Investing in Work-based Learning

Senator Steinberg

Two of the stumbling blocks for creating eduployment opportunities are 1) paying for the intermediary services needed to support business-education partnerships and 2) successfully engaging employers at higher levels of participation to reach scale.  Senate President pro tem Darrell Steinberg in California is trying to do something about this with the introduction of SB 594: The Dropout Reduction and Workforce Development Bond Act of 2013.  

The bill is structured to create incentives for employers to provide work-based learning (for those of us around since school-to-work days, this sounds very familiar). According to the Linked Learning newsletter (an initiative of the Irvine Foundation), “SB 594 authorizes the issuance of Workforce Development Bonds by the state to finance career pathways programs, with repayment linked to performance-based contracts. The bill also authorizes a tax credit for businesses investing in academic and work-based learning opportunities for students in partnership with public schools. The bill also establishes a Linked Learning Trust Fund in K-12 and college districts to finance the operations of career pathways programs. Trust funds may accept revenues from any source. Priority will be given to programs serving students in economically disadvantaged districts with high dropout rates.”
  
 We’ll stay tuned to the development of SB 594. In the meantime, we would love to hear about innovative legislation developing in other states to support eduployment.