§ 543. Workforce education and training fund; grant programs

(a) Creation. There is created the Workforce Education and Training Fund in the Department of Labor to be managed in accordance with 32 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 7, subchapter 5.

(b) Purposes. The Department shall use the Fund for the following purposes:

(1) training for Vermont workers, including those who are unemployed, underemployed, or in transition from one job or career to another;

(2) internships to provide students with work-based learning opportunities with Vermont employers;

(3) apprenticeship, preapprenticeship, and industry-recognized credential training; and

(4) other workforce development initiatives related to current and future job opportunities in Vermont as determined by the Commissioner of Labor.

(c) Administrative and other support. The Department of Labor shall provide administrative support for the grant award process. When appropriate and reasonable, the State Workforce Development Board and all other public entities involved in economic development and workforce education and training shall provide other support in the process.

(d) Eligible activities.

(1) The Department, in collaboration with the Agency of Education when applicable, shall grant awards from the Fund to employers and entities, including private, public, and nonprofit entities, institutions of higher education, high schools, K-12 school districts, supervisory unions, technical centers, and workforce education and training programs that:

(A) create jobs, offer education, training, apprenticeship, preapprenticeship and industry-recognized credentials, mentoring, career planning, or work-based learning activities, or any combination;

(B) employ student-oriented approaches to workforce education and training; and

(C) link workforce education and economic development strategies.

(2) The Department may fund programs or projects that demonstrate actual increased income and economic opportunity for employees and employers for more than one year.

(3) The Department may fund student internships and training programs that involve the same employer in multiple years, with approval of the Commissioner.

(e) [Repealed.]

(f) Awards. The Commissioner of Labor, in consultation with the Chair of the State Workforce Development Board, shall develop award criteria and may grant awards to the following:

(1) Training programs.

(A) Public, private, and nonprofit entities, including employers and education and training providers, for existing or new training programs that enhance the skills of Vermont workers and:

(i) train workers for trades or occupations that are expected to lead to jobs paying at least 200 percent of the current minimum wage or at least 150 percent if benefits are included; this requirement may be waived when warranted based on regional or occupational wages or economic reality;

(ii) do not duplicate, supplant, or replace other available training funded with public money;

(iii) provide a project timeline, including performance goals, and identify how the effectiveness and outcomes of the program will be measured, including for the individual participants, the employers, and the program as a whole; and

(iv) articulate the need for the training and the direct connection between the training and the job.

(B) The Department shall grant awards under this subdivision (1) to programs or projects that:

(i) offer innovative programs of intensive, student-centric, competency-based education, training, apprenticeship, preapprenticeship and industry-recognized credentials, mentoring, or any combination of these;

(ii) address the needs of workers who are unemployed, underemployed, or at risk of becoming unemployed, and workers who are in transition from one job or career to another;

(iii) address the needs of employers to hire new employees or retrain incumbent workers, when the employer has demonstrated a need not within the normal course of business, with priority to training that results in new or existing job openings for which the employer intends to hire; or

(iv) in the discretion of the Commissioner, otherwise serve the purposes of this chapter.

(2) Vermont Internship Program. Funding for eligible internship programs and activities under the Vermont Internship Program established in section 544 of this title.

(3) Vermont Returnship Program. Funding for eligible returnship programs and activities under the Vermont Returnship Program established in section 545 of this title.

(4) Apprenticeship Program. The Vermont Apprenticeship Program established under 21 Vt. Stat. Ann. chapter 13. Awards under this subdivision may be used to fund the cost of apprenticeship-related instruction provided by the Department of Labor.

(5) Career focus and planning programs. In collaboration with the Agency of Education, funding for one or more programs that institute career training and planning for young Vermonters, beginning in middle school.

(g) Career Pathways. Programs that are funded under this section resulting in a credit, certificate, or credential shall demonstrate alignment with a Career Pathway.

(h) Expanding offerings. A regional career and technical education center that develops an adult technical education program of study using funding under this section shall:

(1) make the program materials available to other regional career and technical education centers and adult technical education programs;

(2) to the extent possible, align the program with subsequent programs offered through the Vermont State College System, the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, or an accredited independent college located in Vermont; and

(3) respond to current or projected occupational demands. (Added 2007, No. 46, § 4, eff. May 23, 2007; amended 2007, No. 182 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. June 2, 2008; 2009, No. 33, § 23; 2009, No. 54, § 9, eff. June 1, 2009; 2009, No. 1 (Sp. Sess.), § E.401.1; 2009, No. 146 (Adj. Sess.), § G14, eff. June 1, 2010; 2011, No. 52, § 13, eff. May 27, 2011; 2013, No. 199 (Adj. Sess.), § 41; 2015, No. 51, § C.3; 2015, No. 157 (Adj. Sess.), § K.1; 2017, No. 69, § E.2, eff. June 28, 2017; 2017, No. 189 (Adj. Sess.), § 10.)