediate action.
There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Post, Dec. 7, 1993]
Getting From School to Work
(By Alan L. Wurtzel)
Half of U.S. high school students never go to college. In
fact, only 25 percent of our youngsters obtain a
baccalaureate degree. These figures should come as no
surprise.
Yet, unlike most other industrialized nations, we Americans
don't have a system to prepare the majority of our young
people to move from high school into skilled, well-paid jobs
that help them realize their potential. As a result, high
school dropouts and even high school graduates tend to drift
from one minimum-wage job to the next, until--in their mid-
twenties--they begin to acquire the training that will enable
them eventually to settle into a trade or vocation.
In Europe, Japan and most other industrialized countries,
students start right in high school to learn skills they need
to be successful in the job market. They work hard to qualify
for prestigious apprenticeship opportunities. They study, on
the job as well as in school settings, the theoretical skills
and knowledge necessary to advance in their fields.
In short, the countries with which we compete for export
markets and jobs have far better organized systems for moving
the non-university-bound student from school to productive
work, without the years of unproductive drift that so many
American youngsters experience.
President Clinton has proposed the School-To-Work
Opportunities Act to spur the development of such systems
throughout the United States. This act would establish a
national framework within which local partnerships would
develop school-to-work programs and make them available to
all students. Such programs would combine classroom learning
with real-world work experience. They would train students in
general job-readiness skills as well as in industrial-
specific occupational skills.
The benefit to young people is clear, and the benefits to
American business should be no less obvious. My company can
provide an example. Circuit City is a large national company
that seldom hires people right out of high school. The
reason: While our schools can successfully groom students for
college, they do not adequately prepare them for the
workplace.
In hiring new employees for our stores, warehouses and
offices, Circuit City is looking for people who are able to
provide very high levels of customer service, who are honest
and who have a positive, enthusiastic, achievement-oriented
work ethic. We also require individuals with strong math,
English and computer skills.
The School-To-Work Opportunities Act would help high
schools and community colleges create programs in cooperation
with business, to develop the academic skills and attitudes
toward work that too many of our youngsters lack today.
The act would establish, through a set of grants and
waivers of certain federal requirements, a national framework
for the development of school-to-work systems to help youth
in all states make the transition from school to the
workplace. States and communities would use federal funds as
venture capital to spark the formation of school-to-work
programs, dedicated to linking the worlds of school and work.
Secondary and post--secondary education institutions, private
and public employers, labor organizations, government,
community groups, parents and students would work together on
the programs.
The act would afford states and localities substantial
discretion in establishing and implementing comprehensive,
statewide school-to-work systems. Business partners would
have a significant input.
Age and experience teach us that life doesn't present
itself in a series of five multiple choices. Our schools must
offer young people more practical knowledge. Students must
learn to read literature and technical manuals, to solve
algebra problems and customer complaints, to operate Bunsen
burners and sophisticated machinery. A comprehensive but
customized system for smoothing the transition from school to
work will increase students' chances of success in life and
industry's pool of productive workers.
Two years ago I served on the Commission on the Skills of
the American Workforce. The commission concluded that without
an effective system for moving young people from school to
work, American businesses' need for work-ready, skilled
employees soon would far surpass the number available. At the
time the commission called for immediate action.
The School-To-Work Opportunities Act has strong bipartisan
support. It will encourage states and communities to build
meaningful connections between the now too-separate worlds of
school and work. Just as schools need to change to meet the
demands of businesses that are competing in a global economy,
our business culture also needs to change to create
incentives for students to stay in school and make smooth and
productive transitions from school to work. The future of our
youth and of our businesses, and ultimately our standard of
living, depends on developing and utilizing the talents of
our non-college-bound young people far more effectively than
we have.
Mr. SIMON. This business leader says this is the kind of legislation
that is needed for the future of our country.
I recognize that there are concerns.
Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield on that point?
Mr. SIMON. I am pleased to yield to my colleague.
Mr. KENNEDY. That commission, as I remember, America's Choice, was
cochaired by Senator Brock, a former colleague, a Republican Senator,
chairman of the Republican Committee, and Ray Marshall, who was
Secretary of Labor under President Carter, and really brought together
a remarkable group of both businessmen and representatives in the trade
union movement. As I remember in those hearings that we held, it was
virtually unanimous in terms of the support for this kind of a project.
Mr. SIMON. I thank my colleague for his observation. Not only was it
a remarkable group, as the Senator points out, where Senator Brock and
former Secretary Marshall were involved, it was a remarkable report,
spelling out where we have to go as a nation. I thought it was a great
contribution. One of the things they called for is precisely the thing
that we have here.
Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of my time.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time?
Mrs. KASSEBAUM addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas is
recognized.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, the chairman, Senator Kennedy, and the
Senator from Illinois [Mr. Simon], who has been for years a strong
advocate of work-related and education issues, have spoken persuasively
about the strong support on both sides of the aisle for the school-to-
work legislation.
I, too, care a great deal about our young people. I think we all
acknowledge today the importance of being prepared for work,
particularly for those students who will not be going on to a 4-year
higher education degree, and we need to enhance the stature of the
professionalism of apprenticeship work. But I would just like for a few
moments to speak about my concerns about this initiative. I would begin
by acknowledging the efforts of the sponsors of this legislation to
address an issue of considerable importance, which is preparing our
young people to succeed in the highly skilled, highly competitive
workplaces of the 21st century.
I do intend to vote against this bill, and my opposition is based on
my conviction that it compounds rather than corrects the deficiencies
of current Federal job training efforts. Just consider the fact that we
already have 154 separate job training programs on the books. By
passing this bill, we will have 155. The Federal Government spends
nearly $25 billion each year on these 154 job training programs,
according to the General Accounting Office. Some of these efforts are
clearly worthwhile. That is not the point. Overall, however, the
present system simply does not work very well. We do not know what
works well and what does not and where we could better coordinate and
mesh these efforts.
