UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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AN ACT relating to career and technical education funding, making an 1
appropriation therefor, and declaring an emergency. 2
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 3
SECTION 1. KRS 157.069 IS REPEALED AND REENACTED TO READ 4
AS FOLLOWS: 5
(1) As used in this section: 6
(a) "Approved career and technical education dual credit" means earning a 7
grade of "C" or higher for a Kentucky Department of Education approved 8
career and technical education dual credit course equivalent to three (3) 9
hours of college credit; 10
(b) "Administrative operations costs" means costs associated with the 11
operations and staffing of a state-operated area technology center, 12
including but not limited to personnel, facility costs, building utilities and 13
maintenance, and custodial and office supplies; 14
(c) "Approved career and technical education pathway" means a four (4) 15
course career and technical education pathway approved by the Kentucky 16
Department of Education that provides a coherent, articulated sequence of 17
rigorous academic and career-related courses within a career and technical 18
education program area, and leads to an associate degree, an industry-19
recognized certificate or license, or a baccalaureate or higher degree; 20
(d) "Concentrator" means a student who has earned at least two (2) credits for 21
no less than two (2) courses in a single career and technical education 22
pathway; 23
(e) "Converted career and technical education center" means a center 24
providing locally operated career and technical education for which a local 25
district assumed authority from the state for the management and control of 26
the center during the 2020-2021, 2021-2022, or 2022-2023 academic years; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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(f) "General-cost career and technical education program" means a career 1
and technical education program or pathway in which high-cost technical 2
equipment, materials, or facilities are not required; 3
(g) "General-cost full-time equivalents" means the total number of secondary 4
students enrolled in general-cost career and technical education programs, 5
multiplied by the number of hours those students are enrolled, and divided 6
by six (6) hours; 7
(h) "High-cost career and technical education program" means a career and 8
technical education program or pathway in which high-cost equipment, 9
materials, or facilities are required; 10
(i) "Locally operated career and technical education" means a district 11
program that provides secondary students with one (1) or more approved 12
career and technical education pathways; 13
(j) "State-operated area technology center" means a state-operated secondary 14
school facility with the primary purpose of offering approved career and 15
technical education pathways; 16
(k) "Supplemental funding" or "supplemental funds" means moneys 17
appropriated by the General Assembly as supplemental funding to local 18
area vocational education centers; 19
(l) "Technical skill attainment" means earning an industry-recognized 20
certification, licensure, or credential as identified by the Kentucky 21
Workforce Innovation Board pursuant to KRS 158.6455(1)(e) or passing an 22
end-of-program assessment for articulated postsecondary credit as 23
designated by the Kentucky Department of Education Office of Career and 24
Technical Education; 25
(m) "Weighted high-cost full-time equivalents" means the total number of 26
secondary students enrolled in high-cost career and technical education 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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programs, multiplied by the number of credit hours in which those students 1
are enrolled, divided by six (6) hours, and multiplied by one and one-half 2
(1.5); and 3
(n) "Work-based learning program" means a cooperative education program, 4
internship, or registered apprenticeship within the student's chosen 5
approved career and technical education pathway. 6
(2) The Kentucky Department of Education shall provide funds from the 7
department's annual general fund appropriation to support the administrative 8
operations cost of state-operated area technology centers and converted career 9
and technical education centers. 10
(3) For converted career and technical education centers, beginning with fiscal year 11
2024-2025, the Kentucky Department of Education shall deduct from funds 12
designated for the state-operated area technology centers an amount equal to the 13
administrative operations costs of each converted career and technical education 14
center in the amount received by the center in the most recent fiscal year that the 15
center was under state management and control. The funds for each converted 16
career and technical education center shall be divided as follows: 17
(a) Seventy-five percent (75%) of the funds shall be sent to the local district that 18
has assumed management and control of the center; and 19
(b) Twenty-five percent (25%) of the funds shall be sent to the career and 20
technical education innovation and support fund established in subsection 21
(4) of this section. 22
(4) (a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury a restricted fund to be 23
known as the career and technical education innovation and support fund 24
to receive the funds allocated under subsection (3)(b) of this section. The 25
fund shall consist of moneys received from state appropriations, gifts, 26
grants, and federal funds. The fund shall be administered by the Office of 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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Career and Technical Education. Amounts deposited in the fund shall be 1
used for: 2
1. Supporting innovation in new or emerging career fields; 3
2. Supporting state-operated area technology centers that may 4
