Op-Ed: Steer our students to the many paths for productive lives

Thanks to all of your hard work and support, we were successful in passing the Career Connect Washington legislation – HB 2158 makes the Career Connect Washington plan a reality! This legislation is a bold move forward for higher education overall, and specifically for CCW.

This achievement is a huge win for students and families in Washington state. The CCW legislation will help us:

• Grow registered apprenticeships and amazing programs that already exist AND build new ones
• Connect and build on our Community & Technical College programs and our Career and Technical Education programs in our K-12 system
• Fund programs and outreach at a REGIONAL level, to ensure we create programs that serve students right where they live, in all areas of the state and that students have the support to help them be successful
• Ensure students and families know about the opportunities

Also included in HB 2158 are key complementary efforts to help students participate in more CCL experiences. The Washington College Grant program provides scholarship aid to low-income students to pursue postsecondary degrees including Career Launch programs. Funding was also provided for dual-enrollment scholarships, equipment for K-12, skills centers, and CTCs, CorePlus, IT apprenticeships, healthcare apprenticeships, regional pre-apprenticeship pathways in Marysville, controls apprenticeship in Kitsap, and biotech manufacturing equipment in Bothell training facility. A summary of budget details can be found here.

This is only the beginning. Now we’ll begin the work together of creating and scaling the programs to give every student in our state high quality career connected learning opportunities.