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act is a prime example of why our
current Federal job training efforts are so disjointed. Each time
Congress identifies a specific group in need of training, in this case
high school students, it creates a new program with new requirements
and, of course, new funds. Creating new programs because we are
disappointed with the ineffectiveness of the old ones is a time-honored
tradition in Congress. Yielding yet again to this temptation is simply
not the answer.
We have to draw the line somewhere. We should not be debating whether
we need more programs but whether we need fewer, and how to make those
that we have work more efficiently. I have high regard for the fact
that Secretary Reich, the Secretary of Labor, and Secretary Riley, the
Secretary of Education, are working closely together. We have long
believed that this was an important combination, and the two of them
are intent on seeing that it can work to a greater degree than has been
possible in the past.
But the school-to-work bill claims to lay the groundwork for
establishing a comprehensive system. I share the goal of creating a
better integrated system to improve the transition from school to work.
I do not share the view that this bill will necessarily accomplish that
goal. The place to start is with existing programs. Congress has
already enacted a program aimed at the school-to-work transition. The
Tech-Prep Program, for example, was created for this very purpose. For
years, vocational education, through programs like Tech-Prep, youth
apprenticeships, and career academies has been at the forefront of
preparing students for the working world.
I am pleased we are now refocusing our attention on this very
important effort. Vocational education for far too long was kind of
regarded as an outcast which you were involved in if you did not want
to do anything else.
But let us look at the right thing, and that is fixing a patchwork of
job training systems in desperate need of reform. This is why I chose
to vote against S. 1361. It is going to pass. It will pass with
significant support. But I argue that this is a new program, and
supporters of it will say that it is not. Yet, it has all the
characteristics of a new one. It has an 8-year authorization. Eight
years is a long time for an authorization. It has a separate pool of
funds; $300 million for the first year, and then such sums as
necessary, and separate strings of eligibility requirements.
It has been explained to me that the funds authorized in this bill
are supposed to be used as ``glue money'' to bring existing programs
into one system. If that is the case, I simply cannot understand why it
should cost hundreds of millions of dollars to integrate existing
programs. If anything, consolidating programs should save money.
Where precisely is this money going? As far as I can tell, it will
not be going directly to schools or to businesses that participate, or
even to the students themselves. Rather, according to the bill, Federal
funds will be used ``as venture capital to underwrite the initial costs
of planning and establishing a statewide school-to-work opportunities
systems.''
Just as an example--and the Senator from Illinois, Senator Simon,
listed some of these--there will be State development grants, and then
there will be State implementation grants providing funds both for
development and implementation. Then there will be Federal
implementation grants to partnerships, Federal implementation grants,
and opportunities program grants in high poverty areas, and so forth.
Mr. President, Kansas already has--and I am sure many other States,
including Illinois and Massachusetts--businesses that are already
working to a great degree with the school districts to provide a
business-education partnership. They have not needed Federal money to
be involved in that partnership. They have been doing it on their own,
recognizing the importance both to the business community,
particularly, and to educators as well. They have been setting up
partnerships that truly work and are well fitted to the needs of that
particular school district and community and city and/or State.
I think that this bill translates into layers of planning and
development grants to bureaucracies and entities created by this bill.
It is not clear how much money will actually trickle down to the
students that this bill is designed to help. The fact of the matter is
that the specific requirements contained in S. 1361 will lead to the
creation of yet another Federal job-training program, alongside 154
others. The strings attached to the Federal funds will, in my view,
prevent any meaningful integration of programs. For example, to be
eligible for funding, all students must be paid in order to meet the
mandatory paid-work experience. I am pleased to hear that there are
going to be some efforts made to address this concern. I think it still
will not be enough to provide options to those engaged in the program
to choose whether they want the paid-work experience or not.
Under the Tech-Prep Program this is an option, and many choose to be
engaged in this effort without having to meet the minimum wage
requirement.
But as currently drafted, the paid-work provision will prevent
existing programs which have no such requirement from integrating into
the school work system. Across the country, schools and employers are
already designing their own approaches, as I mentioned earlier.
Innovative programs that provide students with valuable work experience
through a variety of means other than a paid-work experience will be
excluded.
The State of California, for example, has engaged employers as
partners in instruction for many years through an educational
consortium known as regional occupational programs. Employers provide
onsite employment training, curriculum development and job placement
all on a purely voluntary basis.
Programs like these will be excluded, as I understand it, from
becoming part of the statewide school-to-work system envisioned by the
bill because they do not pay students.
I would argue, Mr. President, this is more fragmentation, not
integration. More importantly, the paid-work requirement will limit the
ability of businesses to participate in the program even though these
businesses are expected to foot the bill. Many employers, particularly
small businesses, simply cannot afford to offer students paid work and
will be excluded from being a part of the local school-to-work system.
The greatest source of jobs for young people, small businesses, will
remain outside the School-to-Work Program. The irony is that while
businesses must provide paid-work experience, mentoring and instruction
to students, they are given very little opportunity to have a say in
how the program is fashioned.
Without the active participation of the business community, S. 1361
will be of little value in placing students into jobs. After all,
business will be providing the jobs for which we are training our
students. Yes, I am aware that this legislation has been endorsed by
the Chamber of Commerce, and it has been supported by business groups.
I have heard some concerns, however, expressed by those businesses in
my State who wonder why, when they are already participants in an
educational partnership, do we then need to have this additional
legislation.
In sum, Mr. President, rather than creating an overall framework
under which existing programs could be consolidated, the bill creates
yet another stand-alone program. While the bill says the right things
in terms of encouraging coordination of programs, it falls far short of
achieving real reform.
