Pupil instruction: work-based learning: youth apprenticeship programs: high school graduation requirements: pilot program.

(1) Existing law requires a pupil to complete designated coursework while in grades 9 to 12, inclusive, in order to receive a diploma of graduation from high school. The coursework requirements include, among others, the completion of one course in visual or performing arts, foreign language, or, until July 1, 2027, career technical education. Existing law defines "a course in career technical education" to mean a course in a district-operated career technical education program that is aligned to the career technical model curriculum standards and framework adopted by the State Board of Education, including courses through a regional occupational center or program operated by a county superintendent of schools or pursuant to a joint powers agreement. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to coordinate the development, on a cyclical basis, of model curriculum standards for, among other courses of study, a career technical education course of study. This bill, until July 1, 2027, would revise that definition to clarify that a course in a district-operated career technical education program that is aligned to the career technical model curriculum standards and framework adopted by the state board also includes courses that include participation in a preapprenticeship program, as defined, or a youth apprenticeship program, as defined. The bill would require the Superintendent, on or before July 1, 2029, and in collaboration with specified entities, to develop and adopt work-based learning program guidelines, as provided. The bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before January 1, 2026, and in collaboration with the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, to develop guidance on the definitions of youth apprenticeship programs, career technical education programs, preapprenticeship programs, and regional occupation programs, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the department, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the State Board of Education, to develop and maintain the California School Dashboard, a web-based system for publicly reporting performance data on the state and local indicators included in the evaluation rubrics. The department, pursuant to the requirement of developing the California School Dashboard, has included as one of several state indicators, the College/Career Indicator (CCI) , which represents the percentage of high school graduates who are prepared for college or a career, and includes several measures, including, among others, work-based learning measures, as part of the CCI. This bill would require the state board to, on or before July 1, 2026, consider including youth apprenticeship programs as a work-based learning measure for purposes of the CCI. (3) Existing law provides funding for career technical education programs, including through, among others, the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, the Strong Workforce Program, and a K–12 component of the Strong Workforce Program, with the purpose of creating, maintaining, supporting, encouraging, strengthening, and expanding the delivery of career technical education programs in the state, as provided. This bill would, subject to an appropriation of one-time funds for this purpose in the annual Budget Act or another statute, establish the High School Apprenticeship Pilot Program under the administration of the department. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2026, to provide grants to 3 school districts, county offices of education, or charter schools for use over 2 school years, commencing with the 2026–27 school year, as provided. The bill would require the department to, among other things, convene a working group with specified entities and to work in collaboration with the working group to, among other things, determine application procedures and selection criteria for the grant awards. The bill would require the department to identify data to be collected by the grant recipients and would require the department, on or before December 1, 2028, to submit a report to the Legislature including, among other things, the data identified by the department. This bill would make these provisions relating to the grant program inoperative on July 1, 2032, and would repeal it as of January 1, 2033.