I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1439 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to enter into a partnership with 
a qualified local educational agency to conduct a model school-to-work 
program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2005 
Mr. RUSH (for himself, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michi-
gan, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. NORTON, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. OWENS, Mr. 
HINOJOSA, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Mr. LEWIS 
of Georgia, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, 
Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. KUCINICH, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. MEEKS of New 
York, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. WEXLER, and Mr. ANDREWS) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Education to enter into a 
partnership with a qualified local educational agency to 
conduct a model school-to-work program, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vocational Opportuni-
ties and Instruction through Cooperative Education Act 
of 2005’’ or the ‘‘VOICE Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. MODEL SCHOOL-TO-WORK PROGRAM. 
(a) PARTNERSHIP.—The Secretary of Education may 
enter into a partnership with a qualified local educational 
agency to conduct a model school-to-work program de-
scribed in subsection (b) for the purpose of determining 
whether such a program should be incorporated into public 
secondary schools on a nationwide basis. 
(b) MODEL SCHOOL-TO-WORK PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The model school-to-work 
program under this section shall provide course 
credits to secondary school students who participate 
in work-based learning experiences in the public or 
private sector. 
(2) STUDENT ELIGIBILITY.—To participate in 
the model school-to-work program under this sec-
tion, a student— 
(A) must have no criminal background; 
(B) must have a grade point average of 2.0 
or higher; and 
(C) must have a record of school attend-
ance that is deemed satisfactory by the quali-
fied local educational agency.
(3) MINIMUM
WAGE.—The model school-to- 
work program under this section shall ensure that 
students are paid at least the minimum wage under 
the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
201 et seq.) for work performed in connection with 
such program. 
(4) MAXIMUM
HOURS.—The model school-to- 
work program under this section shall not require, 
or provide course credits for, any work experience in 
excess of a total of 20 hours for any week. 
(c) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education 
shall submit a report to the Congress on the results of 
the model school-to-work program under this section, in-
cluding recommendations on whether such a program 
should be incorporated into public secondary schools on 
a nationwide basis. 
(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
(1) The term ‘‘qualified local educational agen-
cy’’ means a local educational agency that— 
(A) is located in a Midwestern urban dis-
trict; and 
(B) serves at least 400,000 students, of 
whom at least 70 percent are eligible for free or 
reduced-price lunches under the Richard B.
Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 
1751 et seq.). 
(2) The terms ‘‘local educational agency’’ and 
‘‘secondary school’’ have the meanings give to those 
terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
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