Health education: Health Science and Medical Technology Project.

Existing law establishes a Health Science and Medical Technology Project, administered by the State Department of Education to provide competitive grant funds to California public schools offering grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to enhance existing or establish new health-related career pathway programs, including programs at California partnership academies and regional occupational centers and programs, as well as other health science and medical technology pathway programs. Existing law requires the State Department of Education to report to the Legislature and the Governor on the efficacy of this project on or before January 1, 2012. Existing law repeals the project as of January 1, 2014. This bill would recast and revise the provisions relating to the Health Science and Medical Technology Project. The bill would require grant recipients to design and implement a multiyear coherent sequence of standards-based academic and career technical education courses and work-based learning experiences that provide pupils as early as middle school with a structured progression of secondary and postsecondary education. The bill would specify the purposes of the project. The bill would require the department to monitor and review all grantees under the project. The bill would instead require the department to report to the Legislature and the Governor on the efficacy of the project on or before January 1, 2016. The bill would also move the date of the termination of the operation of the project from January 1, 2014, to July 1, 2018, on which date these provisions would become inoperative, thereby extending the duration of the project by 4 12 years.