I agree wholeheartedly with the assessment of the National Governors'
Association expressed in a recent letter to the President:
New waiver authority is helpful to a certain extent, but as
a nation we will move very slowly toward the goal of
integrated workforce development systems if each state must
apply separately to each different federal department for
permission to integrate programs.
I believe we should go further and be bolder and rethink the entire
system. Perhaps it is an unrealistic notion. But I believe we should
consider wiping the slate clean and not create any more new job-related
programs until we are certain how we can combine them and make them an
effective and accountable system.
This is what will benefit our young people far more than anything
else. I know that this is the goal of the Secretary of Labor.
Secretary Reich said just last week at a Department of Labor
conference in which both the Secretary and President Clinton spoke:
Where a program works and meets a real need, we will make
it happen. Where a program does not, we will eliminate it.
And where it is broken, we will fix it. Build on what is
working. Get rid of what is not.
I think we all agree about that. But, in the meantime, let us not
just add something else on top of what we already have. We must be
willing to look at things in a new light. We must make a serious
attempt to determine what works and discard what does not. Until then,
we will simply continue to duplicate our efforts and waste our limited
educational resources.
Establishing this new program will only, I argue, serve to complicate
the real job before us--and that is producing a comprehensive and
consolidated system that works for everyone.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I yield the floor.
Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, because we are running into a time
situation, I wonder if the Senator is going to submit an amendment.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Yes.
Mr. KENNEDY. I will make a brief response, and then Senator Simon
will as well.
Mr. President, if I could ask consent that the time that we talk be
charged to the discussion on the Senator's amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is the regular order.
Amendment No. 1424
(Purpose: To allow States to combine certain Federal funds to develop)
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and
ask for its immediate consideration.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Kansas [Mrs. Kassebaum] proposes an
amendment numbered 1424.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading
of the amendment be dispensed with.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
Insert after section 504 the following new section:
SEC. 504A. COMBINATION OF FEDERAL FUNDS BY STATES.
(a) In General.--
(1) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
(A) to integrate activities under this Act with State
school-to-work transition activities carried out under other
programs; and
(B) to maximize the effective use of resources.
(2) Combination of Funds.--To carry out such purposes, a
State that receives assistance under title II may carry out
activities necessary to develop and implement a statewide
School-to-Work Opportunities system with funds obtained by
combining--
(A) Federal funds under this Act; and
(B) other Federal funds made available from among programs
under--
(i) the provisions of law listed in section 502(b);
(ii) the Job Training Partnership Act (29 U.S.C. 1501 et
seq.).
(b) Use of Funds.--A State may use the Federal funds
combined under subsection (a) under the requirements of this
Act, except that the provisions relating to the matters
specified in section 502(c), and section 503(c), that relate
to the program through which the funds described in section
(a)(2)(B) were made available, shall remain in effect with
respect to the use of such funds.
(c) Additional Information in Application.--A State seeking
to combine funds under subsection (a) shall include in the
applicable of the State under title II--
(1) a description of the funds the State proposes to
combine under the requirements of this Act;
(2) the activities to be carried out with such funds;
(3) the specific outcomes expected of participants in
school-to-work activities; and
(4) such other information as the Secretaries may require.
In section 510 in the section heading, strike ``SEC. 510.''
and insert ``SEC. 511.''.
In section 509 in the section heading, strike ``SEC. 509.''
and insert ``SEC. 510.''.
In section 508 in the section heading, strike ``SEC. 508.''
and insert ``SEC. 509.''.
In section 507 in the section heading, strike ``SEC. 507.''
and insert ``SEC. 508.''.
In section 506 in the section heading, strike ``SEC. 506.''
and insert ``SEC. 507.''.
In section 505, in the section heading, strike ''SEC.
505,'' and insert ``SEC. 506.''.
In section 505A, in the section heading, strike ``SEC.
504A.'' and insert ``SEC. 505.''.
In section 303(a)(1), strike ``507(b)'' and insert
``508(b)''.
In section 401(a), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
In section 401(b), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
In section 402(a), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
In section 402(b), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
In section 402(d), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
In section 403(b), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
In section 403(c), strike ``507(c)'' and insert ``508(c)''.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, this amendment will provide the States
with greater flexibility to combine Federal programs into one school-
to-work system. It addresses the concerns I raised in my opening
remarks about the flexibility that the Governors would like to have. It
gives the States the option of integrating existing Federal School-to-
Work Programs without having to apply for separate waivers from each
and every one of the separate rules and laws governing those programs.
A similar amendment was included in the substitute that was submitted
by the chairman, but only related to a small portion of funds in the
bill.
My amendment would cover all of the funds that are authorized. One of
the goals of the School-To-Work Opportunities Act is to bring together
existing programs for young people into one comprehensive statewide
system. I think this is a laudable goal. I believe this amendment would
go even further than the committee substitute that we are considering
in making that flexibility available to all initiatives.
That is the thrust of my amendment, Mr. President.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I yield myself time on the amendment.
Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Kassebaum for focusing
attention on a direction that I think all of us on the committee, as
well as in the administration, are attempting to go; that is, in terms
of the restructuring of the various training programs.
As the Senator understands, we were the ones that initiated that GAO
study because of the concern of the proliferation of various programs
that had taken place and because we did not believe that there was the
kind of overview and oversight of the effectiveness of those programs
that we desired, and which the President and the Secretary have spoken
to. I welcome the fact that she referenced the strong commitment of
both Secretary Reich and the President at the meeting last week on
dislocated workers, about the importance of that particular
consolidation. We are strongly committed to that outcome for the
reasons that I will identify shortly. I think those of us who know the
commitment of the administration find that already the administration,
in its new budget, is making recommendations for the abandonment of
some of the existing programs and some enhancement of those programs
that effectively have been found to be of value.
