HB 108-CONCURRENT SECONDARY & TRADE SCHOOL  3:58:04 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 108, "An Act relating to concurrent vocational education, training, and on-the-job trade experience programs for students enrolled in public secondary schools; relating to child labor; and providing for an effective date." [Before the committee was CSHB 108(EDC).] 3:58:29 PM The committee took an at-ease from 3:58 p.m. to 3:59 p.m. 3:59:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY, as prime sponsor, presented CSHB 108(EDC). He stated that Alaska has concurrent high school and college enrollment where students get both high school and college credit, but Alaska does not have the same opportunity for students to get concurrent high school and trade training. The bill would avail for master trades people to assist secondary education programs using their skill sets in a trade to train high school students so they can earn certification. The bill would also avail the student to work not only for their parents, but also extended family. The bill would further allow the student to be in the workforce from age 16 rather than 17, and the bill would allow them to work until 10:00 p.m., which would be an extra hour of work each day. Alaska, he continued, has a big need for a strong workforce and infrastructure money is coming to the state. Employers need employees who are here for the long term, and this tends to be residents of the state. The bill would provide real life application to a student's high school studies. 4:02:13 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS announced the committee would hear invited testimony on CSHB 108(EDC). 4:02:31 PM JAMIE BURGESS, Superintendent, Nome Public Schools, provided invited testimony in support of CSHB 108(EDC). She stated that the proposed bill would provide for students in all districts to participate in high quality certified concurrent vocational education in high school. It is the equivalent of providing dual enrollment for college credit, she continued, and is desperately needed in today's rapidly changing workplace. She allowed that providing this program may provide challenges for rural districts but stressed that it is these districts which are in the greatest need of skilled individuals in the trades to support their communities. In a rural community such as hers, she related, electricians, construction workers, welders, boiler technicians, plumbers, and other tradesmen must be brought in from Anchorage or Fairbanks for projects or to service residential needs due to the lack of skilled labor locally. Or, if there are any local skilled companies or individuals, they are often overwhelmed with work. The need is great and the pipeline for new workers at the local level and rural areas is down to a trickle or completely absent, she advised. MS. BURGESS recognized that there is often a concern for how small and rural districts will find a way to provide these types of programs when there may be only a few or just a single student interested in participating. There may also be a lack of a qualified instructor as defined in the bill's language or the inability to offer enough classes or practicum hours for a few students to make an appropriate program a reality within a small school setting. However, she explained, small rural districts often collaborate amongst themselves with a larger rural district or may partner with a road district to provide programs and services to their students. The Department of Education & Early Development (DEED) can function as a centralized clearinghouse of information or a source of support to connect districts through a career technical education (CTE) department. Perkins grant funding, she noted, can potentially be utilized to support these programs, as well as other grant programs. Nome and Bering Strait School District have a joint CTE program called [Northwestern Alaska Career and Technical Center] (NACTEC) which utilizes an intensive two-week to three- week residential program where students from a village school fly into Nome to garner hours needed in a variety of programs from health care to aviation to welding or construction. She said CSHB 108(EDC) would allow students to have potentially life-changing educational opportunities in high school and to be better prepared for the rapidly evolving workforce in Alaska. CO-CHAIR FIELDS [opened public testimony on HB 108]. 4:06:33 PM MAGGIE COTHRON, representing self, testified in support of HB 108. She stated that HB 108 would give students like her more opportunities and would help students realize the importance of their regular classes and learning lifelong skills. She related that she had the wonderful opportunity to take a culinary class during an after-school session at the King Career Center which allows students to have a similar experience to what this bill would do. She said it was incredible to be taught by someone so knowledgeable and in the industry for years. She found that culinary isn't for her, not because of the cooking but rather the kitchen environment which is loud and fast paced and requires good communication. She learned that she prefers to take her time. MS. COTHRON said that these are the types of experiences she wants to go through because she, like others, doesn't know what she wants to do after high school. These experiences, she continued, provide hands-on experience and development of a passion in a career that one would otherwise not have access to, or be aware of, and this has a huge impact. Also, it prepares students to have a successful future in often overlooked industry in Alaska. 