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Bill 3353

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

AMENDED

April 23, 2015

H. 3353

Introduced by Reps. Bradley, Herbkersman, Daning, Erickson, Long, Bowers, Newton, Wells, Corley, Hodges, R.L. Brown, George, Johnson and Robinson-Simpson

S. Printed 4/23/15--H.

Read the first time January 20, 2015.

TO ESTABLISH BEGINNING WITH THE 2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR A TWO-YEAR PILOT PROGRAM IN FIVE SPECIFIC COUNTIES TO FACILITATE THE USE OF GENERAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CAMPS TO HELP PEOPLE OBTAIN THEIR GENERAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT CERTIFICATES, TO PROVIDE PROGRAM ELEMENTS, AND TO PROVIDE THE STATE BOARD FOR TECHNICAL AND COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION SHALL ESTABLISH AND OVERSEE THE PROGRAM.

Amend Title To Conform

Whereas, the General Assembly finds that an educated citizenry is essential to providing a workforce attractive to business and industry, which is crucial to the economic vitality of this State; and

Whereas, the General Assembly finds that circumstances sometimes prevent individuals from completing their high school studies in the traditional manner, and that efforts to help these individuals earn a General Educational Development (GED) certificate benefit these individuals and the State; and

Whereas, the General Assembly finds that the Hilton Head GED Camp has enjoyed tremendous success in helping people in Beaufort County earn GED certificates by using volunteers to provide intense GED training for nominal costs; and

Whereas, the General Assembly finds the success of the Hilton Head GED Camp encouraging, and replication of the program statewide merits further consideration that may best be achieved through a pilot study of the program in various areas of the State. Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    (A)(1)    Effective beginning with the 2015-2016 school year, the State Department of Education shall establish a two-year pilot program to be known as the General Educational Development (GED) Camp Pilot Program, which must emulate existing volunteer programs in the State to develop, implement, support, and monitor GED Camps that provide a volunteer-based system to assist people who do not have a high school diploma earn their GED certificates and advance to higher education, the military, an occupation, and so forth.

(2)    To ensure that the program concentrates on areas served by technical colleges, the GED Camp program must be implemented in each of the service markets of the technical college system.

(B)    The GED Camp program should focus on the use of volunteers to provide tutorial assistance for community members without a high school diploma who seek to obtain a GED certificate using a concentrated "boot camp" model lasting approximately six to eight consecutive weeks during which students must:

(1)    undergo direct instruction by teacher volunteers and test for vocational interests;

(2)    participate in college and career readiness workshops related to interviewing skills, resume building, enrollment, and education financing; and

(3)    receive direct and indirect mentoring.

(C)    Based on the outcomes achieved by the GED Camp program, the State Department of Education shall make recommendations regarding statewide expansion of the program to the General Assembly before July 1, 2017. In keeping with federal and state requirements for tracking adult education, GED Camp programs shall report outcomes to the State Department of Education. For the duration of the two-year pilot, programs using the GED Camp program model shall report these outcomes annually to the State Department of Education by June fifteenth for the previously completed school year. The State Department of Education may prescribe additional outcome measures to be tracked by the GED Camp programs. The State Department of Education shall in turn report the program outcomes annually to the Senate Education Committee and the House Education and Public Works Committee by December first for the previously completed school year.

(D)    The State Department of Education shall create policies to implement the provisions of this joint resolution. Recognizing that great flexibility in the implementation of the GED Camp Pilot Program is critical to is success, the department is directed to assist volunteers in the implementation of the provisions of this joint resolution.

SECTION    2.    This joint resolution takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

This web page was last updated on April 23, 2015 at 7:21 PM