Relating to education programs and systems, including career and technical education expenditures and definitions, statewide lower division general education framework and common course numbering systems, and the implementation of a statewide corequisite model in Iowa community colleges

This bill relates to career and technical education expenditures and definitions, statewide lower division general education framework and common course numbering systems, and the implementation of a statewide corequisite model in Iowa community colleges. The bill renames the career and technical education service areas as content areas and requires the department of education to ensure that the six career and technical education content areas in the high school career and technical education program are aligned to a national framework representative of all career pathways. The bill modifies what is included in five of the six career and technical education content areas. The bill further requires that regional career and technical education partnerships demonstrate that all expenditures are aligned with high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand occupations. The bill defines “high-demand occupation” as an occupation in which state, local, or regional labor market forecasting shows occupational demand exceeds the overall state, local, or regional employer demand metrics, including in openings, numeric change, and growth. The bill defines “high-skill occupation” as an occupation with education or training requirements, including the completion of an apprenticeship program, an industry-recognized credential, a short-term college credential such as a certificate or diploma, a noncredit college credential or certification, an associate degree or higher, on-the-job training, or on-the-job credential or certification. The bill defines “high-wage occupation” as an occupation for which at least three of five hourly wage or annual salary measurements for that occupation exceed the hourly wage or annual salary for all occupations in the state or region. The bill requires the department of education, in consultation with the Iowa workforce development board, to adopt rules pursuant to Code chapter 17A to administer the process of selecting the resulting occupations using these statewide definitions. The bill also requires the selected occupations to be applied across all government agencies and statewide programs. The bill requires the department, in coordination with the Iowa community colleges and consultation with the state board of regents, to implement statewide lower division general education framework and common course numbering systems for all coursework offered by the Iowa community colleges. The common course numbering system must assign each course an alphanumeric prefix and number reflecting subject area and level, identify equivalent courses across institutions, ensure each equivalent course has a common description and common course outcomes, and be used in all course catalogs, registration systems, and transcripts. The bill requires the department to maintain a statewide course numbering directory, to establish a faculty-led process for determining course equivalency, and to adopt rules to administer the statewide common course numbering system. For the school year beginning July 1, 2027, and each succeeding school year, the bill requires the lower division general education framework to apply to all community college general education coursework and be built upon the existing statewide transfer pathways. The bill requires that by the 2028-2029 school year, all Iowa community colleges must replace traditional, prerequisite remedial coursework in mathematics and English with corequisite models. The bill requires the department to establish a statewide framework for corequisite developmental education. The bill also requires the board of directors of each community college to implement the corequisite models and to assist the department of education in implementing a statewide framework for corequisite developmental education. The bill also requires the department of education, in consultation with the state board of regents, to submit to the general assembly a study on the systemic implementation considerations of statewide lower division general education framework and common course numbering systems in institutions of higher education.