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Public Act 92-0250
SB845 Enrolled LRB9200729MWpk
AN ACT concerning technology.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the High
Technology School-to-Work Act.
Section 5. Statement of findings. The General Assembly
finds that:
(1) Illinois must compete in an increasingly global
economy characterized by the use of advanced technologies
to create new products and services and increase the
efficiency of production;
(2) those new technologies include, but are not
limited to, advanced telecommunications and computer
technologies; advanced developments in biotechnology
relating to health, medical science, and agriculture;
advanced manufacturing methods; and advanced materials
development;
(3) to successfully compete in the new economy,
Illinois needs workers who are highly skilled in
scientific, technical, and engineering occupations,
including engineers; life and physical scientists;
mathematical specialists; engineering and science
technicians; computer specialists; and engineering,
scientific, and computer managers;
(4) workers in these occupations need in-depth
knowledge of the theories and principles of science,
engineering, and mathematics; and
(5) there is a need to increase the number of
secondary and postsecondary students preparing for and
entering high technology occupations.
Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
"Department" means the Department of Commerce and
Community Affairs.
"Director" means the Director of Commerce and Community
Affairs.
"High technology occupations" mean scientific, technical,
and engineering occupations including, but not limited to,
the following occupational groups and detailed occupations:
engineers; life and physical scientists; mathematical
specialists; engineering and science technicians; computer
specialists; and engineering, scientific, and computer
managers.
"Local partnership" means a cooperative agreement between
one or more employers, including employer associations, and
one or more secondary or postsecondary schools established to
operate a high technology school-to-work project. The
partnerships must be employer-led and designed to respond to
the high technology skill requirements of participating
employers.
Section 15. Purpose. The primary purpose of this Act is
to increase the number of students exiting secondary and
postsecondary schools who opt to enter occupations requiring
advanced skills in the areas of science, mathematics, and
advanced technology. A secondary goal is to encourage
students exiting secondary schools to pursue advance
educational programs in technical fields and the sciences.
Section 20. Coordination with economic development
activities. The Department must coordinate the administration
of the High Technology School-to-Work Program, including the
targeting of projects, with the Department's technology
related planning and economic development initiatives.
Section 25. Program design. Local partnerships must
provide students with work experience in high technology
occupations combined with related classroom instruction.
Employers and educators must cooperatively adopt or develop,
or both, skills standards, curricula, and assessment tools.
Skills standards must be current with high performance
workplaces and technology requirements. Project activities
include, but are not limited to:
(1) designing in-school and related work-based
curricula;
(2) training teachers;
(3) training work site supervisors and mentors;
(4) developing instructional materials;
(5) coordinating activities among the partners;
(6) outreach and recruitment of students;
(7) developing assessment tools;
(8) providing vocational counseling to student
participants;
(9) completing project related administrative
activities; and
(10) evaluating the project.
Section 30. Allowable costs. Subject to the limitations
in Section 35 of this Act, grant funds may be used for any
reasonable and necessary expense related to the successful
conduct of a high technology school-to-work project as
approved by the Department and specified in a grant agreement
with the Department.
Section 35. Limitations. To be an allowable grant cost,
expenses must:
(1) be for an extraordinary cost incurred due to
the high technology school-to-work project;
(2) not be used for stipends or wages paid to
students during the work-based project activities; and
(3) not be used to pay the wages of teachers
working in short-term, part-time, internship, or similar
work experience arrangements with private employers
designed to provide teachers with experience in an
industry.
Section 40. Duties. The Department has the following
duties:
(1) To establish and coordinate the High Technology
School-to-Work Program.
(2) Subject to appropriations, to make grants to
local partnerships to administer high technology
school-to-work projects.
(3) To periodically identify high technology
industries and occupations for which training programs
may be developed pursuant to the requirements of this
Act.
(4) To issue guidelines for submitting grant
applications.
(5) To adopt, amend, or repeal any rules that may
be necessary to administer this Act.
Section 45. Grant selection. Applications for funding
must be reviewed using the criteria in this Section. The
Director must make final funding decisions. Review criteria
include:
(1) the appropriateness of the targeted industries
and occupations;
(2) the appropriateness of the targeted student
population;
(3) the efforts to recruit female and minority
students into the project;
(4) the strength of the local partnership and
private sector involvement;
(5) the related experience and qualifications of
the project staff;
(6) the quality of the project work plan;
(7) the proposed project costs in relationship to
planned outcomes;
(8) the relationship of the project to the
Department's economic development plans and initiatives;
(9) the geographic distribution of grant awards
throughout the State; and
(10) the quality of presentations made to the
Department, if the Department requests presentations.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
Passed in the General Assembly May 09, 2001.
Approved August 03, 2001.
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