Text: HF02458 Text: HF02460 Text: HF02400 - HF02499 Text: HF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 15.361 TITLE.
1 2 This part shall be known and may be cited as the "Certified
1 3 School to Career Program".
1 4 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 15.362 DEFINITIONS.
1 5 As used in this part, unless the context otherwise
1 6 requires:
1 7 1. "Certified school to career program" or "certified
1 8 program" means a secondary and postsecondary program
1 9 registered as an apprenticeship program under 29 C.F.R.
1 10 subtit. A, pt. 29, which is conducted pursuant to an agreement
1 11 as provided in section 15.364 or a program certified by the
1 12 state board of education, in conjunction with the department
1 13 of economic development, as meeting the standards enumerated
1 14 in section 15.363, that integrates a secondary school
1 15 curriculum with private sector job training which places
1 16 students in job internships, and which is designed to continue
1 17 into postsecondary education and that will result in teaching
1 18 new skills and adding value to the wage-earning potential of
1 19 participants and increase their long-term employability in the
1 20 state and which is conducted pursuant to an agreement as
1 21 provided in section 15.364.
1 22 2. "Participant" means an individual between the ages of
1 23 sixteen and twenty-four who is enrolled in a public or private
1 24 secondary or postsecondary school and who initiated
1 25 participation in a certified school to career program as part
1 26 of secondary school education.
1 27 3. "Payroll expenditures" means the base wages actually
1 28 paid by an employer to a participant plus the amount held in
1 29 trust to be applied toward the participant's postsecondary
1 30 education.
1 31 4. "Sponsor" means any person, association, committee, or
1 32 organization operating a school to career program and in whose
1 33 name the program is or will be registered or certified.
1 34 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 15.363 CERTIFICATION STANDARDS.
1 35 The state board of education, in consultation with the
2 1 department of economic development, shall adopt rules pursuant
2 2 to chapter 17A to guide the board and department in
2 3 determining whether a potential school to career program
2 4 should be certified.
2 5 A school to career program which is certified by the state
2 6 board of education in conjunction with the department of
2 7 economic development shall comply with all of the following
2 8 standards:
2 9 1. The program is conducted pursuant to an organized,
2 10 written plan embodying the terms and conditions of employment,
2 11 job training, classroom instruction, and supervision of one or
2 12 more participants, subscribed to by a sponsor who has
2 13 undertaken to carry out the school to career program.
2 14 2. The program complies with all state and federal laws
2 15 pertaining to the workplace.
2 16 3. The employer agrees to assign an employee to serve as a
2 17 mentor for a participant. The mentor's occupation shall be in
2 18 the same career pathway as the career interests of the
2 19 participant.
2 20 4. Other standards adopted by rule by the state board of
2 21 education after consultation with the department of economic
2 22 development.
2 23 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. 15.364 CERTIFIED PROGRAM AGREEMENT.
2 24 The certified program shall be conducted pursuant to a
2 25 signed written agreement between each participant and the
2 26 employer which contains at least the following provisions:
2 27 1. The names and signatures of the participant and the
2 28 sponsor or employer and the signature of a parent or guardian
2 29 if the participant is a minor.
2 30 2. A description of the career field in which the
2 31 participant is to be trained, and the beginning date and
2 32 duration of the training.
2 33 3. The employer's agreement to provide paid employment, at
2 34 a base wage, for the participant during the summer months
2 35 after the participant's junior and senior years in high school
3 1 and after the participant's first year of postsecondary
3 2 education.
3 3 4. The participant and employer shall agree upon set
3 4 minimum academic standards which must be maintained through
3 5 the participant's secondary and postsecondary education.
3 6 5. This base wage paid to the participant shall not be
3 7 less than the minimum wage prescribed by Iowa law or the
3 8 federal Fair Labor Standards Act, whichever is applicable.
3 9 6. That in addition to the base wage paid to the
3 10 participant, the employer shall pay an additional sum to be
3 11 held in trust to be applied toward the participant's
3 12 postsecondary education required for completion of the
3 13 certified program. The additional amount must be not less
3 14 than an amount determined by the department of economic
3 15 development to be sufficient to provide payment of tuition
3 16 expenses toward completion of not more than two academic years
3 17 of the required postsecondary education component of the
3 18 certified program at an Iowa community college or an Iowa
3 19 public or private college or university. This amount shall be
3 20 held in trust for the benefit of the participant pursuant to
3 21 rules adopted by the department of economic development.
