Proposed legislation would fill the "middle skills gap" Tennessee employers need

56% of the jobs in Tennessee require at least some education beyond a high school diploma but not a four-year degree.The problem is, less than half of Tennesseans have access to the training necessary to fill those jobs and annually only 3% of high school students are earning an industry credential.That so-called middle skills gap is at the heart of legislation sponsored by Representative Tim Hicks and Senator John Stevens to create the Career Development Success (CDS) Pilot Program.House Bill 0117/Senate Bill 0134 will begin the committee process Tuesday with a vote in the Tennessee House K-12 Subcommittee.If approved by the General Assembly this year, the legislation would provide local school districts with $1,000 in additional funding for each student who earns an industry credential, finishes a workplace training program, or completes an AP Computer Science course.The Tennessee Department of Education currently encourages districts to provide industry credentials in 157 approved fields, including automotive repair, welding, web design, and cybersecurity, but the state doesn't provide direct financial incentives to school districts to assist in the expense of starting up new programs.Supporters claim students participating in these types of programs are more likely to graduate from high school and have higher GPAs.  Nationally, 93% of students who participate in these types of career-focused programs graduate high school and more than 75% of those students went on to pursue postsecondary education.Supporters also claim similar programs to the proposed CDS are making an impact in states like Florida and Colorado.Florida saw the number of students earning certifications grow from 800 a year to more than 45 thousand, five years after adopting an incentive program.Students earned 9 thousand credentials in the first two years of Colorado’s incentive program.