experience hardship or natural disasters; 5
3. Personnel costs to provide technical assistance to local districts 6
providing locally operated career and technical education, including 7
technical assistance relating to the monitoring and oversight on the 8
use of supplemental career and technical education funding; and 9
4. Any other purposes reasonably related to improving student outcomes 10
in career and technical education. 11
(b) Notwithstanding KRS 45.229, fund amounts not expended at the close of a 12
fiscal year shall not lapse but shall be carried forward into the next fiscal 13
year. 14
(5) Beginning with the 2024-2025 fiscal year and for each fiscal year thereafter, the 15
Kentucky Department of Education shall distribute to local boards of education 16
providing locally operated career and technical education and state-operated area 17
technology centers all general funds designated to supplement career and 18
technical education programs, subject to the following: 19
(a) A local district providing locally operated career and technical education or 20
a state-operated area technology center shall maintain eligibility for receipt 21
of federal funding pursuant to the Strengthening Career and Technical 22
Education for the 21st Century Act, Pub. L. No. 115-224, to be eligible to 23
receive supplemental funding pursuant to this subsection; 24
(b) All supplemental funds distributed pursuant to this subsection shall be used 25
to improve student outcomes in career and technical education pathways for 26
students in grades nine (9) through twelve (12), including but not limited to 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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student supplies, resources, materials, and equipment that is designed for 1
enhanced quality of instruction in a career and technical education 2
pathway, the purchase and maintenance of industry standard equipment, 3
assisting students with achieving technical skill attainment, and supporting 4
career and technical student organization participation; 5
(c) 1. Supplemental funds for career and technical education shall be 6
divided and allocated to each local district providing locally operated 7
career and technical education and each state-operated area 8
technology center with sixty percent (60%) dedicated for enrollment-9
based funding and forty percent (40%) for incentive-based funding. 10
2. The sixty percent (60%) enrollment-based funding shall be based on a 11
statewide full-time equivalent calculation of the total weighted high-12
cost full-time equivalents and general cost full-time equivalents during 13
the prior school year, subject to the following: 14
a. The department shall then distribute the enrollment-based funds 15
for each state-operated area technology center or local district 16
providing locally operated career and technical education based 17
on the center's or district's proportional share of the combined 18
weighted high-cost full-time equivalents and general-cost full-19
time equivalents of the prior year; 20
b. The department shall distribute the state-operated area 21
technology center fund portion to the respective state-operated 22
area technology centers and the local district fund portion to the 23
respective local districts; and 24
c. The department shall classify qualifying programs as either a 25
high-cost career and technical education program or a general-26
cost career and technical education program. 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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3. The forty percent (40%) incentives-based funding shall be based on an 1
annual statewide calculation of the total number of qualifying student 2
incentives. The calculation shall only use students that are in grade 3
twelve (12) and use the total incentives earned by those students 4
during secondary education at a state-operated area technology center 5
or within a local district. Once a student has been included in a year’s 6
calculation, that student shall not be included in any subsequent 7
year’s calculation, subject to the following: 8
a. Qualifying student incentives for students in their grade twelve 9
(12) year shall include: 10
i. Reaching the designation of a concentrator; 11
ii. Technical skill attainment; 12
iii. Completing a required number of hours or achieving a 13
benchmark within a work-based learning program; and 14
iv. Earning an approved career and technical education dual 15
credit; 16
b. The incentives in subdivision a. of this subparagraph shall be 17
allotted to the state-operated area technology center or local 18
district in which it was earned. Each type of incentive shall only 19
be counted once per student at state-operated area technology 20
centers and once per student at local districts for a maximum of 21
four (4) incentives per student at state-operated area technology 22
centers and four (4) incentives at local districts throughout their 23
secondary career and technical education. For incentive criteria 24
that is achieved more than once at state-operated area 25
technology centers, the incentive shall be counted for the state-26
operated area technology center where it was first achieved. For 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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incentive criteria that is achieved more than once at local 1
districts, the incentive shall be counted for the local district 2
where it was first achieved; 3
c. The department shall distribute incentives-based funds for each 4
state-operated area technology center or local district based on 5
the center's or district's proportional share of the combined 6
number of qualifying student incentives achieved by students in 7
grade twelve (12) at a state-operated area technology center or 8
within a local district throughout their secondary career and 9
technical education. The incentives-based funds shall be 10