So that process is moving ahead. I know and respect her position that
we ought to hold back now until we are able to deal with the totality
of various training programs. We have some difference in that area. The
facts remain that any of the young or old people in our society today
that take a training program really do not know about what skills they
are obtaining. And what we have attempted to do with the skills
standards and in the Goals 2000, as well as building on that program,
is to make sure that when a person is able to take that training
program and when they are able to complete it, they achieve some form
of certification which is portable, which means they may be able to
move from Boston to San Francisco or San Francisco to Springfield and
have portable creditable skills, which virtually do not exist today
from what we have seen in the evaluation of various job training
programs. That is an essential aspect for any effective training
program.
Second, one of the important reasons that the business community
supported it is because then the business community knows when they
have an individual that has certification, they know that individual
has certain skills that can be utilized by that employer. That is very
important to them. In too many instances today, they do not know
whether that individual has gone through an effective kind of training
program or not.
Third, the taxpayers will know whether their investment, in terms of
trying to keep people in the job market, rather than paying for the
support programs and the safety net, are effective, and whether that
whole range of different training programs are effective, and they are
actually training individuals to have a useful and productive life and
will be able, through that kind of training, to expand and strengthen
our economy.
Mr. President, this is a very modest program. But what we are
attempting to do is to see--if this approach is effective and works,
clearly it will be a path to be followed as we reshape the other
training programs, which I know the administration would want.
So, Mr. President, I do believe that this is a serious attempt to try
and take those elements of training programs which have been effective,
both in terms of our own experience here in the United States, as well
as those that have been effective in other industrial countries of the
world that have been working in these areas for a long period of time,
and to try and put them into effect. I think what all of us understand
is the change in the condition of our economy. Fifty years ago, if you
were a ship fitter in Quincy, MA, so was your father and your
grandfather. Your daughter or mother never worked. Now if you enter the
job market, you are going to have eight different jobs over the course
of your lifetime. That is entirely different. The training programs
that were developed over a 30- or 40-year period targeted the various
kinds of groups. That has to be altered and changed into a holistic
kind of approach, and I agree with the Senator about that.
We have every reason to believe that this will be a core step in
terms of moving us more effectively into the opportunity of giving so
many of those young people a chance in our society. Forty years ago,
when you graduated from high school, you could have a very useful,
constructive, productive life, and do very well in terms of your income
and in terms of looking out after the hopes and dreams of our children.
Now in the last 10, 12 years, your real income has declined in many
communities--in my State by 20 percent or more; nationwide, about 13,
14, 15 percent. Those are the realities.
It is a changed work force and a changed world economy, and the fact
remains, as the Senator from Illinois has pointed out, without these
kinds of skills, we are really disadvantaging our young people in a
very important way. Education used to be a luxury. Now it is a
necessity. These training programs are absolutely essential in terms of
the young people in this country and older people, as well. I hope that
at the appropriate time this approach, with all due respect, will not
be accepted.
Mr. SIMON. Will the Senator yield 3 minutes?
Mr. KENNEDY. I yield 3 minutes to the Senator from Illinois.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Chair advises the Senator that
there is no time limit on the amendment.
The Senator from Illinois is recognized.
Mr. SIMON. All right. Thank you, Mr. President. Let me respond
briefly to my friend, the Senator from Kansas. I think the Senator from
Massachusetts used the right term. We are going to have to reshape
things. It is easy to get the proliferation of programs, and we have
all been guilty. When we talk about 154, however, which GAO has
reached, that includes Pell grants, guaranteed student loans, and a lot
of things that we would not consider part of this specific kind of
thing.
But my creative staff, in digging out programs, found that the
Senator from Kansas is cosponsoring legislation for the police corps
program to create a new career program there, and one for EPA, and I am
sure your creative staff can find where I am doing something along the
same lines. It becomes easy. That is why the point the Senator makes
that we have to be careful about creating new programs is so valid.
First of all, we are not creating any new Federal entity here. We are
limiting administrative costs to 15 percent. Sixty-five percent of the
money, the first year, has to go to these partnerships. Seventy-five
percent has to go to these partnerships the second year.
We have this GAO report that was sent on January 28 to look at this
proliferation. We are going to have a hearing next month on this whole
question of proliferation.
I would just add one other small experiment, because my thinking is
the same as the Senator from Kansas on this. There is a small
experiment that is taking place. I have an amendment on a bill dealing
with Indian reservations that permits a waiver on all Indian
reservations starting last October 1 where, despite all other laws and
regulations, they can waive everything and consolidate all programs on
the Indian reservations.
It is a demonstration project, if you will. It is, at least at this
point, causing some discussion on Indian reservations, and maybe we can
learn something there in addition to being able to do a more effective
job there.
But the point that the Senator from Kansas makes is a valid point. I
do not think it applies with validity to this legislation, and it will
not surprise her that I disagree with the validity of that as applied
to this legislation.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, if I may just ask the Senator from
Illinois a couple of questions.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Does the Senator yield?
Mr. SIMON. I would be pleased to yield.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. All three of us have been saying similar things about
the need to integrate programs and the importance of these efforts, of
course, to our youth today. They will have to be far better prepared in
many ways than in the past before entering the work force.
But I say again that this is an opportunity to really do something a
bit different. We just did Tech-Prep, and I was very supportive of
that, on the Carl Perkins reauthorization 2 years ago. This is the same
type of initiative. There is really no difference between the Tech-Prep
program and this.
So, again, while I think we all have the same goals, the tune is a
little bit different. I am just saying that we should take this
opportunity--seize the moment--and not add another job training program
to the list. Because this is a new program; it is a new authorization,
and it is a new appropriated account. As long as we are speaking on my
amendment and, I assume, because of the Senator's efforts to provide
waivers for Indian reservations, would the Senator then be supportive
of my amendment that would grant a full waiver to the States on the
school-to-work bill?
