PRINTER'S NO. 3196
No. 2290 Session of 1984
INTRODUCED BY MANDERINO, RYAN, DeLUCA, E. Z. TAYLOR, IRVIS, HERMAN, PIEVSKY, BURNS, HOEFFEL, SEMMEL, LLOYD, TELEK, AFFLERBACH, MACKOWSKI, FREEMAN, COSLETT, ITKIN, DeVERTER, COWELL, DOMBROWSKI, HAYES, D. R. WRIGHT, RUDY, SALOOM, PETRARCA, WARGO, BELFANTI, STUBAN, COHEN, GRUPPO, STEIGHNER, CESSAR, KASUNIC, DALEY, D. W. SNYDER, HASAY, WESTON, SALVATORE, BOYES, ROBBINS, MERRY, FARGO, SCHULER, GRIECO, McHALE, DAVIES, MICHLOVIC, GANNON, SIRIANNI, RYBAK, GEORGE, WACHOB, FEE, CALTAGIRONE, PRESTON, HALUSKA, COLE, BUNT, ANGSTADT, PETERSON, PISTELLA, KUKOVICH, BALDWIN, CAPPABIANCA, McCALL, SHOWERS, PRATT, STEWART, WOZNIAK, CORDISCO, KOSINSKI, BATTISTO, GODSHALL, SWIFT, RAPPAPORT, OLIVER, SEVENTY, CLARK, DUFFY, MRKONIC, SWEET, GAMBLE, RICHARDSON AND MAYERNIK, JUNE 13, 1984
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, JUNE 13, 1984
AN ACT 1 Establishing a program within the Department of Education for 2 the acquisition of new vocational-technical equipment and the 3 upgrading of existing vocational-technical equipment that is 4 necessary to provide secondary, postsecondary and adult 5 students with relevant occupational training; providing for 6 allocations and grants of money; and making a nonlapsing 7 appropriation. 8 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 9 hereby enacts as follows: 10 Section 1. Short title. 11 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Updating of 12 Vocational-Technical Equipment Act. 13 Section 2. Definitions. 14 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
1 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the 2 context clearly indicates otherwise: 3 "Department." The Department of Education. 4 "Enrollment." Secondary and adult enrollments collected 5 through the Vocational Education Management Information System. 6 "Equivalent full-time students." Equivalent full-time 7 students enrolled in two-year or less than two-year terminal 8 non-liberal arts programs as set forth in the act of August 24, 9 1963 (P.L.1132, No.484), known as the Community College Act of 10 1963. 11 "Private industry council." The private industry councils 12 established under the Federal Job Training Partnership Act 13 (Public Law 97-300, 29 U.S.C. § 1501, et seq.). 14 "Secretary." The Secretary of Education. 15 Section 3. Acquisition and upgrading of vocational-technical 16 equipment. 17 (a) Program.--There is established within the department a 18 program to provide funds directly to school districts, area 19 vocational-technical schools and community colleges for the 20 acquisition and upgrading of vocational-technical equipment. The 21 program shall provide funds to be used exclusively for the 22 purchase or lease of new vocational-technical equipment and the 23 upgrading of existing vocational-technical equipment that is 24 necessary to offer vocational-technical courses or programs to 25 secondary, postsecondary and adult students that provide skills 26 needed in the labor market. 27 (b) Funds available to school districts and regional 28 vocational-technical schools.--Of the total funds available, 29 school districts and area vocational-technical schools shall be 30 granted 55% to acquire or lease new equipment or to upgrade 19840H2290B3196 - 2 -
1 existing equipment necessary to provide occupationally related 2 vocational-technical courses to secondary and adult students. 3 The department shall compute the grants for each school district 4 or area vocational-technical school using the grant formula 5 provided in section 5(a). 6 (c) Funds available to community colleges.--Of the total 7 funds available, community colleges shall be granted 45% to 8 acquire new equipment or to upgrade existing equipment necessary 9 to provide courses to students enrolled in two-year or less than 10 two-year terminal non-liberal arts programs. The department 11 shall compute the grants for each community college using the 12 grant formula provided in section 5(b). 13 Section 4. Receipt of funds. 14 (a) Allocation approval requirements.--Before the department 15 allocates any of the funds, it shall require the appropriate 16 school district, area vocational-technical school or community 17 college to document that: 18 (1) The courses to be provided with the equipment will 19 provide students with occupational skills in demand in the 20 labor market. 21 (2) The funds will be expended only for equipment. 22 (3) The funds shall not be used to supplant existing 23 Federal, State and local funds used for equipment acquisition 24 and upgrading by reporting the average annual expenditures 25 for vocational-technical equipment for the fiscal years 1981- 26 1982, 1982-1983 and 1983-1984, and by certifying that the 27 average annual expenditures from funds other than those 28 appropriated by this act for the fiscal years 1984-1985, 29 1985-1986 and 1986-1987 equal or exceed the average annual 30 expenditures for the fiscal years 1981-1982, 1982-1983 and 19840H2290B3196 - 3 -
