Senate Bill S5571

                                BILL NUMBER:S5571

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the education law and the labor law,
in relation to access to certain wage reporting data for purposes of
including data on employment and employment outcomes in required
reports and evaluations under the federal workforce investment act and
in the prekindergarten through post secondary data system

Purpose of the bill:  To enhance the ability of the State Education
Department (SED) to meet the conditions of Race to the Top, other
federal grant awards, any applicable federal data requirements, or
federal or state program requirements by providing access to certain
wage reporting data to evaluate the effects of programs and services
provided through the federal Workforce Investment Act and to provide
SED with certain data for the prekindergarten through employment data
system

Summary of provisions:

Section 1 of the bill would amend Education Law § 1007(2) and add a
new subdivision 3 to Education Law § 1007 to require that any wage
reporting information obtained by the Office of Adult, Career and
Continuing Education Services obtained from the State Department of
Tax and Finance and the Department of Labor shall be considered
confidential and shall not be disclosed to persons other than those
entitled to the information when such disclosure is necessary for the
              

proper administration of the department's vocational rehabilitation
program, including authorized representatives of the SED.

Section 2 of the bill would add a new subdivision 40-a to Education
Law § 305 to require the State Department of Labor to provide
necessary wage reporting information under Labor Law § 537 so that the
State can provide data on employment and employment outcomes in
required reports and evaluations under the federal workforce
investment act and in the prekindergarten through employment (P-20)
data system established to meet the conditions of federal grant awards
and any federal or state program or data requirements, including but
not limited to program evaluations. Any personally identifiable
information shall be confidential and not be redisclosed, except to
authorized representatives of the department, the State University of
New York or the City University of New York for purposes of carrying
out federal and state requirements.

Section 3 of the bill would amend clause 8 of Labor Law
537(3)(g)(ii) to update the references to the Office of Vocational and
Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities to its current
name of the Office of Adult, Career and Continuing Education Services.

Section 4 of the bill would add a new clause 10 to subparagraph ii of
paragraph g of subdivision 3 of section 537 of the Labor Law to make
conforming amendments to the Labor Law to ensure that the State
Department of Labor provides all relevant date on employment and
employment outcomes in required reports and evaluations under the
federal workforce investment act and in the prekindergarten through
employment (P-20) data system to SED.

Section 5 of the bill would be the effective date.


Statement in support of the bill:  Ensuring that New York State's
students graduate from high school college and career ready is a
central goal of the Regents Reform Agenda and is embedded throughout
the State's winning Race to the Top (RTTT) application. As part of
RTTT, the Board of Regents has adopted the Common Core State
Standards. Implementation of these standards, together with the
development of curriculum and assessments aligned to the standards,
will prepare our students for success in college and the work place.
Our ability to include employment and wage data from the Department of
Labor in our P-20 data system is crucial to our efforts to measure
career outcomes for students and to evaluate our success in educating
our students at college and career ready levels.

As part of RTTT, the State has committed $4.5 million to "P-20 Data
System Expansion: Integration of Non-Education Systems," which
includes workforce data. NYSED has also received a State Longitudinal
Data System Grant from the United States Department of Education,
which includes $7.8 million to "Create and Implement P-20," including
workforce data This legislation is critical to the Department's
ability to deliver the comprehensive P-20 data system envisioned under
RTTT. In addition, Chapter 100 of the Laws of 2010 provided a $20
million State capital appropriation to support implementation of the
data system.

The State has committed to providing reports that provide information
regarding K-12 program effectiveness, higher education program
effectiveness, and the adequacy of teacher preparation programs to
demonstrate the educational pathways that predict student success and
"early warning systems" that predict high school dropout rates or lack
of adequate preparation for college or careers. Employment and wage
data is an essential link to the reports which will allow
data-informed decisions to reallocate resources away from
underperforming initiatives and into innovative, high-performing ones.

In addition, in 1998, the federal Work-force Investment Act (Public
Law 105-220) established various workforce investment activities to
promote a healthier workforce. More specifically, the Workforce
Investment Act of 1998 provided for statewide and local workforce
investment systems aimed at increasing the employment, retention, and
earnings of participants in these programs and activities, and aimed
at increasing the occupational skills of such participants, which
would, as a result, improve the quality of the workforce, reduce
welfare dependency, and enhance the productivity and competitiveness
of the Nation. As a State participant in these initiatives, SED needs
certain wage data in order for it to fully and effectively evaluate
the effect of training and employment programs administered by the
Department on the employment outcome and earning capacity of the
participants of such programs. The federal government requires the
monitoring and reporting of activities funded under the Workforce
Investment Act for program accountability, in order to optimize the
return on the investment of federal funding. Thus, this wage data is
needed to more accurately meet these federal reporting requirements.
Moreover, the Department can utilize this wage data to more
effectively assess the effectiveness of its programs on its
participants, which will, in turn, increase program efficacy.


In 2007, Section 4 of Part A of Chapter 57 added a new subdivision 40
to section 305 of the Education Law to require that the Board of
Regents of the State Education Department explore the development of a
pre-kindergarten through postsecondary (P-16) data system that tracks
student performance from pre-kindergarten through attendance at public
colleges and would link students to teachers or instructors. Education
Law § 305(40), as added by Chapter 57, further provided that that the
Commissioner of Education would consult with other relevant State
departments and agencies about the feasibility of linking such data
system to other data collection systems containing information
relevant to the education of children, which would, in turn,
facilitate the free exchange of data among such agencies. This bill
will further expand the data system from pre-kindergarten through
postsecondary (P-16) to pre-kindergarten through employment (P-20) to
enable the Commissioner of Education to implement the requirements of
federal grant awards and data reporting requirements by requiring
State departments and agencies to require the State Labor Department
to provide wage reporting information so the State can report
employment outcomes of the children education in this State. Overall,
this bill will help enable the State Education Department to better
assess the effects of the education on the performance of students in
this State and allow SED to meet the conditions of federal grant
awards, federal data requirements and federal and state program
requirements.

Budgetary implications of the bill:  No additional costs would be
associated with this legislation, but absent enactment of this
legislation the State would jeopardize its ability to meet conditions
in its RTTT application and could lose federal funding dedicated to
specific activities in the grant.

Prior legislative history:  None.

Effective date:  The bill would take effect immediately.