DeSantis signs bills to boost workforce education
TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed three bills aimed at bolstering workforce education, saying Floridians don’t need degrees from four-year “brick-and-ivy” universities to find success.
The most wide-ranging of the bills (HB 1507) was a priority of House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor. Sprowls said the 118-page piece of legislation stands to “rework our entire workforce system.”
The bill will establish what’s called the Office of Reimagining Education and Career Help within the governor’s office “to facilitate alignment and coordination of entities responsible for the state’s workforce development system.”
Also under the measure, state colleges will be required to refund the costs of tuition for graduates who aren’t able to find jobs within six months of graduating from certain workforce-related programs.
“We really believe that if we’re going to be funding our educational institutions, particularly our state colleges, that there needs to be success on the back end of that,” DeSantis said.
The governor also signed a bill (SB 366) that, in part, aims to provide workers’ compensation insurance reimbursements to companies that hire students 18 years old or younger for unpaid internships and apprenticeships.
Another measure (SB 52) DeSantis signed will create a dual-enrollment “scholarship” program for high school students taking courses at colleges and universities. The program is designed to reimburse higher-education institutions for the cost of tuition and instructional materials.
During a bill-signing event at Hillsborough
Community College, DeSantis said boosting workforce education and vocational training has been a goal since he took office.
“We really believe across the board, making sure that the education opportunities are really diverse, and it’s not just trying to shoehorn everybody to go to a traditional four-year, brickand-ivy university,” DeSantis said.