Legislation

AVTE 

Alliance for Vocational Technical Education Legislation 2021

Overview of Massachusetts legislation increasing access to vocational technical education to help students on long waitlists  and to help employers find new qualified workers.

Context: The Alliance for Vocational Technical Education  (AVTE) has worked with legislators to file these bills to  

expand the capacity of the  state’s excellent system of  vocational schools. Every year,  thousands of students who want  to attend vocational schools in  Massachusetts are denied the opportunity, with the greatest impact felt by students from Gateway Cities and disadvantaged communities. The result is both lost educational opportunities for students and an under-supply of future skilled workers prepared for roles that need to be filled by our businesses in order to create a thriving economy.

An Act to expand the capacity  of career technical schools  and programs. HD 1435 introduced by Rep. Frank Moran. SD 1303 introduced by Sen. Eric Lesser

This omnibus bill would expand  access to career technical education in a variety of different  ways:  

1. A major bonding authorization to renovate, expand,  and build new vocational  technical schools. 
2. Establishing a Career Technical Education Funding Commission to advise on best ways to proceed on  renovating, expanding, and/ or building new schools. 
3. Allowing longer term leas ing of facilities available so  schools can move quickly to  expand.
4. Establishing a Deputy Commissioner of Career Technical  Education and an Office of  Career Technical Education at DESE.
5. Eliminating the current one year delay in state funding to  cover the costs of increased  enrollments in regional vocational technical schools.
6. Empowers communities in  a regional vocational school  district to add school building  debt payments above their  levy limit so they do not have  to choose between modernizing these schools and other  budget needs.
7. Expands seats on the School  Building Authority’s Advisory  Committee to include representatives from AVTE and the  MA Association of Vocational  Administrators.

An act to increase student access to career technical  education schools and programs which are aligned with  regional labor market needs.  HD 946 introduced by Rep. Lipper-Garabedian SD 470 introduced by Sen. Jason Lewis

This bill takes two of the provisions from the above bill and puts them in this bill as an  additional vehicle to move these  administrative issues forward:

1. Establishing a Career Technical Education Funding  Commission to advise on best  ways to proceed on renovating, expanding, and/or building new schools. 
2. Establishing a Deputy Com missioner of Career Technical  Education and an Office of  Career Technical Education at  DESE.

For more information, contact the Alliance for Vocational Technical Education:  Tim Murray, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce tmurray@worcesterchamber.org Kevin Farr, MA Alliance of Vocational Administrators KevinFarr@mava.us Robert Baldwin, MA Association of School Superintendents rbaldwin@fairhavenps.net Kathie Mainzer, Workforce Solutions Group KMainzer@strategygroupinc.com Marybeth Campbell, Worcester Community Action Council mcampbell@wcac.net Lew Finfer, MA Communities Action Network LewFinfer@gmail.com 

January 1, 2020

A Bill to increase access and funding for vocational technical education

House Bill 3756:An Act to Increase Student Access to Career Technical Education Schools and Programs which are aligned with regional labor market needs

Lead Sponsors State Senator Jason Lewis and State Representative Paul Brodeur  , a joint petition and others relative to career technical education schools and programs.

Background:   Massachusetts faces an acute skills gap and employers are challenged with finding qualified talent across nearly every sector and region of the state.   At the same time, our state’s CTE high schools and programs have a vast footprint across the Commonwealth, and are teaching timely competencies that match the skills required for jobs in demand from advanced manufacturing, healthcare, building trades and engineering, innovation and technology, and more. Our existing CTE schools and programs have been validated by employers for decades as a talent pipeline, yet they are not available to the majority of students.

Challenge:  CTE enrollment has grown in the past decade, however, the capital infrastructure, financing mechanisms, and governance of our schools has not evolved to meet our workforce needs and, as a result, schools are challenged to serve more than 20-25% of the state’s enrolled high school population.

Opportunity: To facilitate this needed capacity, H3756 offers a set of proposed solutions. HD 3279 will help expand access to state Chapter 74-approved CTE programs for more students, provide incentives to partnerships that increase potential for achievements in college and career, and develop effective tools to increase capacity to maximize outcomes for students, businesses and communities.

This bill would:

Integrate Career Technical Education (CTE) more explicitly into the mission of the DESE by appointing a Deputy Commissioner for Career Technical Education and establishing an Office of Career Technical Education to focus solely on elevating CTE as a critical pathway.