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92_SB0845eng SB845 Engrossed 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 postsecondary students preparing for and 30 entering high technology occupations. SB845 Engrossed -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 postsecondary schools established to 16 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 postsecondary 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. SB845 Engrossed -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 SB845 Engrossed -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 SB845 Engrossed -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.