Mr. SIMON. The answer is I may be. We are checking out the Senator's
amendment with the Departments of Labor and Education to get their
reaction.
I have not had a chance to read the amendment yet. I do not know if
my colleague from Massachusetts has or not. But the answer is we may be
supporting it. We want to look at it.
The point that the Senator from Kansas makes about Tech-Prep, there
is no question there are a number of programs where there can be some
overlapping, and that is why we do have to reshape. While there is some
overlapping, this is a different program, and it is one that I think
really needs to be encouraged.
This is one where, for once, we have business, labor, everyone aboard
saying this is the direction we are going to have to go. I think we
have an opportunity. I do not want to see us muff that opportunity.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, if I may just ask the chairman of the
committee, Senator Kennedy, to clarify floor procedure on our time for
those who may be wondering. We are offering amendments now and we can
offer them for the remainder of the day. I have some other amendments.
Should we continue offering amendments?
Mr. KENNEDY. The answer is yes, and we will accommodate whatever the
desire of the Members is so that we can ask consent to set those aside
and preserve the options.
The amendments will be required to be put in by 6 o'clock this
evening, but we want to indicate the amendments will be stacked until
tomorrow.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. The amendments will be stacked until tomorrow
sometime?
Mr. KENNEDY. Tomorrow afternoon. So we will proceed in that way. So
for any Members who want it, the managers will ask consent to
temporarily set aside what is existing so they can offer amendments. In
the agreement there have been a number that have been identified. It is
certainly our intention to ensure that the rights of Senators are
protected along that line.
Let me, if I could, Mr. President, mention that Tech-Prep--and I
yield myself time on the amendment--has been a great success. We are
very strong in support of it. That is one type of a program that
effectively is 2 years in high school and then 2 years after high
school. That is a particular mode and model which has been very
successful in a number of areas, and we are very strong supporters of
it. A number of the Members that were supporters here were actually
innovators of it. That demonstrates the direction we can go.
There are other models as well that have been illustrated offering
opportunities. This is an area in which, by following both the academic
achievement and developing the core curriculum and tying that in, in
most cases, into community colleges and with their cooperation, that
has been successful.
But we are not prepared to say that is the only model. What we are
prepared to say is that is just the kind of cooperation that we have
seen in the past. And what we want to try to do is expand those
concepts and encourage the various elements here--the business
community, the training programs, people--to move ahead.
We have a handful of programs that have been innovative and creative.
I know in my own State, which I will discuss as well, which I think are
not the Tech-Prep but are other similar kinds of programs that are
helping youths open opportunities for students, we have a protect
health care program that has 150 students working in seven area
hospitals. That is working. That is 150 students. You know we are
losing 400,000 students every year out of high schools. This program
works to try to pick up many of those students who have been left out
and left behind, too, developing programs for those individuals.
And we are hopeful that, as well, if we are tying that into the
President's program in terms of service programs, national service
programs, to take those numbers of individuals who drop out--and many
end up in gangs and many end up in violence--to offer some additional
kind of paths to these individuals to involve themselves in programs.
So, I believe, Mr. President, that, if we are able with this
legislation to begin to move us down this road, it offers
opportunities.
Second, let me just say that the 8-year authorization is enormously
important. If there is one thing we have learned in terms of education,
encouraging academic and training reform, it is to have a degree of
predictability and certainty in the support of these programs so they
are not on one year and turned off the next, on for a few months and
then canceled.
We have tough accountability in these programs, so if they do get
started and they are working and for some reason they are not measuring
up, they can be terminated. That is very explicit in this legislation.
But what they are trying to do is give that kind of encouragement so
there will be a program that is developed by business, by training
programs, by labor, by the community to serve important kinds of needs
in terms of bringing skills and skill standards to those individuals,
and we will be able to continue for a period of time so we can get that
careful evaluation. That is enormously important. We have tried to
build that concept as well in terms of the Goals 2000, and that has
been virtually uniformly recommended by those who know successful
programs.
So, Mr. President, maybe we will have an opportunity to come back and
revisit this subject matter. But I will include in the Record some of
the programs that we have seen and have been successful. And people can
say, if they are going on, why do we have to do anything else? The
problem is they are only reaching a very, very small number of young
people, and what we are very hopeful in doing is sensitizing schools
all over this country and business all over the country in training
programs to bring this concept into fulfillment as a matter of broad
national policy. That is why we think this legislation makes some
sense.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. SIMON. Let me just underscore the points the Senator from
Massachusetts made that I did not make in my opening remarks.
This bill affects dropouts, and we have to reach these young people
one way or another.
We had a very interesting series of witnesses, young people who came
in and testified. One young man from the Boston area, who had been a
gang member and was brought back in through this kind of an opportunity
and is planning on going to college, said he wanted to become a lawyer.
I asked him what percentage of the gang members in the gang that he
belonged to would, if they had this kind of an opportunity, drop their
membership in the gang and come back to school and seize an
opportunity? And he said, ``I think half of them would.''
Now that is just one young man who had been a member of the gang. But
this is a program that can reach dropouts and really can be a
constructive force in our society. I hope we move ahead on it.
Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. SIMON. I am pleased to yield.
Mr. KENNEDY. I think that expression was from those young people who
were attending the course at a high school in Chicago. The Senator from
Illinois asked those young people what they were doing prior to the
time they were involved in this program. Their answers were: You would
not want to know what we had been doing. A number of them talked about
how they were not attending school.
As the Senator understands, the attentiveness and interest and sense
of pride and sense of achievement and accomplishment that radiated out
of that classroom in a very tough area of the city, and the sense of
pride as well of those business leaders in terms of their involvement
in that community, was inspiring.
