Career technical education: pilot preapprentice aerospace machining program.

Existing law establishes the Health Science and Medical Technology Project, administered by the State Department of Education to provide competitive grant funds to California public schools to enhance existing or establish new health-related career pathway programs. This bill would state findings and declarations of the Legislature regarding California's aerospace workforce and trends in California's high schools. The bill would create a pilot preapprentice aerospace machining program, administered by the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency to provide career technical education to high school pupils in the form of machining and related curriculum that can be applied to various manufacturing industries in California, including, but not limited to, aerospace manufacturing, as specified. The program would be funded by a combination of private nonprofit and public funds, as specified, that would be deposited into the Machinist Investment Fund, which would be created by this bill. The bill would provide that implementation of the program would be contingent upon receipt of sufficient federal funding. Grants would be competitively awarded to community colleges based upon specified criteria, including their ability to address the existing local and regional industry manufacturing needs, while providing meaningful career technical education opportunities for at-risk youth. The bill would require the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges system to develop preapprenticeship curriculum in aerospace technology, and machining technology generally. The model curriculum would be required to result in the issuance of a certificate of completion stating that the holder has completed curriculum that meets specified criteria. The bill would specify that, consistent with federal guidelines, each community college shall complete an evaluation of its participation in the pilot program on or before the end date of the grant award, and submit the evaluation to the Chancellor's office by that date. The Chancellor's office would be required to compile the information provided by the participating community colleges, and to submit an evaluation to the Legislature by December 1, 2013. The bill would provide that its provisions would remain in effect until January 1, 2015.