a. The economic prosperity of New Jersey depends on a strong pipeline of workers with the academic, technical, and career readiness skills to fill current and future jobs;

b. Expanding access to career and technical education and engaging employers in the development and delivery of technical education are crucial for the State‘s economic growth and critical strategies for keeping New Jersey competitive in the global economy;

c. While almost 32,000 full-time and shared-time students are currently enrolled at New Jersey’s county vocational school districts, the demand for a career and technical education exceeds the space available at most schools;

d. On a Statewide basis, county vocational school districts receive nearly 2.5 applications for each available space, and in some counties, and for certain programs, the demand is much greater. In 2013, roughly 16,700 students seeking career and technical education programs were not able to be accommodated;

e. Given the immediate shortage of space for career and technical education program expansion, employers can play a significant role in helping to meet short-term needs by hosting career and technical education programs in an industry setting and offering work-based learning opportunities for students;

f. This type of public-private partnership is a desirable mechanism to address the needed expansion of career and technical education programs and would give students access to equipment and technology that is expensive or difficult to replicate in public school district settings; and

g. In order to facilitate this worthwhile partnership, career and technical education programs taught in industry settings should be exempted from certain unnecessarily restrictive State regulations.

L.2014, c.75, s.1.