Mr. SIMON. I thank the Senator for his remarks. If I may just add,
not only the sense of pride on the part of business, but a feeling that
this is a very practical way for us to get the employees we need, so
that business benefits as well as those students benefit.
Mr. KENNEDY. The point they mentioned is that these students are in
that community and live in that community in the proximity of the
plant, and how they were wanting to have people that lived in that
proximity because they wanted also to have some impact in that
community.
We lose track of some of these other tangential, positive ripples
that, hopefully, can take place in this kind of an endeavor. And it was
certainly evident at that time.
Well, we may come back and discuss these matters.
I understand the Senator has another amendment.
I ask unanimous consent that the current amendment be temporarily set
aside.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without
objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from
Massachusetts.
Amendment No. 1425
(Purpose: To limit the fiscal years for which appropriations are
authorized)
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its
immediate consideration.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Kansas [Mrs. Kassebaum] proposes an
amendment numbered 1425.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading
of the amendment be dispensed with.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
In section 507(a), strike ``7'' and insert ``2''.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, the amendment that I send to the desk
is a simple one. It changes the authorization of this bill from 8 years
to 3 years.
Senator Kennedy just addressed this very issue a few moments ago by
saying why an 8-year authorization is important. It allows time to
develop the program, to develop some continuity in the program and to
be better able to weigh the merits and demerits of what is being done.
I would argue that making this change from 8 years to 3 years is a
critical one if we are truly serious about integrating programs and
reforming the system. Seldom do we give an 8-year authorization. That
is a long authorization.
While I can understand some of the merits of the argument of the
Senator from Massachusetts, I really believe that it will not allow us
to be able to give the attention that we need to give to the
integration of the various programs.
If we have an 8-year authorization out there, we are not going to be
forced to really review the success or failure of this program for a
full 8 years, when the program is scheduled to end.
We may say that we will hold hearings and provide some insight into
this, but we seldom do. That has been my concern. I am not aware of a
single program that Congress has authorized for such a long period of
time in this particular area of interest.
Lack of oversight has continued to be a perennial problem when it
comes to any program, and job training programs in particular. Rarely
do we take the time to look back at programs we have enacted to
determine if they are working as we intended.
That is why, Mr. President, I believe changing the authorization to 3
years is an important part of this initiative that will force us to be
far more vigilant in giving oversight to this initiative.
I yield the floor.
Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Massachusetts.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, as we mentioned before, in terms of
trying to encourage these different departures and new directions in
stability and certainty in terms of the integrity of the program,
obviously there will be a review of these programs. But, I would say,
by and large, the overwhelming majority of the people involved in the
programs say unless you have some degree of certainty, unless we know
this program, if we do it right, whether it is 8 years or 5 years, has
a defined period of time, then the chances of its successes are
marginal.
Second, you have the annual appropriations that review these programs
year in and year out.
I think, third, we have seen, both in terms of the work that our
committee is going to be doing in the area of dislocated programs and
other programs, that we are going to be working closely on these
programs. And, quite frankly, we do, in some areas of public policy,
not even have annual periods of time. We authorize virtually without
limitation in terms of years.
It is reasonable. We want accountability and review. But we want to
balance that against a period of certainty and stability.
I think the recommendations for the time were put in that kind of
context. Given the ability of the Senate and the House to review these
annually in terms of the appropriations--and I think there are very
scarce resources in terms of the kinds of domestic discretionary
programs that this will be funded by, there will be a very high,
intense review, I think, as there is currently on all domestic
discretionary programs. I think we ought to at least give this the
opportunity to work and not hamstring it right from the beginning. So
we would resist this.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I concur completely with what my colleague
from Massachusetts has to stay.
Under the amendment by the Senator from Kansas, this would be a 3-
year authorization. And it really, you know, takes a little while to
get a program up and going. Secretary Riley and Secretary Reich are
eager on this, so I think this one is going to move fairly quickly.
If this were a cutting back from 8 years to 6 years, something like
that, I think that could be considered. And I have spoken to my
colleague from Massachusetts about that. But a 3-year authorization, I
do not think is realistic.
I would be happy to join the Senator from Kansas at any point she
wants to hold a hearing to see how the thing is going. Let us review
it. It does not need just to be the Appropriations Committee that takes
a look at this. But I think we have to have more than a 3-year
authorization.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the regular order, time is
not charged.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The Chair will inquire of the Senator whether he is speaking on the
bill or on the amendment of the Senator from Kansas?
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I am speaking on the bill.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. We are under a time limit, the
Chair would notify the Senator from Minnesota, on the bill. One would
need to yield time.
Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes.
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent I may speak
for 5 minutes on the bill and 5 minutes on one of the Kassebaum
amendments.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DURENBERGER. I understand I have been yielded time for that
purpose as well. I hope I did this right.
Mr. President, I thank you very much for clarifying the situation.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to
give their strong support to the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. I
became the lead Republican cosponsor of the School-to-Work Act because
the bill is consistent, in my view, with so many basic Republican
principles like bottom-up program development, strong community
involvement, program consolidation, and a limited role for the Federal
Government. The reality is the School-to-Work Opportunities Act
provides seed money, technical assistance to States and communities in
order to encourage and facilitate locally developed, locally operated,
locally administered school-to-work transition programs. And as I get
into my statement, I will illustrate what I mean by ``local'' and
``community,'' in terms of my own community.
It builds on existing programs and it removes existing barriers that
States and employers now face in making alternative ways of learning
job skills a real option.
The programs supported by the legislation will help bring together
employers, educators, government, labor, everyone--I will, again,
illustrate that in my statement because it is really happening in my
community--in true partnerships, to provide training and opportunities
so that all our Nation's young people can compete for higher skilled,
higher wage jobs.
