Enacts the "Learning for Work" act; appropriation

Section 2. Contains the Legislative Findings and Intent.

Contains the following provisions divided into Parts A - C outlined as Follows:

I. Part A: Youth Apprenticeship Program

A. Requires the Department of Labor, in collaboration with the State Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment Board, the Board of Regents, and the State Education Department to assist the Department of Labor, to establish a Youth Apprenticeship Program to provide a one or two year program beginning in the eleventh or twelfth grade that combines academic classroom coursework with mentored on-the-job training in a specific occupational area. B. Requires the Department of Labor to approve occupations and maintain a list of approved occupations for the Youth Apprenticeship Program.

Local Partnership Duties and Responsibilities:

A. Defines a Local Partnership as a combination of one or more school districts, other public agencies, community colleges, non-profits, individuals, businesses or other persons responsible for implementing and coordinating a Youth Apprenticeship Program.

B. Provides that funding under the Workforce Investment Act (Public Law 105-220) and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (Public Law 113-128) may be utilized by the Department of Labor to award grants to applying local partnerships for the implementation and coordination of Youth Apprenticeship Programs. Such funds may be used for:

i. Recruiting employers to provide on-the-job training and supervision for youth apprentices and providing technical assistance to those employers.

ii. Recruiting students to participate in the local youth apprenticeship program and monitoring the progress of youth apprentices participating in the program.

iii. Coordinating youth apprenticeship training activities within participating school districts and among participating school districts, postsecondary institutions and employers.

iv. Coordinating academic, vocational and occupational learning, school-based and work-based learning and secondary and postsecondary education for participants in the local youth apprenticeship program.

v. Assisting employers in identifying and training workplace mentors and matching youth apprentices and mentors.

vi. Any other implementation or coordination activity that the department may direct or permit the local partnership to perform.

C. Sets restrictions for the use of grant moneys.

D. Caps the amount of a grant award to $1,000 per youth apprentice and requires a local partnership that is awarded a grant to provide matching funds equal to at least 25 percent of the grant amount awarded.

Youth Apprenticeship Program Outcome Requirements:

A. Sets expected outcomes of a local Youth Apprenticeship Program, including:

i. At least 80 percent of the youth apprentices who participate in the program must receive an Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma pursuant to section 208-b of the Education Law on completion of the youth apprenticeship.

ii. At least 50 percent of the youth apprentices who participate in the program must be offered employment by the employer that provided the on-the-job training for the youth apprentice on completion of the youth apprenticeship.

B. Provides that any student taking part in a Youth Apprenticeship Program who receives and Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma and is either not offered or chooses not to seek employment in their specified occupational area, shall receive a minimum of 15 credits to be applied to a postsecondary degree at a State University of New York or City University of New York Institution.

Section 2 appropriates $5 million to Department of Labor for the purpose of carrying out the provision of Section 1 of this act.

II. Part B: Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma

A. Requires the Board of Regents to create and Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma acknowledge the professional skills and specific occupational training students obtain in the course of their study.

B. Provides that such a degree will include designations as determined by the Commissioner of Education that denote the professional skills and specific occupational training obtained by a student.

C. The Commissioner of Education shall promulgate regulations regarding the requirements for an enhanced regents professional degree to include the:

i. completion of a technical assessment;

ii. completion of a work-skills employability profile;

iii. completion of a work-based learning experience; and

iv, meeting all requirements necessary to receive a Regents diploma.

D. Provides the Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the State Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment Board, and the Department of Labor shall establish professional skill and occupational training designations that may be attached to an Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma that will denote the professional skills a student has obtained throughout the course of his or her studies.

E. Provides the Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the State Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment Board, and the Department of Labor shall design a series of technical assessments.

F. Provides the Commissioner of Education in conjunction with the State Apprenticeship and Training Council, the State Workforce Investment Board, and the Department of Labor shall create a work-skill employability profile.

G. The Board of Regents shall promulgate such regulations of the Commissioner as may be necessary to establish an Enhance Regents Professional Diploma.

H. Provides that the Youth Apprenticeship Program shall be considered an eligible work-based learning experience.

I. Provides that students first entering ninth grade in the 2016-2017 school year and thereafter shall be eligible to earn an Enhanced Regents Professional Diploma.

III. Part C: Youth Apprenticeship Tax Credit

A. Establishes the Youth Apprenticeship Tax Credit to be provided to employers that take part in the Youth Apprenticeship Program.

B. The Credit is against both Corporate Franchise Tax and Personal Income Tax and is equal to the amount of $1,500 for each apprentice the participating employer sponsors.

C. The Credit is non-refundable.

Justification

According to a recent college and career readiness study released by the New York State Education Department, only thirty-five percent of high school graduates are college or career ready. This lack of preparedness has driven many high school graduates into low-paying jobs; or college degree programs that they are not interested in, fail to lead to careers and result in an unreasonably high amount of student debt.

For many current and future high school students, the traditional pathway of a basic high school education and then on to a four-year college may not be the correct route to take. These students would benefit from a program that would prepare them for employment immediately upon graduating high school.

This bill creates the Learning for Work program in our high schools that will create a youth apprenticeship program, an enhanced regional professional diploma with a designation in a specified occupational area and a tax credit for employers who take part in the youth apprenticeship program. This would further the goals of limiting the accumulation of unsustainable student debt, and ensuring all students in New York are prepared to enter the 21St Century workforce.

Prior legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

To be determined.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that the applicable effective dates of Parts A through C of this act shall be as specifically set forth in the last section of such parts.