4:08:12 PM DON ETHERIDGE, Lobbyist, Alaska AFL-CIO, Alaska Works Partnership, Inc., testified that the Alaska AFL-CIO and the Alaska Works Partnership, Inc. support HB 108. He said it is important to start training youths at a younger age than has been done and to get them into the trades because nowadays [Alaska is] running short on trades people. It's a good idea to give kids an example of what the trades look like, he continued, and these programs provide help to kids who are still in school. He said he knows of two kids who would never have graduated had there not been programs such as the house building programs. These programs give kids an idea of why they need to have math and other skills. This bill will help the kids and give Alaska future tradesmen, he added. 4:09:47 PM JIM ANDERSON, Chief Finance Officer, Anchorage School District (ASD), testified that the Anchorage School District supports HB 108 because it will help more students become career and life ready immediately upon graduation. He said the bill would strengthen the state's focus to provide high school students an opportunity to receive industry standard training so they will have viable skills for a trade and would further stress the importance of partnerships with businesses in areas that may not have state certified apprentice programs. MR. ANDERSON related that for several years the ASD has partnered with dozens of businesses and programs in nearly two dozen distinct career fields, including art design, biomedical, telecommunications, carpentry, welding, veterinary assistants. Through these training and internship opportunities, he stated, students develop skills that allow them to join the workforce immediately upon graduation or shortly after. Participating students receive course credit for their time, effort, and acquisition of new skills. These partnerships, he noted, have generally been available at little or no cost to the district as it is a great opportunity for employers to build pipelines for their future employees. While there are some transportation costs for student travel to and from these opportunities, ASD looks at that as a minor investment in helping these students prepare to join the workforce. MR. ANDERSON stated that in 2019 prior to the pandemic, ASD had 126 students participate in intern programs with its partners and another 190 students participate in job shadowing. The pandemic slowed down many of these opportunities, he said, but ASD is rebuilding partnerships in the community and will meet many of the needs and requirements stated in HB 108 because it is an investment in those students who don't plan to go to college as their career choice. He noted that HB 108 supports one of the district's three board goals, which is to ensure that students are life, college, and career ready upon graduation. 4:12:59 PM PAUL GROSSI, Lobbyist, Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust, testified that the Alaska Ironworkers Union supports HB 108. He stated that the participants in this program probably won't be able to get on-the-job sites at age 14 due to federal [law], but it will produce candidates for the ironworkers at later dates. Students will be able to develop skills that are transferable to the ironworkers as well as to other trades. The most valuable transferable skill that this will teach is development of a work ethic the ability to show up every day for work, work the time they are supposed to be there, and come back the next day. 4:14:50 PM ADAM WHITE, Government Relations Spokesperson, Alaska Airmen's Association, testified in support of HB 108. He said the aviation industry supports these kinds of measures as there is a shortage of workers to do the job. He noted that written testimony has been provided by the "next gen group," a subset of the Alaska Airmen's Association that is focusing on the younger generation by working with school districts to get programs going. He further noted that his association partners with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). He related that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic which ruined plans, the Alaska Airmen's Association had everything in place to start traveling to rural school districts to show aviation curriculums and get them going in the school districts. The number of people testifying in support of the bill, he continued, shows that it is a needed movement in the right direction. 4:16:25 PM TOM GEORGE, Alaska Regional Manager, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), testified in support of HB 108 and the notion of concurrent vocational education and on-the-job trade experience in public secondary schools. He said there is a dire need for more pilots and mechanics and HB 108 would help provide [students with] more opportunities in the classroom and on-the- job exposure to this career. Aviation is a critical component to the transportation system in Alaska, he noted, and training pilots and mechanics who are already used to living in the state has potential benefit for meeting the state's labor needs. 4:17:35 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS asked Ms. Deborah Riddle how this training would look onsite for a school district where there is an apprenticeship program or CTE program that wants to deliver training in person in a school. 4:18:08 PM DEBORAH RIDDLE, Division Operations Manager, Division of Innovation and Education Excellence, Department of Education & Early Development (DEED), explained that districts already have these types of arrangements in place with industry partners within their areas. The legislation would further define how that relationship could be organized. It would help districts organize the contract language memorandum of agreement that many districts already have in place with industry partners within their area to help them create programs that will provide the workforce that that individual community might need. 4:19:16 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS invited Mr. Eugene Harnett to provide the sectional analysis for CSHB 108(EDC). 