Education and Training for American Competitiveness Act

(Reported to House from the Committee on Education and Labor with amendment, H. Rept. 99-597)

Education and Training for American Competitiveness Act - Title I: Education for American Competitiveness - Authorizes appropriations to carry out this title for FY 1987 and each succeeding year. Makes available 80 percent of such funds for subtitle A and 20 percent for subtitle B.

Subtitle A: Education and Training to Strengthen the Competitiveness of Domestic Industry - Directs the Secretary of Education (the Secretary for purposes of this title) to make grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) for programs to improve the education and skills of our current and future workers in those areas that will enhance their productivity and competitiveness.

Allots subtitle A funds among States on the basis of relative numbers of unemployed individuals and of adults without high school degrees.

Sets forth requirements for submission, contents, and approval of State plans under this subtitle. Encourages States to coordinate services under this subtitle with those provided under the Training for Industrial Competitiveness provisions added by this Act to the Job Training Partnership Act.

Allows funds under this subtitle to be used for programs of literacy training, vocational training services, and elementary and secondary education in mathematics, science, or foreign languages.

Makes such literacy training available to unemployed or underemployed individuals, displaced workers, illiterate adults, and illiterate out-of-school youth.

Make such vocational training services available to: (1) workers who have been or who are about to be adversely affected by foreign competition; (2) unemployed or underemployed individuals, for employment in new, expanding, or export-related industries or businesses; (3) current employees, in order to make their existing industries and business more competitive; and (4) individuals in order to assist their entry into or advancement in high technology occupations or to meet the technological demands of other industries or businesses.

Provides that such elementary or secondary level instruction in mathematics, science, or foreign languages be through programs to: (1) meet needs not being met under the Education for Economic Security Act (through activities such as education partnerships with business, industry, and labor, interdisciplinary programs, and after-school and summer advanced or supplementary programs); (2) begin preparation for advanced courses and careers in mathematics, science, engineering, and technology; and (3) develop the specific technological and foreign language skills required by local industries and businesses.

Sets forth eligible service providers under this subtitle.

Limits administrative costs under this subtitle.

Subtitle B: Postsecondary Education Programs to Improve Instruction in Mathematics, Science, and Foreign Languages - Directs the Secretary to make grants to institutions of higher education for: (1) summer language institutes and science and mathematics workshops; (2) special equipment acquisition and workshops; and (3) educational partnership programs.

Provides for competitive selection of grant recipients. Limits the amount of grant awards.

Sets forth grant application requirements. Requires the institution, or consortium of such institutions, to assure that it will obtain at least one-half of the cost of the programs with non-Federal funds.

Provides that the grants for summer institutes (either here or abroad) for intensive training in foreign languages and cultures shall be for: (1) secondary and postsecondary school students (with stipends provided); (2) language teachers and faculty (with stipends provided) to improve their language proficiency and pedagogical techniques; and (3) American international business persons, on a cost reimbursement basis, to improve their effectiveness in doing business abroad.

Provides that the grants for intensive workshops for preservice and inservice mathematics and science teachers and faculty shall be to demonstrate the most recent developments in science, mathematics, and technology, and their application to improve our economic development, especially in export and foreign trade businesses and industries. Encourages the involvement of State and local governments, labor, business, and industry in planning for such workshops.

Provides that the equipment grants shall be for: (1) the purchase of laboratory and other special equipment suitable for use in providing undergraduate classroom instruction in mathematics and/or science; and (2) workshops for secondary and vocational school teachers and postsecondary institution faculty on the use of such equipment.

Provides that the grants for educational partnership programs between institutions of higher education and local educational agencies to provide advanced instruction to students in mathematics, science, and computer technology may be used for: (1) costs of resource sharing with government, private business, industry, and institutions; (2) stipends or salary supplements for university faculty and staff involved; (3) curriculum development; (4) textbooks, materials, and supplies; and (5) student transportation costs. Prohibits such funds from being used in connection with the general overhead costs of the applicant.

Subtitle C: Educational Telecommunications - Provides for a national educational telecommunications demonstration program. Authorizes the Secretary to provide matching grant assistance to a nonprofit State corporation for a model regional advanced educational telecommunications network and technology resource centers. Provides that such centers shall enable educational institutions in the region to share resources and improve and expand instruction in mathematics, science, foreign languages, vocational education, continuing education, and basic and remedial education skills. Authorizes appropriations for such purpose.

