On Wednesday, the Alabama Senate Education Policy Committee advanced legislation with several educational goals – including requiring that future Alabama High School seniors must meet at least one college or career-ready benchmark to graduate.
House Bill 109 (HB109) is sponsored by State Representative Terri Collins.
Collins explained that HB109 is omnibus legislation that includes three acts: the Alabama Credential Quality and Transparency Act, the Alabama Terminal on Linking and Analyzing Statistics on Career Pathways Act, and the Alabama College and Career Readiness Act.
“They are based on the recommendations of the Alabama Workforce Task Force,” Collins told the Committee.
The Career Pathways Act would let students see what the high demand job in their area are and what it takes to get those jobs,” Collins explained. “And hopefully grow our labor participation rate.”
Collins explained that students must complete at least one benchmark for college or career-ready standards. To prove college readiness, that could be a high score on the ACT, completing an advanced placement course, or completing a dual enrollment course. For military readiness, the benchmark could be taking the ASVAB test. Career readiness could be completing an apprenticeship, receiving a skills credential, or completing other skills training.
Collins said, “In order to graduate in 2025, you would either have to be college ready or be career ready.”
State Senator Donnie Chesteen is the chair of the Education Police Committee.
Chesteen said there was a committee amendment to the bill.
Collins said, “The original bill said that the college and career-ready part of this had to be in place by 2024-2025. The amendment puts that back to 2025-2026.”
Chesteen said, “Moving the start date back to 2026 is important for those who may have slipped through the cracks. Thank you for working with us on this amendment.”
Sen. Rodger Smitherman said, “I like this bill. I was an orderly. We don’t have orderlies now – we have LPNs. The advantage was that I was career-ready when I graduated from high school. I was working while in high school.”
To make it easier for employers and workers to navigate the increasingly complex system of credentials needed to apply for positions in the 21st-century economy, the bill creates a free searchable public online registry of educational and occupational credentials. The act includes restrictions on releasing personally identifiable information, including procedures for handling data breaches.
The Committee voted to give HB109 a favorable report on an 8 to 0 vote. The full Senate could consider the amended bill as early as Tuesday.
Tuesday will be day 11 of the regular session. The Legislature is limited by the Alabama Constitution to no more than thirty legislative days during a regular session.
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