Les Neuhaus
A new bill would analyze career education standards and make suggestions to improve Florida’s job training programs, according to the lawmaker who proposed it Thursday.
Rep. Al Jacquet, who sponsored HB 517, said it would create a new committee within the Department of Education to strengthen the state education system and help ensure Floridians would have an opportunity to gain the skills they need to in order to provide a better living for themselves and their families.
“Access to quality job training programs is a key ingredient for giving Floridians greater opportunities to get good-paying jobs,” Jaquet said. “Economic security leads to stronger families. Improving career education will help Florida’s workers learn the skills they need to help them break out of the cycle of poverty.”
The bill’s language says the Commissioner of Education may establish an advisory committee for the purpose of reviewing and evaluating the standards developed by the Department of Education for career education programs.
The committee must be composed of an odd number of members who represent the public and private sectors and who are appointed by the Commissioner of Education and the Chancellor of the Division of Career and Adult Education.
The bill would take effect July 1, 2017, if passed. It has three committees to be heard first.
