[ Search ] [ PDF text ] [ Legislation ]
[ Home ] [ Back ] [ Bottom ]
| [ Engrossed ] | [ Enrolled ] |
92_SB0845
LRB9200729MWpk
1 AN ACT concerning technology.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the High
5 Technology School-to-Work Act.
6 Section 5. Statement of findings. The General Assembly
7 finds that:
8 (1) Illinois must compete in an increasingly global
9 economy characterized by the use of advanced technologies
10 to create new products and services and increase the
11 efficiency of production;
12 (2) those new technologies include, but are not
13 limited to, advanced telecommunications and computer
14 technologies; advanced developments in biotechnology
15 relating to health, medical science, and agriculture;
16 advanced manufacturing methods; and advanced materials
17 development;
18 (3) to successfully compete in the new economy,
19 Illinois needs workers who are highly skilled in
20 scientific, technical, and engineering occupations,
21 including engineers; life and physical scientists;
22 mathematical specialists; engineering and science
23 technicians; computer specialists; and engineering,
24 scientific, and computer managers;
25 (4) workers in these occupations need in-depth
26 knowledge of the theories and principles of science,
27 engineering, and mathematics; and
28 (5) there is a need to increase the number of
29 secondary and post-secondary students preparing for and
30 entering high technology occupations.
-2- LRB9200729MWpk
1 Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
2 "Department" means the Department of Commerce and
3 Community Affairs.
4 "Director" means the Director of Commerce and Community
5 Affairs.
6 "High technology occupations" mean scientific, technical,
7 and engineering occupations including, but not limited to,
8 the following occupational groups and detailed occupations:
9 engineers; life and physical scientists; mathematical
10 specialists; engineering and science technicians; computer
11 specialists; and engineering, scientific, and computer
12 managers.
13 "Local partnership" means a cooperative agreement between
14 one or more employers, including employer associations, and
15 one or more secondary or post-secondary schools established
16 to operate a high technology school-to-work project. The
17 partnerships must be employer-led and designed to respond to
18 the high technology skill requirements of participating
19 employers.
20 Section 15. Purpose. The primary purpose of this Act is
21 to increase the number of students exiting secondary and
22 post-secondary schools who opt to enter occupations requiring
23 advanced skills in the areas of science, mathematics, and
24 advanced technology. A secondary goal is to encourage
25 students exiting secondary schools to pursue advance
26 educational programs in technical fields and the sciences.
27 Section 20. Coordination with economic development
28 activities. The Department must coordinate the administration
29 of the High Technology School-to-Work Program, including the
30 targeting of projects, with the Department's technology
31 related planning and economic development initiatives.
-3- LRB9200729MWpk
1 Section 25. Program design. Local partnerships must
2 provide students with work experience in high technology
3 occupations combined with related classroom instruction.
4 Employers and educators must cooperatively adopt or develop,
5 or both, skills standards, curricula, and assessment tools.
6 Skills standards must be current with high performance
7 workplaces and technology requirements. Project activities
8 include, but are not limited to:
9 (1) designing in-school and related work-based
10 curricula;
11 (2) training teachers;
12 (3) training work site supervisors and mentors;
13 (4) developing instructional materials;
14 (5) coordinating activities among the partners;
15 (6) outreach and recruitment of students;
16 (7) developing assessment tools;
17 (8) providing vocational counseling to student
18 participants;
19 (9) completing project related administrative
20 activities; and
21 (10) evaluating the project.
22 Section 30. Allowable costs. Subject to the limitations
23 in Section 35 of this Act, grant funds may be used for any
24 reasonable and necessary expense related to the successful
25 conduct of a high technology school-to-work project as
26 approved by the Department and specified in a grant agreement
27 with the Department.
28 Section 35. Limitations. To be an allowable grant cost,
29 expenses must:
30 (1) be for an extraordinary cost incurred due to
31 the high technology school-to-work project;.
32 (2) not be used for stipends or wages paid to
-4- LRB9200729MWpk
1 students during the work-based project activities; and
2 (3) not be used to pay the wages of teachers
3 working in short-term, part-time, internship, or similar
4 work experience arrangements with private employers
5 designed to provide teachers with experience in an
6 industry.
7 Section 40. Duties. The Department has the following
8 duties:
9 (1) To establish and coordinate the High Technology
10 School-to-Work Program.
11 (2) Subject to appropriations, to make grants to
12 local partnerships to administer high technology
13 school-to-work projects.
14 (3) To periodically identify high technology
15 industries and occupations for which training programs
16 may be developed pursuant to the requirements of this
17 Act.
18 (4) To issue guidelines for submitting grant
19 applications.
20 (5) To adopt, amend, or repeal any rules that may
21 be necessary to administer this Act.
22 Section 45. Grant selection. Applications for funding
23 must be reviewed using the criteria in this Section. The
24 Director must make final funding decisions. Review criteria
25 include:
26 (1) the appropriateness of the targeted industries
27 and occupations;
28 (2) the appropriateness of the targeted student
29 population;
30 (3) the efforts to recruit female and minority
31 students into the project;
32 (4) the strength of the local partnership and
-5- LRB9200729MWpk
1 private sector involvement;
2 (5) the related experience and qualifications of
3 the project staff;
4 (6) the quality of the project work plan;
5 (7) the proposed project costs in relationship to
6 planned outcomes;
7 (8) the relationship of the project to the
8 Department's economic development plans and initiatives;
9 (9) the geographic distribution of grant awards
10 throughout the State; and
11 (10) the quality of presentations made to the
12 Department, if the Department requests presentations.
13 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
14 becoming law.