A.G. Gancarski
A Senate bill seeks to give high school students more information about the viability of their potential career paths.
SB 1578, filed Wednesday by Republican Sen. Travis Hutson, charges the Department of Education with providing “career landscape” information about various jobs via school guidance counselors.
That data would include information about the costs of college, comparing and contrasting them to the profitability of a given field.
The Hutson bill also stipulates that students should learn about “alternative career paths.”
The bill moves to expand an unlimited number of charters to affiliates of the Florida College System; currently, universities can sponsor them. The rationale is that need extends beyond the borders of a given school district.
These expanded charters would be eligible for Florida Education Finance Program funding as if their students were in traditional public schools. That condition may upset defenders of traditional public schools during committee hearings.
With this bill, Hutson appears poised to follow up the friendly reception a workforce bill got in committees last year leading up to the beginning of the Legislative Session next week.
SB 130, which has already cleared two committees, would cede job-growth grant fund money to “certain” charter schools that offer the Career and Technical Education pathway.
That bill, which builds on reform and expansion of workforce training that Hutson carried in 2019, would facilitate an option for earlier training in a charter setting.
