The Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee advanced legislation that would establish a grant program to meet the increased need to upskill working age adults.
The Adult Education and Workforce Recovery Grant Program Act, would instruct the Pennsylvania Department of Education to establish the Adult Education and Workforce Recovery Grant Program.
The program would fund adult education. Under the bill, adult education providers include school districts, career and technical schools, organizations providing adult basic or family literacy education programs, and organizations providing education exclusively to adults.
The department would award grants up to $500,000 per qualified applicant.
Eligible program participants are anyone 18 years old or older who either basic skills deficient, lacks a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent, is an English language learner or requires additional training after a job loss or gap in employment.
“Our work force desperately needs skilled workers, and there are people in communities all across Pennsylvania who want to earn those family-sustaining salaries that need just a little bit of help to get there,” state Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Beaver/Greene/Washington), who sponsored the bill, said. “My bill addresses both of those needs and also benefits the state’s economy – a win all around.”
The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.