1 1983-1984. 2 (4) The funds will not be used as matching funds for any 3 other State program. 4 (5) The equipment relates to the needs of the labor 5 market. 6 Further, the department shall not allocate any of the entitled 7 funds until it receives comments from the appropriate private 8 industry council. 9 (b) Private industry council review.--Documentation provided 10 to the department pursuant to subsection (a) shall be provided 11 by the school district, area vocational-technical school or 12 community college to the private industry council in the 13 geographical area in which the school district, area vocational- 14 technical school or community college is located or serves. It 15 shall be the responsibility of the private industry council to 16 review the proposed acquisition or lease of new equipment or 17 upgrading of existing equipment and submit to the department 18 within 90 days from the date it receives the documentation its 19 comments on the appropriateness of the proposed equipment plans 20 in light of labor market needs and other existing or planned 21 training programs. 22 Section 5. Grant formula. 23 (a) Formula for school districts and regional vocational- 24 technical schools.--Each school district and area vocational- 25 technical school shall receive a portion of the funds provided 26 pursuant to section 3(b), which shall be determined by dividing 27 the number of enrollments for the school district or area 28 vocational-technical school by the Statewide enrollment and 29 multiplying the result by the total amount provided in this act 30 pursuant to section 3(b). Enrollments shall be determined using 19840H2290B3196 - 4 -
1 the latest available data. 2 (b) Formula for community colleges.--Each community college 3 shall receive a portion of the funds provided pursuant to 4 section 3(c), which shall be determined by dividing the number 5 of equivalent full-time students enrolled in the community 6 colleges by the number of equivalent full-time students for all 7 community colleges and multiplying the results by the total 8 amount provided in this act pursuant to section 3(c). Equivalent 9 full-time students shall be determined using latest available 10 data. 11 Section 6. Equipment sharing agreements. 12 In order to maximize the use of the equipment provided by 13 funds appropriated in this act, the recipient may enter into 14 agreements with other government-sponsored vocational training 15 providers for the use of the equipment. 16 Section 7. Indicators of program need and impact. 17 (a) Timely documentation.--The department shall require the 18 school districts, area vocational-technical schools and 19 community colleges to specify the extent to which the 20 documentation provided pursuant to section 4 reflects the demand 21 for labor market skills based upon analyses conducted within the 22 last five years. 23 (b) Annual legislative report required.--By March 1 of each 24 year, the department shall submit to the Chief Clerk of the 25 House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate a 26 report which shall include, but need not be limited to, a 27 measure of the extent to which the comments of the private 28 industry councils were taken into consideration, the amount and 29 types of equipment funded by the labor market area, the number 30 of persons trained by the major vocational program area and the 19840H2290B3196 - 5 -
1 labor market area, the job placement rate of persons trained by 2 the major vocational program area and the labor market area and 3 the number of agreements entered into by recipients with other 4 vocational training providers. 5 (c) Impact survey required.--Upon the termination of this 6 act or July 1, 1987, whichever shall occur sooner, the 7 department shall undertake a survey to update the report 8 "Vocational Education Tool and Equipment Inventory" in order to 9 inform the General Assembly of the impact which this act had on 10 bringing the equipment used in vocational training programs 11 closer to the technology used in industry. 12 Section 8. Duty to inform department. 13 All recipients of funds under this act shall be required to 14 provide any and all information requested by the department for 15 the purposes of this act. 16 Section 9. Appropriation. 17 The sum of $27,000,000 is hereby appropriated to the 18 Department of Education from the Pennsylvania Economic 19 Revitalization Fund for the purposes of this program. Any funds 20 from this appropriation remaining unexpended or unencumbered 21 upon the termination of this act shall automatically lapse into 22 the Pennsylvania Economic Revitalization Fund. 23 Section 10. Expiration. 24 This act shall expire on June 30, 1987. 25 Section 11. Effective date. 26 This act shall take effect immediately. F12L24RZ/19840H2290B3196 - 6 -