II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 628 

To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 

2006 to raise the quality of career and technical education programs 

and to allow local eligible recipients to use funding to establish highquality career academies. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2017 

Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. BALDWIN, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 to raise the quality of career and 

technical education programs and to allow local eligible 

recipients to use funding to establish high-quality career 

academies. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Educating Tomorrow’s 

5 Workforce Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 Section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech3 nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through 

6 (9), (10) through (23), and (24) through (34), as 

7 paragraphs (7) through (10), (12) through (25), and 

8 (27) through (37), respectively; 

9 (2) by inserting after paragraph (5) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(6) CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION PRO12 GRAM OF STUDY.—The term ‘career and technical 

13 education program of study’ means a coordinated, 

14 non-duplicative sequence of secondary and postsec15 ondary academic and technical courses that— 

16 ‘‘(A) incorporate rigorous, State-identified 

17 postsecondary education and workforce readi18 ness standards, including State-identified career 

19 and technical education standards that address 

20 both academic and technical contents; 

21 ‘‘(B) support attainment of employability 

22 and career readiness skills; 

23 ‘‘(C) progress in content specificity (by be24 ginning with all aspects of an industry or career 

25 cluster and leading to more occupationally speVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:25 Mar 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S628.IS S628

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1 cific instruction or by preparing students for 

2 ongoing postsecondary career preparation); 

3 ‘‘(D) incorporate multiple entry and exit 

4 points with portable demonstrations of technical 

5 or career competency, which may include credit6 transfer agreements or industry-recognized cer7 tifications; and 

8 ‘‘(E) culminate in the attainment of— 

9 ‘‘(i) an industry-recognized certifi10 cation, credential, or license; 

11 ‘‘(ii) a registered apprenticeship or 

12 credit-bearing postsecondary certificate; or 

13 ‘‘(iii) an associate or baccalaureate de14 gree.’’; 

15 (3) by inserting after paragraph (10), as redes16 ignated by paragraph (1), the following: 

17 ‘‘(11) CREDIT-TRANSFER AGREEMENT.—The 

18 term ‘credit-transfer agreement’ means an oppor19 tunity for secondary students to be awarded 

20 transcripted postsecondary credit, supported with a 

21 formal agreement between secondary and postsec22 ondary education systems, for— 

23 ‘‘(A) technical credit such as dual enroll24 ment, dual credit, or articulated credit, which 


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1 may include credit by examination or credit by 

2 performance on technical assessments; or 

3 ‘‘(B) academic credit such as dual enroll4 ment, dual credit, or articulated credit, which 

5 may include credit by examination or credit by 

6 performance on academic assessments.’’; and 

7 (4) by inserting after paragraph (25), as redes8 ignated by paragraph (1), the following: 

9 ‘‘(26) REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP PRO10 GRAM.—The term ‘registered apprenticeship pro11 gram’ means an apprenticeship program— 

12 ‘‘(A) registered under the Act of August 

13 16, 1937 (commonly known as the ‘‘National 

14 Apprenticeship Act’’; 50 Stat. 664, chapter 

15 663; 29 U.S.C. 50 et seq.); and 

16 ‘‘(B) that meets such other criteria as may 

17 be established by the Secretary under this sec18 tion.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. STATE PLAN. 

20 Section 122(c)(1) of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 

21 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2342(c)(1)) 

22 is amended— 

23 (1) by striking subparagraph (A); 


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1 (2) by redesignating subparagraphs (B) 

2 through (L) as subparagraphs (A) through (K), re3 spectively; and 

4 (3) in subparagraph (A), as redesignated by 

5 paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the career and technical 

6 programs of study described in subparagraph (A)’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘career and technical education pro8 grams of study, including a description of how the 

9 eligible agency will ensure the quality of any pro10 gram of study culminating in an industry-recognized 

11 certificate, credential, or license’’. 

