84A.16  Statewide work-based learning intermediary network — fund — steering committee — regional networks.
  1.  A statewide work-based learning intermediary network program is established in the department of workforce development and shall be administered by the department. A separate, statewide work-based learning intermediary network fund is created in the state treasury under the control of the department of workforce development. The fund shall consist of all moneys deposited in the fund, including any moneys appropriated by the general assembly and any other moneys available to and obtained or accepted by the department of workforce development from federal or private sources for purposes of the program. Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund of the state. Notwithstanding section 12C.7, subsection 2, interest or earnings on moneys in the fund shall be credited to the fund.
  2.  The purpose of the program shall be to prepare students for the workforce by facilitating cooperation and collaboration between businesses and entities within the state system of education, as that state system of education is described in section 256.1, subsection 1, and to offer relevant, work-based learning activities to students and teachers. The program shall do all of the following:
  a.  Prepare students to make informed postsecondary education and career decisions.
  b.  Provide communication and coordination in order to build and sustain relationships between employers and local youth, the state system of education, and the community at large.
  c.  Connect students to career opportunities within the state, creating economic capital for the state using a skilled and available workforce.
  d.  Provide a one-stop contact point for information useful to both educators and employers, including information related to internships, job shadowing experiences, apprenticeable occupations as defined in section 84E.2, and other workplace learning opportunities for students including those related to occupations in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, critical infrastructure, commercial and residential construction, and targeted industries as defined in section 15.102.
  e.  Integrate services provided through the program with other career exploration-related activities, which may include but are not limited to a student’s career and academic plans and career information and decision-making systems under section 279.61.
  f.  Facilitate the attainment of portable credentials of value to employers such as the national career readiness certificate, where appropriate.
  g.  Develop work-based capacity with employers.
  h.  Provide core services, which may include student job shadowing, student internships, and teacher or student tours.
  3.  a.  The department of workforce development shall establish and facilitate a steering committee comprised of representatives from the department of education, the economic development authority, the community colleges, the institutions under the control of the state board of regents, accredited private institutions, area education agencies, school districts, the workplace learning connection, and an apprenticeship sponsor as defined in section 84E.2. The steering committee shall be responsible for the development and implementation of the statewide work-based learning intermediary network.
  b.  The steering committee shall develop a design for a statewide network comprised of fifteen regional work-based learning intermediary networks. The design shall include network specifications, strategic functions, and desired outcomes. The steering committee shall recommend program parameters and reporting requirements to the department of workforce development.
  4.  Each regional network shall establish an advisory council to provide advice and assistance to the regional network. The advisory council shall include representatives of business and industry, including construction trade industry professionals, and shall meet at least annually.
  5.  Each regional network or consortium of networks shall annually submit a work-based learning plan to the department of workforce development. Each plan shall include provisions to provide core services referred to in subsection 2, paragraph “h”, to all school districts within the region and for the integration of job shadowing and other work-based learning activities into secondary career and technical education programs.
  6.  a.  Upon approval by the department of workforce development of a region’s work-based learning plan submitted pursuant to subsection 5, moneys deposited in the statewide work-based learning intermediary network fund created in subsection 1 shall be distributed annually by the department of workforce development to each region for the implementation of the statewide work-based learning intermediary network.
  b.  If the balance in the statewide work-based learning intermediary network fund on July 1 of a fiscal year is one million five hundred thousand dollars or less, the department of workforce development shall distribute moneys in the fund to regions or consortiums of regions on a competitive basis. If the balance in the statewide work-based learning intermediary network fund on July 1 of a fiscal year is greater than one million five hundred thousand dollars, the department of workforce development shall distribute one hundred thousand dollars to each region and distribute the remaining moneys pursuant to the same formula established for distribution of funds by the department of education in section 260C.18C.
  7.  The department of workforce development shall provide oversight of the statewide work-based learning intermediary network. The department of workforce development shall require each region to submit an annual report on the region’s ongoing implementation of the statewide work-based learning intermediary network program.
  8.  Each regional network shall match the moneys received pursuant to subsection 6 with financial resources equal to at least twenty-five percent of the amount of the moneys received pursuant to subsection 6. The financial resources used to provide the match may include private donations, in-kind contributions, or public moneys other than the moneys received pursuant to subsection 6.
  9.  The department of workforce development shall adopt rules under chapter 17A for the administration of this section.
2005 Acts, ch 154, §1
C2006, §256.40
2006 Acts, ch 1030, §31; 2011 Acts, ch 118, §85, 89; 2013 Acts, ch 141, §34; 2016 Acts, ch 1108, §1, 9, 33, 34; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §2199, 2200
C2024, §84A.16
Referred to in §84A.5, 85.61, 256.125, 256.133
Section transferred from §256.40 in Code 2024 pursuant to directive in 
2023 Acts, ch 19, §2200
Section amended