I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 702 

To direct the Secretary of Labor to award grants to develop, administer, 

and evaluate early childhood education apprenticeships, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2021 

Mr. GUTHRIE (for himself and Ms. WILD) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Labor to award grants to develop, 

administer, and evaluate early childhood education apprenticeships, and for other purposes. 

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

3 SECTION 1. GRANTS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 

4 APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in consulta6 tion with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

7 and the Secretary of Education, shall award grants to 

8 States to develop, administer, and evaluate apprentice9 ships. 


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1 (b) APPLICATION.—A State seeking a grant under 

2 this Act shall submit an application to the Secretary for 

3 approval at such time, in such manner, and containing 

4 such information as the Secretary may require. 

5 (c) USES OF FUNDS.— 

6 (1) REQUIRED USES.—A grant under sub7 section (a) shall be used for activities that develop, 

8 administer, and evaluate an apprenticeship, includ9 ing— 

10 (A) equipping apprentices with specialized 

11 knowledge, skills, and competencies required to 

12 work in early childhood education; 

13 (B) increasing the number of apprentices 

14 (including apprentices that are in areas that are 

15 underserved or rural) with a recognized postsec16 ondary credential, a certificate of completion of 

17 an apprenticeship, or a degree from an institu18 tion of higher education; 

19 (C) promoting recruitment and retention of 

20 apprentices; 

21 (D) providing a pathway to career ad22 vancement for apprentices by assisting such ap23 prentices in completing an apprenticeship and 

24 tracking the percent of such completions, in25 cluding the apprentices who— 


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1 (i) attend an institution of higher edu2 cation after completing an apprenticeship; 

3 and 

4 (ii) enter into employment that is un5 subsidized after completing an apprentice6 ship; 

7 (E) supporting partnerships with institu8 tions of higher education in the State, busi9 nesses, and other entities participating in an 

10 apprenticeship to provide for academic credit 

11 for instruction related to the apprenticeship and 

12 the application of such credit toward a degree 

13 at an institution of higher education; and 

14 (F) developing strategies to hire and retain 

15 qualified supervisors for apprentices that sup16 port such apprentices through— 

17 (i) professional development; 

18 (ii) mentorship; 

19 (iii) evaluation; and 

20 (iv) training. 

21 (2) PERMITTED USES.—In addition to the re22 quirements under paragraph (1), a grant under sub23 section (a) may be used to— 

24 (A) coordinate with the State apprentice25 ship agency to determine and disseminate best 


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1 practices, recommended curricula, or other re2 sources on administering effective apprentice3 ships for businesses, institutions of higher edu4 cation, or other entities participating in an ap5 prenticeship; and 

6 (B) establish primary indicators of per7 formance with respect to apprentices and indi8 viduals who have completed an apprenticeship 

9 to be shared on State and national workforce 

10 registries (commonly known as ‘‘Registered Ap11 prenticeship Partners Information Data Sys12 tems’’), including— 

13 (i) the percentage of individuals who 

14 have completed an apprenticeship and re15 main employed full-time in early childhood 

16 education— 

17 (I) 6 months after completing 

18 such apprenticeship; and 

19 (II) 1 year after completing such 

20 apprenticeship; 

21 (ii) the median earnings of individuals 

22 who have completed an apprenticeship and 

23 are employed full-time in early childhood 

24 education within 6 months after com25 pleting such apprenticeship; 


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1 (iii) the percentage of apprentices who 

2 obtain a recognized postsecondary creden3 tial, a secondary school diploma, or the 

4 recognized equivalent of such diploma 

5 while participating in an apprenticeship; 

6 and 

7 (iv) the percentage of individuals who 

8 have completed an apprenticeship and who 

9 begin or obtain a recognized postsecondary 

10 credential or degree, a secondary school di11 ploma, or the recognized equivalent of such 

12 diploma within 1 year after completing an 

13 apprenticeship. 

14 (d) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall prioritize State 

15 applicants that— 

16 (1) have developed partnerships with— 

17 (A) Indian Tribes in such State; or 

18 (B) institutions of higher education that 

19 serve minority populations; 

20 (2) have a statewide credit articulation agree21 ment in place that ensures credit transfer between 

22 participating institutions of higher education in the 

23 State and other relevant credential programs; or 


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1 (3) assure that no less than 25 percent of the 

2 grant funds will be used to support apprenticeships 

3 in underserved or rural communities. 

4 (e) GRANT TERM AND LIMITATION.— 

5 (1) TERM.—The term of a grant made under 

6 this Act shall be 3 years. 

7 (2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall award no 

8 greater than 20 grants each fiscal year. 

9 (f) COST-SHARING.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 

11 cost of any activity carried out using a grant made 

12 under this Act shall be not more than 75 percent. 

13 (2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—The non-Fed14 eral share of the total cost of any activity carried 

15 out using a grant made under this Act may be in 

16 the form of donations or in-kind contributions of 

17 goods or services fairly valued. 

18 (g) STATE EVALUATION AND REPORT TO SEC19 RETARY.— 

20 (1) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 

21 1 year after receiving a grant under this Act, and 

22 annually thereafter for the duration of the grant, a 

23 State shall submit to the Secretary a report con24 taining an evaluation of the apprenticeships to deterVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H702.IH H702

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1 mine which program strategies made progress to2 ward— 

3 (A) increasing the aggregate number of ap4 prentices; and 

5 (B) increasing the retention rates of ap6 prentices. 

7 (2) RULE FOR REPORTING DATA.—The 

8 disaggregation of data under this Act shall not be 

9 required when the number of apprentices in a cat10 egory is insufficient to yield statistically reliable in11 formation or when the results would reveal person12 ally identifiable information about an apprentice. 

13 (h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 

14 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

15 shall submit to Congress a report on the effectiveness of 

16 each State that received a grant under this Act to develop, 

17 administer, and evaluate apprenticeships, including evalu18 ating— 

19 (1) an increase in the number of apprentices in 

20 early childhood education; 

21 (2) an increase in the retention rates of individ22 uals who work in early childhood education after 

23 completing an apprenticeship; 

24 (3) the career path of apprentices and individ25 uals who have completed an apprenticeship; and 


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1 (4) an increase in the number of credentials 

2 and degrees obtained by apprentices. 

3 (i) FUNDING.—To carry out the grant program 

4 under this Act, the Secretary shall use amounts allocated 

5 under section 414(c) of the American Competitiveness and 

6 Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 3224a). 

7 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

8 (1) APPRENTICE.—The term ‘‘apprentice’’ 

9 means an individual participating in a registered ap10 prenticeship program focused on early childhood 

11 education as that term is defined under section 103 

12 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

13 1003). 

14 (2) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice15 ship’’ means a registered apprenticeship program 

16 that trains apprentices. 

17 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

18 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

19 meaning given the term under section 102(a)(1) of 

20 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 1002(a)(1)). 

22 (4) REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM.— 

23 The term ‘‘registered apprenticeship program’’ 

24 means an apprenticeship program registered under 

25 the Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly known as 


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1 the ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 29 U.S.C. 50 et 

2 seq.). 

3 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

4 the Secretary of Labor. 

5 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

6 the several States, the District of Columbia, and the 

7 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Æ 


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