McDonnell, 041719 NEAGO, AGO 19-4
Case Date | April 17, 2019 |
Court | Nebraska |
an accredited or approved, public or private, high school provider. An eligible program provider shall also have at least two years of experience providing adult dropout recovery services, including recruitment, learning plan development, and proactive coaching and mentoring culminating in qualification for a high school diploma.Sec. 3(1). Participants in the workplace diploma program must be at least twenty-two years of age and have no high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma. Id. A "workplace diploma program" is not defined. Providers applying to participate in the program must demonstrate "evidence" of several criteria, including "[a]ccreditation or approval by the State Department of Education or accreditation by a recognized regional accrediting body or consolidation thereof."[1] Sec. 3(2)(a)-(k). A workplace diploma program may be offered "in a campus-based, blended or online modality." Sec. 3(3). Labor is required to announce the approved providers on or before September 15, 2019. Providers are then required to establish a program and begin accepting students on or before October 15, 2019. Unless otherwise required in the Act, a provider is not required to reapply once approved. Sec. 3(4). Section 4 requires Labor to reimburse each provider participating in the program an amount which correlates to a student's completion of a specific "milestone." The bill lists six milestones, beginning with a $250 reimbursement for the completion of five credit hours,
[i]n an effort to promote workforce development in Nebraska, LB 644 is intended to provide the framework for creation, administration, and implementation of an adult workforce diploma program that would provide adults, at least twenty-two years of age, the opportunity to complete their high school diploma and develop critical career and technical skills to prepare for employment.Procedurally, the bill was scheduled for hearing by the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee on February 11, 2019. It remains in committee. RELEVANT CONSTITUTIONAL, STATUTORY AND REGULATORY PROVISIONS Nebraska Constitution Three provisions in the Nebraska Constitution are pertinent to your inquiries. First, Neb. Const, art. VII, § 1 provides, in pertinent part, that "[t]he Legislature shall provide for the free instruction in the common schools of this state of all persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years." Second, Neb. Const, art. VII, § 2 provides that "[t]he State Department of Education shall be comprised of a State Board of Education and a Commissioner of...
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