Some trade students are eligible for $9,000 in tuition help with the program.
A bill that would prolong a program giving financial help to students pursuing a trade was heard in the Senate Banking, Business, Insurance and Technology Committee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 154, sponsored by Sen. Brian Pettyjohn, R-Georgetown, repeals the sunset of the Focus on Alternative Skills Training Program.
That program provides up to $9,000 in training for graduating high school students into a non-degree program for certification and credentialing. It’s for students who enter a trade rather than going to college.
Per the bill’s fiscal note, the program’s operating costs to the state will be between $78,000 and $1 million for each of the next three fiscal years.
“This was originally funded through federal money, so it did not hit our state budget,” Pettyjohn said.
Rachel Turney, deputy secretary for the Department of Labor, said there’s plenty of money in pandemic relief funds that need to be spent by the end of 2024 that could help the state pay for the program.
On average, she said, a student in the program receives about $8,000.
No opposition was voiced, but the outcome of the bill was uncertain because Senate committees do not take votes in public. The vote tallied away from the committee and posted on the bill tracker.
Pettyjohn said he would hate to see a program that has helped kids succeed die when the kind of skills they provide are a hot commodity right now.
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz
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