Because the success of so many American businesses depends largely on
their ability to attract a high-skilled workforce, this initiative will
also help U.S. companies to thrive in an increasingly competitive
global marketplace.
I really should begin this by thanking my colleagues--the chairman of
the committee; the ranking member of the committee; and my colleague
from Kansas, Senator Kassebaum--from whom I have learned so much about
this. I thank Senator Simon, Senator Hatfield, Senator Jeffords,
Senator Bond, and others who, through their cosponsorship, helped make
this a bipartisan initiative--through their sponsorship, in the case of
my colleague from Illinois.
I know these people truly understand the hope the School-to-Work
Opportunities Act holds for our Nation's children and employers.
The Secretary of Labor--not really an instrument of bringing this to
our attention; I think most of us learned this from our own communities
and we have learned at least what to do about it from our colleagues--
but the Secretary of Labor has made it a very important part of the
administration's new approach to education and the workplace.
As I mentioned, my colleague from Illinois, Senator Simon, has always
been trying to teach us something about the connection to education,
and what is it all for? He is one of the better educators, in so many
ways, among our colleagues here in the Senate. He and his staff, I
think, have stimulated all of us to think more appropriately about the
role that Federal legislation should play in making education relate to
the workplace and, in particular, to take advantage of this new
locality-by-locality definition of what is community when we talk about
bringing all of these various forms of education together.
So I think this is one of those unique times when all of us can
celebrate a very constructive relationship among the people involved in
this part of the process in our own communities on all these education
and training issues. To me it has been a great source of pride to have
worked on this and have it come to the floor today.
At this stage, Mr. President, I really want to thank the people who
make my being here possible, the people in Minnesota, particularly
Minnesota business, labor, education, and government leaders, all of
whom have given their knowledge, enthusiasm, commitment, and time to
help make the School-to-Work Opportunities Act even better.
In the last several months, I spent a great deal of time getting what
we call around here constructive input on this legislation from so many
people in Minnesota. It makes my head swim to try to identify them,
which I am going to do here in a little bit. They are really involved
in apprenticeships, school-to-work training and they are doing that at
the State and local level in Minnesota.
It is the overwhelming support of these Minnesotans which has guided
my efforts and reinforced my own commitment to help Senator Simon and
the administration in building even broader support for the
legislation.
Let me give just several of the important contributions from
Minnesota that have been part of the bill. Based on recommendations
from Minnesota:
We strengthened provisions of the bill to assure consultation and
collaboration among all key players, but ensure that State Governors
bear ultimate responsibility and accountability for State school-to-
work plans.
We added statutory and report language that broadened the definition
of school-to-work opportunities in order to make it clear, one, that
school-to-work opportunities, including career exploration and other
less formal workplace learning programs, should begin much earlier than
the 11th grade, in many cases as early as elementary, middle, and
junior high; second, school-to-work opportunities may be linked to
part-time employment and emerging community service and service
learning initiatives all of which Minnesotans consider an integral part
of State-based education reform.
Mr. President, we added at the request of Minnesotans an entire
section in the bill creating a Federal clearinghouse in order to
encourage replication of successful programs and to facilitate
interstate collaboration in research and other opportunity areas.
Finally, we added a section of the bill which streamlines and
strengthens provisions allowing Federal mandates to be waived.
The many Minnesotans who offered me their guidance on the bill should
be very proud that their contributions are now part of the legislation
before us today.
In particular, I want to recognize Tom Triplett, president of the
Minnesota Business Partnership; Larry Perlman, CEO of Ceridian Corp.;
Jean Dunn, executive director of the Minnesota Teamsters Service
Bureau. There is a spectacular Minnesotan.
I also want to call attention to the assistance given to me in
recommending improvements in the bill by Dale Jorgenson, the youth
apprenticeship coordinator at Minnesota Technology, Inc.; Tom Berg from
the Minnesota Department of Education; Mick Coleman from the Minnesota
Technical College System.
I ask unanimous consent that a complete list of the many Minnesota
leaders in education, labor, and government who contributed to the
School-to-Work Opportunities Act be printed in the Record at the
conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, in addition, I would like to thank
three groups of people I met with in Minnesota during the January
recess, trudging through the snow, who are now designing school-to-work
programs that could be assisted by the legislation.
The first of these, first on so many of these creative ways of
approaching these issues, is the teamsters in Twin Cities, the
Teamsters Service Bureau in particular, working with the Service
Employees Union, the Communications Workers Union, with educators and
employers on an exciting programs called Skills for Tomorrow.
Under this workplace literacy project, employees in the trucking,
health care, and telecommunications industries are learning valuable
job skills in special classes taught during the regular work day.
In addition to the workplace literacy project, the Teamster Service
Bureau is also partner with other business and education organizations
in establishing a new charter public school that would use youth
apprenticeships as one of the main means of teaching and learning.
The other two groups I met with include educators, labor, and
hospital officials in the Twin Cities and in the Duluth-Cloquet, MN,
areas who are designing new youth apprenticeship programs in several
different health care occupations.
Many Members know of my strong interest in health care reform. I must
say, I was struck as I listened to both these groups during the January
recess at how important the fundamental changes we are talking about
today are in preparing Americans for work and how important they will
be to our ability to achieve the kind of cost savings and other changes
we all so desperately need in America's health care system.
Finally, I want to recognize the contributions of Dr. David Johnson
from the University of Minnesota's National Transition Network.
In his testimony before the Labor and Human Resources Committee, Dr.
Johnson expressed the importance of ensuring the School-to-Work
Opportunities Act promotes opportunities for all Americans, including
those young Americans with disabilities. Dr. Johnson's recommendations
and guidance, along with the contributions of the entire disability
community, formed the basis for a set of modifications submitted by
Senator Harkin and myself that are now incorporated into this bill as
well.
