May. 01, 2018
HARRISBURG – The House of Representatives Monday sent to the Senate legislation, authored by Rep. Stephen Bloom (R-Cumberland), to improve career and technical education (CTE) opportunities in Pennsylvania and help shrink the skills gap.
House Bill 2155 would remove barriers for qualified career and technical educators by streamlining the certification process.
“Recruiting the best instructors in career and technical fields is a critical component to ensuring we have a skilled workforce for tomorrow’s job opportunities,” Bloom said.
House Bill 2155 would allow the 18 credits required to obtain a Vocational I certificate to be counted toward the total credit hours required for a Vocational Instructional II certificate and would reduce the total number of credits required from 78 to 60.
Currently, a CTE instructor must take a total of 78 credits over 11 years to maintain certification, including some general education credits.
“It’s hard to rationalize the benefit to students of an HVAC instructor being required to take a course in an unrelated academic subject,” Bloom said. “Pennsylvania loses many qualified CTE candidates because they simply are not willing to go through an 11-year, 78-credit process.”
Additionally, Bloom’s proposal would increase the years of wage-earning experience in the occupation to be taught from two to four as a way to ensure instructors are qualified in their field.
“While we simplify the certification process, we also want to ensure our students are being trained by skilled professionals who are qualified for these jobs,” Bloom said. “The future of our local, state and national economies depend on having highly qualified, job-ready workers.”
House Bill 2155 is part of a nine-bill CTE package now awaiting consideration by the state Senate. The bills were developed from recommendations in a report issued by the House Select Subcommittee on Technical Education and Career Readiness.
Representative Stephen Bloom
199th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abbey Haslam
717.260.6222
ahaslam@pahousegop.com
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