Title II: Training for Industrial Competitiveness - Authorizes appropriations to carry out this title for FY 1987 and succeeding fiscal years, to fund programs added by this Act to the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA).

Allocates such funds as follows: (1) 60 percent for trade-impacted worker assistance programs; (2) 20 percent for joint labor-management training programs; (3) nine percent for demonstration programs (for FY 1987 and 1988 only); (4) ten percent for State job bank systems (for FY 1987 through 1990 only); and (5) one percent for certain studies under this Act. Reallocates such funds after the FY 1987 and 1988 limited purposes are completed.

Amends title IV (Federally Administered Programs) of the JTPA to add a new part H: Training for Industrial Competitiveness. Directs the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary, for purposes of this title) to: (1) provide training and employment assistance to trade-impacted workers; (2) provide financial and technical assistance to labor-management committees; and (3) establish demonstration programs to improve worker adjustment to changing world markets.

Sets forth requirements for trade-impacted worker assistance programs. Directs the Secretary to provide, on a competitive basis, financial assistance to eligible public or private nonprofit programs for training and employment assistance to eligible workers in industries that the Secretary determines have been adversely affected by international trade. Allows eligible individuals to be provided with: (1) intensive job search assistance; (2) basic skills training and other educational assistance; (3) job training; (4) job development; (5) training in job skills for which demand exceeds supply; (6) supportive services, including commuting assistance and financial and personal counseling; (7) pre-layoff assistance; and (8) relocation assistance. Authorizes subsistence stipends if the enrolled individual is not currently receiving unemployment compensation or trade readjustment assistance. Requires that such services shall: (1) be in addition to, and coordinated with, those provided under title III (Employment and Training Assistance for Dislocated Workers) of JTPA; and (2) supplement and not supplant any other federally assisted training assistance or services. Includes specified considerations under criteria for determining if an industry has been adversely affected by international trade.

Sets forth requirements for joint labor-management training programs. Directs the Secretary to award, on a competitive basis, grants to labor-management committees to provide not more than one-half of the cost of programs of training, retraining, and education for eligible workers. Sets forth grant eligibility requirements for labor-management committees and program eligibility requirements for workers. Allows committees to use grant funds to provide the following services to eligible workers: (1) early warning adjustment services in the event of mass layoffs or plant closings (including personal and financial counseling, referral to community services, career counseling, job search assistance, job development, retraining, and relocation assistance); (2) aptitude testing and career counseling; (3) on-the-job training; (4) institutional training; (5) tuition assistance; (6) upgrading of skills; and (7) education, including basic skills, literacy training, and more advanced education. Sets forth requirements for cooperative agreements for such committees.

Sets forth requirements for demonstration programs. Directs the Secretary, within six months after enactment of this Act, to establish programs to demonstrate the feasibility of providing worker retraining payments to workers who: (1) are or were employed in an industry determined to have been adversely affected by international trade; and (2) meet specified criteria for dislocated workers. Limits such payments to $4,000 each, to enable such workers to purchase their own job search, education, training, and retraining services from certified providers. Sets forth program evaluation requirements. Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress on such programs.

Adds to JTPA new provisions for State job bank systems. Directs the Secretary to make funds from this Act available through the U.S. Employment Service for the development and implementation of computerized job bank systems in each State, for purposes such as: (1) identification of, and referral to, job openings; (2) information on occupational supply and demand; and (3) use by career information, including school counseling, programs. Encourages compatibility of such systems with other systems used in employment and training program administration. Requires special consideration to be given to the advice of State occupational coordinating committees and other users of such systems.

Directs the Secretary, within six months after enactment of this Act, to commence a study of the feasibility of providing portability for pensions and health benefits for dislocated workers. Requires such study to also evaluate the benefits of providing early retirement benefits without penalty for older dislocated workers. Requires a report of such study to be submitted to the Congress within 18 months after enactment of this Act.

Includes among the data which the Secretary is required to maintain under JTPA data on the mass layoffs or closings that are caused by or substantially related to international trade.

Directs the Secretary, under JTPA and in coordination with the Secretary of Agriculture, to develop statistical data relating to the permanent dislocation of farmers and ranchers due to farm and ranch failures, including those caused by or substantially related to international trade. Directs the Secretary to publish an annual report on such data, including an analysis of whether farmers and ranchers are being adequately counted in the annual employment and unemployment rates.

Directs the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to conduct a study to identify the countries that fail to recognize and enforce, and the foreign producers that fail to comply with, internationally recognized labor rights. Requires an annual report of such study to be submitted to the Congress.