Mr. JEFFORDS introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the . Committees on Education and Labor and Ways and Means 1 A BILL To improve education and work opportunities for youth. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 That it is the purpose of this Act to improve education and 4 work opportunities for youth. 5 SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Youth Edu 6 cation and Work Act". 2 1 TITLE I-AMENDMENTS TO TITLE IV OF THE 2 3 4 COMPREHENSIVE EMPLOYMENT AND TRAIN ING ACT SEC. 101. Title IV of the Comprehensive Employment 5 and Training Act, hereinafter in this title referred to as "the 6 Act," is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: 7 8 9 10 "PART D-YOUTH EDUCATIon and Work ENTITLEMENT "STATEMENT OF PURPOSE "SEC. 491. It is the purpose of this part to guarantee 11 employment and supplemental educational opportunities to 12 eligible youth in poverty areas. 13 14 15 16 69 "DEFINITIONS "SEC. 492. As used in this part "(1) the term 'eligible youth' means a person be tween the ages of 15 and 19, inclusive, who has not 17 acquired a high school diploma or its equivalent and is 18 19 either attending a qualified high school or who is a resident of a poverty area and has not attended school within the previous 12 months. "(2) the term 'qualifying school' means any high school (as defined under applicable State law) a major ity of whose students are residents of poverty areas and any high school which serves all the residents of a poverty area. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 3 "(3) the term 'poverty area' means any Bureau of the Census geographical division in which, on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data available to the Secretary, 20 percent or more of the residents are at or below the poverty level as established by the Direc tor of the Office of Management and Budget. "ADMINISTRATION "SEC. 493. The Secretary of Labor and the Secretary 9 of Education hereinafter called 'the Secretaries' shall jointly 10 administer the programs authorized under this part, issue any 11 necessary regulations, approve all grants, and take action on 12 applications for assistance. Joint administration may be by 13 joint approval of actions by persons acting for each Secretary 14 or by the Secretaries' delegating their several responsibilities 15 to a single designated person. 16 "APPLICATION FOR ASSISTANCE 17 "SEC. 494. (a) Applications for financial assistance to 18 administer youth entitlement programs under this part shall 19 be submitted jointly by any local education authority having 20 jurisdiction over a qualifying school and the prime sponsor 21 with jurisdiction over the poverty area from which such 22 school draws its students. Such application shall be submitted 23 no less than 6 months nor more than one year before the 24 beginning of the school year in which the program is to oper25 ate. Such application shall contain such information as may 4 1 be prescribed by the Secretaries and shall contain assurances 2 that such entitlement program will meet the requirements of 3 section 6. 4 "(b) No application to administer an entitlement pro 5 gram shall be approved unless it contains "(1) satisfactory demonstration that the local education authority and the prime sponsor will have the administrative capacity to operate the program; "(2) an agreement concerning the allocation of reimbursable administrative costs between the prime sponsor and the local education authority; "(3) arrangements to coordinate the entitlement program with the operations of the private industry council established under title VII; "(4) an agreement between the local education authority and the prime sponsor concerning procedures for designating and qualifying counselors; “(5) assurances that compensated activities will not include activities normally performed as part of the youth's regular curriculum; "(6) agreed upon procedures for developing an education and employability plan for each youth; "(7) an agreement concerning the administration and content of remedial and alternative education pro 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 grams for youths whose needs are not met by the standard curriculum; "(8) procedures to enable a youth to secure a change of counselor for cause or (but not more than once in any school year) on grounds of personal incom patibility; "(9) procedures under which counselors will apply standards of bona fide participation in the program and provide for designated periods of suspension from the program when such standards are not met; and "(10) procedures, which may include supplemental payments, designed to make service in qualifying schools attractive to specially qualified and motivated teachers, counselors, and other personnel. "(c) The Secretaries shall by regulations ensure that op 16 portunity to comment on the application is given to appropri 17 ate parties, including the State board of education. 18 19 "SEC. 495. (a) For every youth in a qualifying school 20 who is making satisfactory progress under objective criteria 21 prescribed by the local education authority or the State board 22 or education, the entitlement program shall consist of not 23 more than 20 hours per week of appropriate compensated 24 activity during the school year and 40 hours in the summer. 25 Appropriate compensated activity for each such youth shall |