2012 Vermont Statutes
Title 10 Conservation and Development
Chapter 22A WORKFORCE EDUCATION AND TRAINING
§ 543 Workforce education and training fund; grant programs

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§ 543. Workforce education and training fund; grant programs

(a) Creation. There is created a workforce education and training fund in the department of labor to be managed in accordance with 32 V.S.A. chapter 7, subchapter 5.

(b) Purposes. The fund shall be used exclusively for the following two purposes:

(1) training to improve the skills of Vermont workers, including those who are unemployed, underemployed, or in transition; and

(2) internships to provide work-based learning opportunities with Vermont employers for students from Vermont colleges, public and private high schools, regional technical centers, and the Community High School of Vermont, and for students who are Vermont residents attending college, high school, technical, or vocational schools out of state.

(c) Administrative Support. Administrative support for the grant award process shall be provided by the departments of labor and of economic development. Technical, administrative, financial, and other support shall be provided whenever appropriate and reasonable by the workforce development council and all other public entities involved in economic, housing and community development, workforce development and training, and education.

(d) Eligible Activities. Awards from the fund shall be made to employers and entities that offer programs that require collaboration between employees and businesses, including private, public, and nonprofit entities, institutions of higher education, technical centers, and workforce development programs. Funding shall be for training programs and student internship programs that offer education, training, apprenticeship, mentoring, or work-based learning activities, or any combination; that employ innovative intensive student-oriented competency-based or collaborative approaches to workforce development; and that link workforce education and economic development strategies. Training programs or projects that demonstrate actual increased income and economic opportunity for employees and employers may be funded for more than one year. Student internships and training programs that involve the same employer may be funded multiple times, provided that new students participate.

(e) Award Criteria and Process. The workforce development council, in consultation with the commissioners of labor, education, and of economic, housing and community development, shall develop criteria consistent with subsection (d) of this section for making awards under this section. The commissioners of labor, of education, and of economic, housing and community development shall develop a process for making awards.

(f) Awards. Based on guidelines set by the council, the commissioners of labor and of education shall jointly make awards to the following:

(1) Training Programs. Public, private, and nonprofit entities for existing or new innovative training programs. Awards may be made to programs that retrain incumbent workers. Awards under this subdivision shall be made to programs or projects that do all the following:

(A) offer innovative programs of intensive, student-centric, competency-based education, training, apprenticeship, mentoring, or any combination of these;

(B) address the needs of workers who are unemployed, underemployed, or are at risk of becoming unemployed due to changing workplace demands by increasing productivity and developing new skills for incumbent workers;

(C) 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;

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

(E) articulate clear goals and demonstrate readily accountable, reportable, and measurable results;

(F) demonstrate an integrated connection between training and specific employment opportunities, including an effort and consideration by participating employers to hire those who successfully complete a training program; and

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

(3) Apprenticeship Program. The Vermont apprenticeship program established under 21 V.S.A. chapter. Awards under this subdivision may be used to fund the cost of apprenticeship-related instruction provided by the department of labor.

(g) [Repealed.] (Added 2007, No. 46, § 4, eff. May 23, 2007; amended 2007, No. 182 (Adj. Sess.), § 7, eff. June 2, 2008; 2009, No. 33, § 23; No. 54, § 9, eff. June 1, 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.)