12 SEC. 4. STATE LEADERSHIP ACTIVITIES. 

13 Section 124 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech14 nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2344) is amend15 ed— 

16 (1) in subsection (b)(6), by striking ‘‘programs 

17 of study, as described in section 122(c)(1)(A)’’ and 

18 inserting ‘‘education programs of study’’; and 

19 (2) in subsection (c)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘, career 

21 academies,’’; 

22 (B) in paragraph (16)(B), by striking 

23 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

24 (C) in paragraph (17), by striking the pe25 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 


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1 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

2 ‘‘(18) support for career academies, which— 

3 ‘‘(A) implement a postsecondary education 

4 and workforce ready curriculum at the sec5 ondary education level that integrates rigorous 

6 academic, technical, and employability contents 

7 through career and technical education pro8 grams of study and high-quality elements, in9 cluding those described in section 134(b)(7); 

10 ‘‘(B) include experiential or work-based 

11 learning for secondary school students, in col12 laboration with local and regional employers; 

13 ‘‘(C) include opportunities for secondary 

14 school students to earn postsecondary credit 

15 while in secondary school, such as through cred16 it transfer agreements including dual enroll17 ment; and 

18 ‘‘(D) establish and maintain ongoing part19 nerships— 

20 ‘‘(i) between the local educational 

21 agency, business and industry, and institu22 tions of higher education or postsecondary 

23 vocational institutions (as defined in sec24 tion 102(c) of the Higher Education Act of 

25 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002(c))); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) which may also include local gov2 ernment, such as workforce and economic 

3 development entities.’’. 

4 SEC. 5. LOCAL PLAN FOR CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDU5 CATION PROGRAMS. 

6 Section 134(b) of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 

7 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2354(b)) is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking ‘‘programs 

10 of study described in section 122(c)(1)(A)’’ and in11 serting ‘‘education programs of study’’; and 

12 (2) by striking paragraph (7) and inserting the 

13 following: 

14 ‘‘(7) describe how the eligible recipient will con15 duct an assessment of local needs related to career 

16 and technical education as part of the local plan de17 velopment process and how such needs assessment 

18 will be updated annually in subsequent years of the 

19 local plan, including how the needs assessment in20 cludes an evaluation of progress toward specific ele21 ments leading to high-quality implementation of ca22 reer and technical education programs of study, in23 cluding— 

24 ‘‘(A) sustained, intensive, and focused pro25 fessional development for teachers, principals, 


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1 administrators, and school counselors on both 

2 content and pedagogy that— 

3 ‘‘(i) supports high-quality academic 

4 and career and technical education instruc5 tion; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) ensures local, regional, and State 

7 labor market information as applicable is 

8 utilized to make informed decisions about 

9 program offerings and to advise students 

10 of career opportunities and benefits; 

11 ‘‘(B) a curriculum aligned with the re12 quirements for a career and technical education 

13 program of study; 

14 ‘‘(C) teaching and learning strategies fo15 cused on the integration of academic and career 

16 and technical education content, including sup17 ports necessary to implement such strategies; 

18 ‘‘(D) ongoing relationships between edu19 cation, business and industry, and other com20 munity stakeholders; 

21 ‘‘(E) opportunities for secondary students 

22 to earn postsecondary credit while in secondary 

23 school, such as through credit transfer agree24 ments including dual enrollment; 


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1 ‘‘(F) career and technical student organi2 zations or other activities that promote the de3 velopment of leadership and employability skills; 

4 ‘‘(G) appropriate equipment and tech5 nology aligned with business and industry 

6 needs; 

7 ‘‘(H) a continuum of work-based learning 

8 opportunities, such as job shadowing, 

9 mentorships, internships, apprenticeships, clin10 ical experiences, service learning experiences, 

11 and cooperative education; 

12 ‘‘(I) valid and reliable technical skills as13 sessments to measure student achievement, 

14 which may include industry-recognized certifi15 cations or may lead to other credentials; 

16 ‘‘(J) support services to ensure equitable 

17 participation for all students; and 

18 ‘‘(K) recruitment and retention efforts to 

19 ensure highly effective educators, principals, 

20 and administrators.’’. 

21 SEC. 6. LOCAL USES OF FUNDS. 

22 Section 135 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech23 nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2355) is amend24 ed— 

25 (1) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘pro2 grams of study described in section 

3 122(c)(1)(A)’’; and inserting ‘‘education pro4 grams of study’’; and 

5 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘career 

6 and technical program of study described in 

7 section 122(c)(1)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘career and 

8 technical education program of study’’; and 

9 (2) in subsection (c)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (19)— 

11 (i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 

12 ‘‘programs of study described in section 

13 122(c)(1)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘education 

14 programs of study’’; and 

15 (ii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 

16 ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon; 

17 (B) in paragraph (20), by striking the pe18 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(21) to provide support for career academies, 

21 as described in section 124(c)(18).’’. 

22 SEC. 7. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

23 Section 113 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Tech24 nical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2323) is amend25 ed— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b)(4)(C)(ii)(I), by striking 

2 ‘‘section 3(29)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3(32)’’; and 

3 (2) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘section 

4 3(29)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 3(32)’’. 

Æ 


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