4:19:26 PM EUGENE HARNETT, Staff, Representative Ken McCarty, Alaska State Legislature, said he would give the sectional analysis of CSHB 108(EDC) on behalf of Representative McCarty, prime sponsor of the bill. [What Mr. Harnett read matches the original bill sectional analysis available in the committee packet from the bill hearing of the prior committee of referral, the House Education Standing Committee, and it read as follows, original punctuation provided]: Section 1 AS 12.62.400 National criminal history record checks for employment, licensing, and other noncriminal justice purposes. Adds an instructor of students in a concurrent trade, vocational education, training, on-the-job training experience or apprenticeship to the list of individuals who must have a national criminal history record check performed. Section 2 AS 14.07.020 Duties of the Department Adds to the duties of the Department of Education and Early Development that they must provide schools and districts with opportunities for students to participate in concurrent vocational education, training, and on-the-job trade experience programs to students over 14 years of age enrolled in public secondary schools. Section 3 AS 14.35 Vocational Education Adds six (6) new sections to AS 14.35 Article 2. Concurrent Vocational Education, Training, and On-the-Job Trade Experience Programs. Sec. 14.35.100. State policy. New policy of the state to provide public secondary school students over 14 years of age the opportunity to participate in concurrent vocational education, training, and on-the-job trade experience programs from nonsectarian agencies providing industry-standard instruction. Sec. 14.35.105. Program contracts. The Department of Education and Early Development shall negotiate contracts with agencies providing industry-standard instruction and certifications to offer concurrent vocational education, training, and on-the-job trade experience programs for students enrolled in a public secondary school. The department may establish minimum program eligibility standards. Additionally, this section provides contract guidelines and states that the Department of Education and Early Development may not contract with a sectarian agency. Sec. 14.35.110. Program list. Requires the Department of Education and Early Development to annually compile, provide to school districts and publish to the department's website a list of concurrent vocational education, training, and on-the-job trade experience programs that the department contracts with. The department must also identify any geographical attendance restrictions, and program availability for each listed program. Sec. 14.35.115. Student enrollment. Requires that the Department of Education and Early Development permit the enrollment of a student in a contracted concurrent vocational education, training or on-the-job trade experience program who is over the age of 14 years of age, who is enrolled in a public secondary school eligible for the program, and who submits a timely application. If the number of applicants for a program exceed capacity of the program or age group, the department shall select students by random drawing. A secondary school shall pay the program tuition for an enrolled student who participates in a contracted concurrent vocational education program in accordance with the terms of the contract. Sec. 14.35.120. Individual learning plan. Requires that the secondary school create an individual learning plan for each student enrolled who participates in a contracted vocational program in collaboration with the student, parent or guardian of the student, a school counselor and any other individuals involved in the student's learning plan. The individual learning plan must also provide for an in-school and concurrent vocational education program course of study appropriate for the student's age and grade level consistent with state and district standards, provide for an ongoing assessment plan that includes industry-standard certification progress and statewide assessments required for public schools provide for monitoring of the student's work and certification progress by the counselor assigned to the student. Sec. 14.35.125. Instructor certification. Requires that an instructor of students in a concurrent vocational education, training or on-the- job trade experience program possess and valid instructor certificate and an industry-standard master skill certification or equivalent. Requires the Department of Education and Early Development to submit fingerprints and fees to the Department of Public Safety for criminal justice information and a national criminal history check. The department may not issue an instructor certificate to a person who has been convicted of a crime, or an attempt, solicitation, or conspiracy to commit a crime, involving a minor. Section 4 AS 23.10.330 (a) Exempted Employment. Amends the supervision requirement for an employed minor on to include an adult, parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, or uncle. Section 5 AS 23.10.332 Authorization of Children under 17 to work. Lowers the allowable employment age to 16 years old. Section 6 AS 23.10.340 Employment of Children under 16. Extends the hours of the day a minor may work to 10pm but does not exceed 23 allowable work hours in a week. Section 7 Effective Date Provides for July 1, 2021 effective date. [HB 108 was held over.]