distributed to the state-operated area technology center or local 11
district in which the incentive was achieved; and 12
d. The department shall distribute the state-operated area 13
technology center fund portion to the respective state-operated 14
area technology centers and the local district fund portion to the 15
respective local districts; 16
(d) There shall be no mid-year adjustment to the allocation of career and 17
technical education supplemental funding for a center or local district; and 18
(e) Notwithstanding the restriction in paragraph (b) of this subsection, a district 19
may submit a waiver request to the Office of Career and Technical 20
Education to use a portion of its allocation of supplemental funds for career 21
and technical education programming for students in grades (5) through 22
eight (8). The district shall submit a request which details the district's plan 23
for career and technical education programming for students in grades five 24
(5) through eight (8). In reviewing the request, the Office of Career and 25
Technical Education shall consider whether: 26
1. The district details a plan for orientation and exploration of broad-27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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based industries by giving students knowledge and experience 1
regarding careers within these industries and exploratory or hands-on 2
skills used in the industry; 3
2. There is direct alignment between middle and secondary career and 4
technical education pathways within the requesting district; and 5
3. Such designation of supplemental funding for programming for 6
students in grades five (5) through eight (8) does not have a 7
significant detrimental impact on the programming available for 8
students in secondary grades. 9
(6) The Office of Career and Technical Education shall monitor and provide 10
oversight of state funds distributed pursuant to this section to ensure that the use 11
of funding by eligible recipients meets the approved criteria as described in this 12
section. 13
(7) The Kentucky Board of Education shall promulgate such administrative 14
regulations in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A as may be needed in the 15
administration of this section and for disbursement of moneys from the funds. 16
(8) The Kentucky Department of Education shall publish on the department's 17
website: 18
(a) The list of all career and technical education programs available to students 19
and the program's designation as a high-cost career and technical 20
education program or as a general-cost career and technical education 21
program; 22
(b) A report of the supplemental funding amounts provided to each state-23
operated area technology center and to each local district, including an 24
explanation of the amount designated as enrollment-based funding and as 25
incentives-based funding; and 26
(c) A report of the administrative operations costs provided to each state-27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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operated area technology center and to each converted career and technical 1
education center, as well as the amount contributed toward the career and 2
technical education innovation and support fund. 3
Section 2. (1) To the extent that funds are made available for this purpose, 4
a local board of education shall provide a one-time award to any employee of a converted 5
career and technical education center as defined in subsection (1)(e) of Section 1 of this 6
Act who was employed by the converted career and technical education center at the time 7
of conversion and who remains employed by the same local board of education that 8
assumed operational control. The one-time award shall be an amount up to 14.48 percent 9
of the employee's salary at the time of conversion, which is based on the raises 10
subsequently provided for executive branch state employees and shall provide the 11
qualifying employees what they would have received had the career and technical 12
education center remained under state operation. The award amount shall be calculated 13
by the Kentucky Department of Education for each qualifying employee. 14
(2) A local board of education shall request reimbursement for the amount of one-15
time award payments made pursuant to this section from the fund to support education 16
excellence in Kentucky established in KRS 157.330. If the amount appropriated for 17
reimbursement of award payments is insufficient, then each award shall be reduced 18
proportionally. 19
(3) The Kentucky Department of Education shall ensure equitable distribution of 20
funds under this section. 21
(4) Notwithstanding the payment provided in subsection (1) of this section being 22
a one-time award, a local board of education may recognize the one-time award amount 23
as reflective of the appropriate annual salary for an employee receiving the award under 24
the conditions established by subsection (1) of this section, and may use resources 25
available to the local board of education to increase an employee's annual salary 26
accordingly. 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS HB 499/GA
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Section 3. There is hereby appropriated General Fund moneys in the amount of 1
$170,000 in fiscal year 2023-2024 to the fund to support education excellence in 2
Kentucky established in KRS 157.330 to support the payment of awards set forth in 3
Section 2 of this Act. 4
Section 4. Whereas it is critical to ensure that funding for career and technical 5
education is equitable across the state, aligns with fiscal years, reflects student 6
enrollment, and fosters successful outcomes in workforce preparation, an emergency is 7
declared to exist, and Section 2 and 3 of this Act take effect upon its passage and 8
approval by the Governor or upon its otherwise becoming a law, and Section 1 of this Act 9
takes effect on July 1, 2024. 10