As a result, the programs supported by the School-to-Work
Opportunities Act now guarantee full and meaningful participation by
all Americans with disabilities.
Mr. President, in addition to the changes I previously mentioned, I
am encouraged by the interest I received from my colleague from
Illinois and other members of the Labor Committee in continuing to
collaborate on our common objectives during the coming reauthorization
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as well as all other
education and job training proposals, welfare reform and other
initiatives we will consider later this year.
I know that Senator Kassebaum, in particular, would prefer that we
deal with more fundamental reform of our numerous existing job training
programs prior to adopting this bill. To her and to others who share
this view, let me say I strongly support the need for a fundamental
overhaul of this Nation's job training program.
I must also say I particularly appreciate the fact that each time we
come on one of these things, she says, ``Why can't we reorganize this
thing so we don't have so many separate organizations, agencies,
programs,'' and so forth. Let us start looking at the whole person
rather than categorizing these folks. There are too many different
programs and different funding streams. There are too many different
priorities and targets that overlap single people.
My personal preference would be to leave the design of these programs
and setting of priorities and how funds should be spent to the State
and local level, not the Federal level. I believe the legislation
before us is consistent with that preference, and I believe that
working together on a bipartisan basis with the administration we will
have opportunities this year to accomplish the objectives that both
Senator Kassebaum and I share.
Let me say in this regard that I intend to support Senator
Kassebaum's amendment that would give States more flexibility in
integrating and combining Federal funds and existing State programs in
order to develop and implement more effective school-to-work programs.
I hope, in conclusion, that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle
will join those of us who have spoken today in support of this very
important legislation. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act really
comes from our communities. It comes from our workplaces and it comes
from our schools. Therefore, in my experience in Minnesota, I must say,
Mr. President, it does represent a very significant step forward in
supporting initiatives at the State and local level that make the kind
of changes we need in how we both teach and how we learn.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
Sources of Minnesota Input
Summaries of the School-to-Work Opportunities Act--and an
invitation to comment or make suggestions for changes--were
mailed in early August to more then 350 Minnesotans in state
and local government, business and labor organizations,
educators, and others. A number of individuals and
organizations responded or were contacted directly. Among
those whose suggestions formed the basis for these
recommendations were:
state government, education
Allison England, Office of Governor Arne Carlson, Thomas
Berg, Minnesota Department of Education; Mike Coleman, youth
apprenticeship coordinator, Minnesota Technical Colleges,
John Harback, instructor, Northeast Metro Technical College,
John Lennes, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Labor and
Industry, Tony Scallon, Director, Skills For tomorrow Charter
School, Russell O. Smith, Superintendent, Cloquet Public
Schools, Nick Waldoch, youth apprenticeship coordinator,
Minnesota Department of Education.
Business and labor leaders
Tom Triplett, President, Minnesota Business Partnership,
Paula Prahl, Education Policy Director, Honeywell, Lawrence
Perlman, CEO, Ceridian; and Chair, Business Roundtable Task
Force on Workforce Training and Development, Robert
Unterberger, General Manager, IBM Corporation, Rochester,
Jean Dunn, Executive Director, Minnesota Teamsters Service
Center, Steve Gilbertson, union representative, Local 789,
United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
Other
Dale Jorgenson, Minnesota Technology, Inc., Carol
Truesdell, Executive Director, Minneapolis Youth Trust, Rich
Cairn, service learning consultant; and former deputy
director, National Youth Leadership Council.
Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I yield myself 1 minute.
I simply want to thank the Senator for Minnesota for his comments. I
am pleased to be associated with him in this effort. But let me add one
other thing.
I have been around this body, the Senate, and the House long enough
to see frequently when Members announce their retirement, then you
hardly ever see them participating in anything. It says something about
the personal character of David Durenberger that he continues to be
just as vigorous, just as active after announcing he is not going to be
running for reelection as he was before. I am very proud to be
associated with him in this body.
Mrs. KASSEBAUM. Mr. President, while we may differ on the support
ultimately of this legislation, I, too, wish to commend the Senator
from Minnesota for his very constructive approach on the school-to-work
legislation. As Senator Durenberger outlined, he talked to many people.
He thought about it. He worked with many different concerns on this
legislation, and that is how good legislation should be achieved.
So I certainly value his contribution and am particularly pleased he
is going to support the amendment on giving the States a waiver as
well.
I thank the Senator.
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, might I be yielded a minute on the
amendment so that I might respond?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is recognized. There is
no time limit.
Mr. DURENBERGER. Mr. President, I am prompted to say two things in
addition to speaking of my gratitude for the opportunity to serve with
these two wonderful Midwest colleagues from whom I have learned so
much.
First, I think I am a lucky person because I represent a State like
Minnesota and people are never satisfied with anything going as well as
it could so they are constantly wanting to do better, to do more, and
so forth. So it is a really easy people to represent because people are
always telling you where to go and what to do, and so forth, and so the
compliments are for my constituency.
Second, right now, in response to what both my colleagues said, I
think I have about 330 days remaining on my term, some of which are
recess days, some of which are adjournment days, so maybe that cuts it
in half, something like that. There seems to be an awful lot remaining
to do that I have noticed accumulated on my watch.
So I wish to say to my colleagues it is no accident that I am here.
There is a lot to do. There are only 100 of us to do it. I have pledged
to you that I will be back here at every opportunity to help you, and
that includes probably some time in 1995 and beyond where the spirit so
moves me.
I thank my colleagues and I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The presence of a quorum has been
raised. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without
objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GRASSLEY. I further ask, Mr. President, to speak for 9 or 10
minutes as if in morning business.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection? Without
objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GRASSLEY. I thank the Chair.
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