Report Title:

Vocational Education Programs

 

Description:

Appropriates funds for the establishment of vocational education programs in all public high schools.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

5

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to Vocational Education.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that vocational education programs provide students with the encouragement to go to college, the tools and guidance necessary for students to further their education after high school, and the assistance for the preparation for achieving career goals.

The legislature further finds that vocational education programs relate academic course work to occupational focus. According to the office of vocational and adult education, students involved in vocational programs are introduced to the work field where they encounter hands-on experiences concerning their career goals. The standard for students who completed courses with a passing grade in vocational education was seventy per cent, which was about ten to fifteen per cent higher than a general and remedial development education. Moreover, students involved in these programs will receive a high school diploma, and fifty per cent of them will be employed after graduation. According to the accountability systems in vocational education in Hawaii, seventy-five per cent of the students enrolled in vocational programs were projected to pass the former state-mandated test for essential competencies by the completion of grade twelve.

On October 31, 1998, the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 (Perkins II) was signed into law, mandating the establishment of a new vision of vocational and technical education for the twenty-first century. The purpose of this Act is to achieve that vision for Hawaii by increasing funding for the establishment of vocational education programs in all public high schools.

SECTION 2. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2001-2002, for the establishment of vocational education programs in all public high schools.

SECTION 3. The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of education for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2001.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________