HR0371enr 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0371 Enrolled LRB101 12400 MST 60463 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION 371

WHEREAS, Career and Technical Education (CTE) links academic learning directly to workplace competencies through hands-on learning, career exploration, on-site instruction, and credentialing to give students a jump start on their postsecondary education or meaningful career; and

WHEREAS, Students who take more than two CTE courses in a sequence have a 90% graduation rate and are as likely as non-CTE students to enroll in college, and students with three or more CTE classes in high school are far more likely to persevere in college and obtain a degree; and

WHEREAS, The federal Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, which amended the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, was signed into law on July 31, 2018; and

WHEREAS, The Perkins re-authorization provides renewed opportunities to improve CTE and enables more flexibility for states to meet the unique needs of their learners, educators, and employers; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) convened a broad group of stakeholders to provide input as the agency drafts its plan and have continued this feedback loop with stakeholders through committees (Equity and Access, Transitions and Alignment, Data and Accountability, Employer Engagement, Teacher Pipeline and Professional Development, and Innovation); and

WHEREAS, CTE funding in Illinois has been largely stagnant since 2004, while surrounding states continue to invest heavily in Career and Technical Education programs that encourage industry partnerships and emphasize credentialing; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's (DCEO) related Workforce Investment Opportunity Act (WIOA) plan is due to the federal government on the same timeline as the Perkins plan, allowing an unprecedented opportunity for alignment between the two plans; and

WHEREAS, K-12 CTE coursework teaches skills that are transferable to numerous careers and allows students to explore career options and find a pathway while still in the K-12 system; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly has established a set of strategies for a robust and coordinated postsecondary education and career readiness system through the enactment of the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act; and

WHEREAS, This year presents a unique chance for Illinois to consider its CTE funding methodology, alignment with priority occupational areas, modernization of course catalog codes, development of pathways sequences, alignment to the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act, and state supports needed to effectively enable high-quality local CTE programs; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we encourage ISBE and ICCB to include within the State's Perkins Plan:

(1) A funding methodology that incentivizes completion of aligned course sequences, early college credit, and work-based learning as part of college and career pathway systems extending from high school into postsecondary;

(2) An expansion of equitable access to high quality career pathway systems to students across Illinois;

(3) The inclusion of program quality indicators that address both dual credit and work-based learning;

(4) The incentivizing of innovative regional career pathway models incorporating the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act's College and Career Pathways Endorsements through Perkins Reserve funding; and

(5) The alignment of definitions and systems between the Postsecondary and Workforce Readiness Act and the State's career pathways definitions; and be it further

RESOLVED, That ISBE, ICCB, and the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) shall work collaboratively with each other and with school districts, community colleges, business and industry, and other organizations to ensure alignment among the Perkins and WIOA plans and priority occupational areas; and be it further

RESOLVED, That as the applicable agencies step back to rethink and improve allocation of Perkins and WIOA funding, the agencies also assess their administrative capacity to effectively support local programs, maintain accurate and accessible data, and modernize course coding frameworks and other administrative structures to better enable local innovation, and propose, within their Perkins and WIOA Plans, funding or structural mechanisms necessary to provide that support; and be it further

RESOLVED, That ISBE, ICCB, and IWIB shall report to the General Assembly and the P-20 Council on or before December 1, 2019 on how the State's draft versions of Perkins and WIOA plans address the foregoing recommendations, and the P-20 Council shall subsequently review the draft Perkins and WIOA plans and make recommendations to ISBE, ICCB, IWIB, and the General Assembly on or before February 29, 2020 on how to strengthen the plans and any other aspect of law or policy to better address the foregoing recommendations prior to the April 2020 deadline to submit to the U.S. Department of Education.