Sec. 10-95h. Advisory committee on regional vocational-technical schools.

      Sec. 10-95h. Advisory committee on regional vocational-technical schools. There is established a state-wide advisory committee, which shall meet at least semiannually, to (1) identify emerging state and national workforce needs and trade technology programs for the regional vocational-technical school system to meet such needs; (2) identify the workforce skills that will be needed for the next thirty years and ensure that the curriculum of the regional vocational-technical school system is incorporating such skills into the regional vocational-technical schools; (3) ensure that all students who graduate from the regional vocational-technical school system have communication, leadership, teamwork and problem-solving skills, in addition to expertise in a trade technology; (4) assess the adequacy of the resources available to the regional vocational-technical school system as the system develops and refines programs to meet existing and emerging workforce needs; and (5) advise and make recommendations to the State Board of Education to carry out the provisions of subdivisions (1) to (4), inclusive, of this section. The committee shall consist of nineteen members as follows: (A) Two appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be representatives of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with five hundred or more full-time employees; (B) two appointed by the president pro tempore of the Senate, one of whom shall be a representative of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with five hundred or more full-time employees and one of whom shall be a teacher in the regional vocational-technical school system; (C) one appointed by the majority leader of the House of Representatives who shall be a representative of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with more than fifty, but fewer than five hundred full-time employees; (D) one appointed by the majority leader of the Senate who shall be a representative of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with more than fifty, but fewer than five hundred full-time employees; (E) one appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives who shall be a representative of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with more than fifty, but fewer than five hundred full-time employees; (F) one appointed by the minority leader of the Senate who shall be a representative of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with fifty or fewer full-time employees; (G) two persons appointed by the Governor who shall be representatives of business, holding the title of chief executive officer, president, chief operating officer or the equivalents thereof, drawn from key industry, service and manufacturing firms with fifty or fewer full-time employees; (H) the Commissioner of Education, or the commissioner's designee; (I) the Labor Commissioner, or the commissioner's designee; (J) the Commissioner of Economic and Community Development, or the commissioner's designee; (K) a representative from the Office of Workforce Competitiveness; (L) the chairperson of the State Board of Education, or the chairperson's designee; and (M) the cochairpersons and ranking members of the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to education. The committee membership shall reflect the state's geographic, racial and ethnic diversity.

      (P.A. 88-330, S. 1, 5; P.A. 97-136, S. 1; P.A. 07-40, S. 1; P.A. 08-153, S. 5.)

      History: P.A. 97-136 added recommendations on role of school craft committees and alternative technical training models to the duties of the committee; P.A. 07-40 added semiannual meeting requirement, replaced recommendations to be made by committee in former Subdivs. (1) to (4) with duties of committee in new Subdivs. (1) to (5), increased membership of committee to 19 and replaced former appointment process with new process in Subparas. (A) to (M), effective July 1, 2007; P.A. 08-153 amended Subparas. (A) and (B) to reduce number of full-time employees at qualifying firms to 500 or more and, in Subpara. (B), to specify that one appointee be a teacher in the regional vocational-technical school system, amended Subparas. (C), (D) and (E) to reduce number of full-time employees at qualifying firms to more than 50 but fewer than 500 and amended Subparas. (F) and (G) to reduce number of full-time employees at qualifying firms to 50 or fewer, effective July 1, 2008.