3 22 Payment into an ERISA-approved fund for the benefit of the
3 23 participant shall satisfy this requirement. The specific fund
3 24 shall be specified in the agreement.
3 25 7. The participant's agreement to work for the employer
3 26 for at least two years following the completion of the
3 27 participant's postsecondary education required by the
3 28 certified program. However, the agreement may provide for
3 29 additional education and work commitments beyond the two
3 30 years.
3 31 8. If the participant does not complete the two-year
3 32 employment obligation, the participant's agreement to repay to
3 33 the employer the amount paid by the employer toward the
3 34 participant's postsecondary education expenses pursuant to
3 35 subsection 6.
4 1 9. That if a participant does not complete the certified
4 2 program contemplated by the agreement, any unexpended funds
4 3 being held in trust for the participant's postsecondary
4 4 education shall be paid back to the employer. In addition the
4 5 participant must repay to the employer amounts paid from the
4 6 trust which were expended on the participant's behalf for
4 7 postsecondary education.
4 8 Sec. 5. NEW SECTION. 15.365 PAYROLL EXPENDITURE REFUND.
4 9 1. An employer who employs a participant in a certified
4 10 school to career program may claim a refund of twenty percent
4 11 of the employer's payroll expenditures for each participant in
4 12 the certified program. The refund is limited to the first
4 13 four hundred hours of payroll expenditures per participant for
4 14 each calendar year the participant is in the certified
4 15 program, not to exceed three years per participant.
4 16 2. To receive a refund under subsection 1 for a calendar
4 17 year, the employer shall file the claim by July 1 of the
4 18 following calendar year. The claim shall be filed on forms
4 19 provided by the department of economic development and the
4 20 employer shall provide such information regarding the
4 21 employer's participation in a certified school to career
4 22 program as the department may require. Forms should be
4 23 designed such that claims for refunds for more than one
4 24 participant may be made on a single form. A valid claim shall
4 25 be paid with interest, the interest to begin to accrue on the
4 26 first day of the second calendar month following the date the
4 27 claim for refund was to be filed or was filed, whichever is
4 28 the latest, at the rate in effect under section 421.7 counting
4 29 each fraction of a month as an entire month under rules
4 30 prescribed by the department.
4 31 3. For the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2000, and for
4 32 each subsequent fiscal year, there is appropriated annually
4 33 from the general fund of the state to the department of
4 34 economic development an amount sufficient to pay refunds under
4 35 this section.
5 1 4. The department of economic development shall consult
5 2 with the department of revenue and finance for purposes of
5 3 this section. The department of economic development shall
5 4 adopt rules as deemed necessary to carry out the purposes of
5 5 the certified school to career program.
5 6 Sec. 6. EFFECTIVE AND APPLICABILITY DATES. This Act,
5 7 being deemed of immediate importance, takes effect upon
5 8 enactment, and applies retroactively to all calendar years
5 9 ending after the date of enactment.
5 10 EXPLANATION
5 11 The bill establishes a certified school to career program
5 12 within the department of economic development to provide
5 13 incentives to employers to hire individuals between ages 16
5 14 through 24. The program is designed to enable individuals to
5 15 learn new skills through employment, job training, and
5 16 classroom instruction by being employed during the summer
5 17 months after their junior and senior years in high school and
5 18 after their first year of postsecondary education. The
5 19 employer pays the individual a base wage with an additional
5 20 amount being deposited into a special account to be used to
5 21 pay the tuition costs for the individual's postsecondary
5 22 education. The incentive for the employer is a refund of 20
5 23 percent of the wages actually paid by the employer to the
5 24 individual for up to 400 hours per calendar year plus the
5 25 additional amount deposited into the special account for the
5 26 individual's postsecondary education for the first three years
5 27 the individual is in the program. The refund is paid from a
5 28 standing appropriation made from the state general fund to the
5 29 department of economic development. The appropriation begins
5 30 with fiscal year 2000-2001. The individual must agree to work
5 31 for the employer for at least two years following completion
5 32 of postsecondary education. If the individual fails to do so,
5 33 or fails to complete the postsecondary education required, the
5 34 individual must repay any moneys that the employer paid for
5 35 the individual's postsecondary education expenses.
6 1 The bill takes effect upon enactment and applies beginning
6 2 with the 1998 calendar year.
6 3 LSB 3478HV 77
6 4 mg/jl/8
Text: HF02458 Text: HF02460 Text: HF02400 - HF02499 Text: HF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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