Feingold Bill Will Better Prepare Students for Opportunities in Emerging Industries

Press Release

FEINGOLD BILL WILL BETTER PREPARE STUDENTS FOR OPPORTUNITIES IN EMERGING INDUSTRIES
Legislation to Develop New Education Partnerships is Part of Feingold's E4 Initiative to Fuel Job Creation and Spur Economic Development

U.S. Senator Russ Feingold is continuing the roll out of his E4 Initiative with the introduction of legislation to help connect schools with businesses and workforce development boards so we can better prepare young Americans for new jobs and improved college opportunities. The Connecting Education and Emerging Professions (CEEP) Act would provide competitive grants to states and school districts to survey emerging local workforce needs and design academic and work-based programs. These programs would teach students the skills necessary for success in rapidly growing industries such as green industries, advanced manufacturing, and health care related industries. The legislation is part of Feingold's recently unveiled initiative - dubbed E4 because of its focus on economy, employment, education and energy - to fuel job creation and spur economic development.

"Communities in Wisconsin and nationwide are seeing high dropout rates in high schools, with students saying they don't feel engaged by what they are learning," Feingold said. "We must engage those students, and with the emergence of new industries, we have an opportunity to give classroom learning a new relevance to life after graduation. By helping schools connect their students with businesses, workforce development boards, and universities offering opportunities in new and exciting fields, we can improve graduation rates and help these emerging industries thrive."

The U.S. has a graduation rate of approximately 70 percent and about one-third of students entering high school will not graduate on time. Graduation rates for minority and low-income students in Wisconsin and around the country are even lower. There are a variety of reasons that students drop out of high school, but some students report a lack of engagement as a factor that contributes to their decision to drop out. Senator Feingold's bill would provide grants, awarded on a competitive basis, to states and school districts to form education partnerships with businesses, workforce development groups, and post-secondary institutions to better engage students and help prepare young people for jobs in emerging industries or success in postsecondary education. The five-year grants would require the partnerships to design in-school and work-based programs in emerging industries. The bill prioritizes grants for rapidly growing industries and communities that have experienced significant job loss and would be flexible to address the unique needs of the partnerships' communities. The bill also requires the Department of Education to report to Congress on the effectiveness of the partnerships created through the CEEP Act including the success in boosting students' academic growth and placement in the workforce or postsecondary education. The cost of the legislation is fully offset so as to not increase the federal deficit.

On September 8th, Senator Feingold began implementation of the E4 initiative by introducing legislation to boost small business innovation to help spur job creation. Later this week, Senator Feingold will introduce bills to enhance workforce development and benefit the emerging energy sector.

More information is available at http://feingold.senate.gov/e4.

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