To direct the Secretary of Labor to award grants to develop, administer, and evaluate early childhood education apprenticeships, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7635 To direct the Secretary of Labor to award grants to develop, administer, and evaluate early childhood education apprenticeships, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 16, 2020 Mr. GUTHRIE (for himself and Ms. WILD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To direct the Secretary of Labor to award grants to develop, administer, and evaluate early childhood education ap- prenticeships, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. GRANTS FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION 3 APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 4 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary, in consulta- 5 tion with the Secretary of Health and Human Services 6 and the Secretary of Education, shall award grants to 7 States to develop, administer, and evaluate apprentice- 8 ships. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7635 IH (b) APPLICATION.—A State seeking a grant under 1 this Act shall submit an application to the Secretary for 2 approval at such time, in such manner, and containing 3 such information as the Secretary may require. 4 (c) USES OF FUNDS.— 5 (1) REQUIRED USES.—A grant under sub- 6 section (a) shall be used for activities that develop, 7 administer, and evaluate an apprenticeship, includ- 8 ing— 9 (A) equipping apprentices with specialized 10 knowledge, skills, and competencies required to 11 work in early childhood education; 12 (B) increasing the number of apprentices 13 (including apprentices that are in areas that are 14 underserved or rural) with a recognized postsec- 15 ondary credential, a certificate of completion of 16 an apprenticeship, or a degree from an institu- 17 tion of higher education; 18 (C) promoting recruitment and retention of 19 apprentices; 20 (D) providing a pathway to career ad- 21 vancement for apprentices by assisting such ap- 22 prentices in completing an apprenticeship and 23 tracking the percent of such completions, in- 24 cluding the apprentices who— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7635 IH (i) attend an institution of higher edu- 1 cation after completing an apprenticeship; 2 and 3 (ii) enter into employment that is un- 4 subsidized after completing an apprentice- 5 ship; 6 (E) supporting partnerships with institu- 7 tions of higher education in the State, busi- 8 nesses, and other entities participating in an 9 apprenticeship to provide for academic credit 10 for instruction related to the apprenticeship and 11 the application of such credit toward a degree 12 at an institution of higher education; and 13 (F) developing strategies to hire and retain 14 qualified supervisors for apprentices that sup- 15 port such apprentices through— 16 (i) professional development; 17 (ii) mentorship; 18 (iii) evaluation; and 19 (iv) training. 20 (2) PERMITTED USES.—In addition to the re- 21 quirements under paragraph (1), a grant under sub- 22 section (a) may be used to— 23 (A) coordinate with the State apprentice- 24 ship agency to determine and disseminate best 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7635 IH practices, recommended curricula, or other re- 1 sources on administering effective apprentice- 2 ships for businesses, institutions of higher edu- 3 cation, or other entities participating in an ap- 4 prenticeship; and 5 (B) establish primary indicators of per- 6 formance with respect to apprentices and indi- 7 viduals who have completed an apprenticeship 8 to be shared on State and national workforce 9 registries (commonly known as ‘‘Registered Ap- 10 prenticeship Partners Information Data Sys- 11 tems’’), including— 12 (i) the percentage of individuals who 13 have completed an apprenticeship and re- 14 main employed full-time in early childhood 15 education— 16 (I) 6 months after completing 17 such apprenticeship; and 18 (II) 1 year after completing such 19 apprenticeship; 20 (ii) the median earnings of individuals 21 who have completed an apprenticeship and 22 are employed full-time in early childhood 23 education within 6 months after com- 24 pleting such apprenticeship; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7635 IH (iii) the percentage of apprentices who 1 obtain a recognized postsecondary creden- 2 tial, a secondary school diploma, or the 3 recognized equivalent of such diploma 4 while participating in an apprenticeship; 5 and 6 (iv) the percentage of individuals who 7 have completed an apprenticeship and who 8 begin or obtain a recognized postsecondary 9 credential or degree, a secondary school di- 10 ploma, or the recognized equivalent of such 11 diploma within 1 year after completing an 12 apprenticeship. 13 (d) PRIORITY.—The Secretary shall prioritize State 14 applicants that— 15 (1) have developed partnerships with— 16 (A) Indian Tribes in such State; or 17 (B) institutions of higher education that 18 serve minority populations; 19 (2) have a statewide credit articulation agree- 20 ment in place that ensures credit transfer between 21 participating institutions of higher education in the 22 State and other relevant credential programs; or 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7635 IH (3) assure that no less than 25 percent of the 1 grant funds will be used to support apprenticeships 2 in underserved or rural communities. 3 (e) GRANT TERM AND LIMITATION.— 4 (1) TERM.—The term of a grant made under 5 this Act shall be 3 years. 6 (2) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall award no 7 greater than 20 grants each fiscal year. 8 (f) COST-SHARING.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 10 cost of any activity carried out using a grant made 11 under this Act shall be not more than 75 percent. 12 (2) IN-KIND CONTRIBUTIONS.—The non-Fed- 13 eral share of the total cost of any activity carried 14 out using a grant made under this Act may be in 15 the form of donations or in-kind contributions of 16 goods or services fairly valued. 17 (g) STATE EVALUATION AND REPORT TO SEC- 18 RETARY.— 19 (1) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 20 1 year after receiving a grant under this Act, and 21 annually thereafter for the duration of the grant, a 22 State shall submit to the Secretary a report con- 23 taining an evaluation of the apprenticeships to deter- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7635 IH mine which program strategies made progress to- 1 ward— 2 (A) increasing the aggregate number of ap- 3 prentices; and 4 (B) increasing the retention rates of ap- 5 prentices. 6 (2) RULE FOR REPORTING DATA.—The disag- 7 gregation of data under this Act shall not be re- 8 quired when the number of apprentices in a category 9 is insufficient to yield statistically reliable informa- 10 tion or when the results would reveal personally 11 identifiable information about an apprentice. 12 (h) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 5 years 13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 14 shall submit to Congress a report on the effectiveness of 15 each State that received a grant under this Act to develop, 16 administer, and evaluate apprenticeships, including evalu- 17 ating— 18 (1) an increase in the number of apprentices in 19 early childhood education; 20 (2) an increase in the retention rates of individ- 21 uals who work in early childhood education after 22 completing an apprenticeship; 23 (3) the career path of apprentices and individ- 24 uals who have completed an apprenticeship; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7635 IH (4) an increase in the number of credentials 1 and degrees obtained by apprentices. 2 (i) FUNDING.—To carry out the grant program 3 under this Act, the Secretary shall use amounts allocated 4 under section 414(c) of the American Competitiveness and 5 Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 3224a). 6 (j) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 7 (1) APPRENTICE.—The term ‘‘apprentice’’ 8 means an individual participating in a registered ap- 9 prenticeship program focused on early childhood 10 education as that term is defined under section 103 11 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 12 1003). 13 (2) APPRENTICESHIP.—The term ‘‘apprentice- 14 ship’’ means a registered apprenticeship program 15 that trains apprentices. 16 (3) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 17 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 18 meaning given the term under section 102(a)(1) of 19 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 20 1002(a)(1)). 21 (4) REGISTERED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM.— 22 The term ‘‘registered apprenticeship program’’ 23 means an apprenticeship program registered under 24 the Act of August 16, 1937 (commonly known as 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 7635 IH the ‘‘National Apprenticeship Act’’; 29 U.S.C. 50 et 1 seq.). 2 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 3 the Secretary of Labor. 4 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 5 the several States, the District of Columbia, and the 6 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:42 Aug 05, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7635.IH H7635 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS