1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to education; establishing a three-year pilot program to provide high 
1.3 	school students with career and college counseling; exploring data collection, 
1.4 	accountability, and reporting system options to evaluate the impact of career and 
1.5 	counseling programs on subsequent school and work choices of high school 
1.6 	graduates; establishing a research consortium; appropriating money.
1.7 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.8 	Section 1. CAREER AND COLLEGE COUNSELING PILOT PROGRAM.
 1.9 		Subdivision 1.Establishment. A three-year pilot program is established to explore 
1.10 	options for helping public high school students in grades 9 to 12 make informed decisions 
1.11 	about career and postsecondary education choices through effective local partnerships that:
1.12 	(1) connect students and their high school with local public and private organizations 
1.13 	and agencies, postsecondary institutions, and local businesses and industries; and
1.14 	(2) enable students to acquire meaningful knowledge about work and higher 
1.15 	education. 
1.16 	A community-based intermediary organization with appropriate resources and experience 
1.17 	must coordinate the efforts of program participants in planning and implementing the 
1.18 	program, and evaluating the program's effectiveness.
1.19 		Subd. 2.Eligibility; application. A school district that serves a student population 
1.20 	of 50 percent or more students of color and 50 percent or more students eligible to receive 
1.21 	a free or reduced price meal and that is interested in providing career and college planning 
1.22 	opportunities for every high school student in the district may apply to the commissioner 
1.23 	of education, in the form and manner the commissioner determines, to participate in this 
1.24 	pilot program. To be eligible to participate, a district at least must submit a plan to the 
1.25 	commissioner that requires the interested district to:
2.1 	(1) identify and describe the qualifications of a community-based intermediary 
2.2 	organization that is willing and able to coordinate the efforts of the district, school 
2.3 	counselors, career and technical organizations, postsecondary institutions, and other 
2.4 	community-based program participants to provide all high school students enrolled in the 
2.5 	district's schools with meaningful knowledge about work and higher education;
2.6 	(2) direct school counselors, program staff, and volunteers to initiate and periodically 
2.7 	update a formal "career and education" plan for each student in grades 9 to 12 that 
2.8 	identifies and addresses current and emerging occupations, and establish a career and 
2.9 	college counseling center in each high school;
2.10 	(3) establish a career and college counseling center in each high school staffed by 
2.11 	employees and volunteers who assist students with college and career research, job and 
2.12 	college applications, financial aid requests, transition services, and job and college visits;
2.13 	(4) establish sufficient opportunities for students to continue to learn about work and 
2.14 	higher education and to improve students' access to well-paid employment in Minnesota 
2.15 	by participating in, among other things, job shadowing, summer jobs, internship programs, 
2.16 	and college visits;
2.17 	(5) significantly increase on an annual basis the number of students taking ACT 
2.18 	and SAT tests;
2.19 	(6) significantly increase on an annual basis the number of students applying to and 
2.20 	enrolling in two or four-year postsecondary institutions;
2.21 	(7) significantly increase on an annual basis the number of students applying for 
2.22 	scholarship aid;
2.23 	(8) significantly increase on an annual basis the number of families who participate 
2.24 	in college and financial aid planning meetings;
2.25 	(9) provide a program of study, to the extent practicable, that improves student and 
2.26 	faculty understanding of the level of academic readiness and rigor needed for successful 
2.27 	college-level coursework; 
2.28 	(10) provide a program of study, to the extent practicable, by offering new courses 
2.29 	that strengthen students' academic and career and technical skills, and by aligning high 
2.30 	school and postsecondary courses to achieve seamless academic development; 
2.31 	(11) provide students with sufficient support to help them overcome negative 
2.32 	attitudes and behaviors that impede their college and career readiness; 
2.33 	(12) significantly increase on an annual basis the number of high school graduates 
2.34 	who enroll in and complete a postsecondary education or career and technical program 
2.35 	leading to employment with a living wage; and
3.1 	(13) pursue a data collection, accountability, and reporting system to enable the 
3.2 	district, parents, and interested community members, including representatives of 
3.3 	postsecondary institutions, local agencies, adult education providers, labor organizations, 
3.4 	and local businesses and industries to be effectively informed about the results of this 
3.5 	pilot program.
3.6 		Subd. 3.Program participant; reports; recommendations. (a) The commissioner 
3.7 	must review the applications submitted under this section and select a fully qualified 
3.8 	district to participate in the pilot program.
3.9 	(b) The participating district must periodically report to the commissioner on its 
3.10 	efforts to fully implement its plan under subdivision 2 and must submit a final report to 
3.11 	the commissioner by December 31, 2010, that evaluates the effectiveness of the pilot 
3.12 	program. The commissioner must submit the report to the Education Policy and Finance 
3.13 	committees of the legislature by February 15, 2011, and recommend whether and how to 
3.14 	expand the program throughout the state.

3.15 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment 
3.16 	and applies to the 2007-2008 through 2009-2010 school years.

3.17 	Sec. 2. RESEARCH CONSORTIUM.
 3.18 	A partnership of higher education research institutions, facilitated by the 
3.19 	commissioner of education, is established to develop and implement a data collection, 
3.20 	accountability, and reporting system that effectively informs districts, parents, and 
3.21 	interested community members, including representatives of postsecondary institutions, 
3.22 	local agencies, adult education providers, labor organizations, and local businesses and 
3.23 	industries about the short and long-term effects to individuals and the community of 
3.24 	providing students with career and college counseling programs. The data system must be 
3.25 	available to members of the partnership to use in answering questions about the number 
3.26 	of students who receive career and college counseling and enroll in a postsecondary 
3.27 	institution, graduate from a postsecondary institution, and are employed after graduation, 
3.28 	and the wages the postsecondary graduates receive, among other information.

3.29 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.

3.30 	Sec. 3. APPROPRIATIONS.
 3.31 		Subdivision 1.Department of Education. The sums indicated in this section are 
3.32 	appropriated from the general fund to the Department of Education for the fiscal years 
3.33 	designated.
4.1 		Subd. 2.Career and college counseling pilot program. For the career and college 
4.2 	counseling pilot program under section 1:

4.3		$
	1,000,000
	.....
	2008
	
4.4		$
	1,000,000
	.....
	2009
	
4.5 		Subd. 3.Research consortium. For the research consortium under section 2:

4.6		$
	1,000,000
	.....
	2008
	
4.7		$
	1,000,000
	.....
	2009
	
4.8 	This appropriation is contingent upon nonpublic participants obtaining a 3 to 1 
4.9 	match of funds and in-kind contributions from nonstate funding sources for the purposes 
4.10 	of section 2.

4.11 	EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective July 1, 2007.