LB587 LB587
2021 2021
LEGISLATURE OF NEBRASKA
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH LEGISLATURE
FIRST SESSION
LEGISLATIVE BILL 587
Introduced by McDonnell, 5.
Read first time January 19, 2021
Committee: Education
1 A BILL FOR AN ACT relating to education; to adopt the Career Mentoring
2 Grant Act.
3 Be it enacted by the people of the State of Nebraska,
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1 Section 1. Sections 1 to 6 of this act shall be known and may be
2 cited as the Career Mentoring Grant Act.
3 Sec. 2. For purposes of the Career Mentoring Grant Act:
4 (1) Career mentoring means an adult sharing career experience and
5 advice with an individual student in a structured relationship;
6 (2) Collaborative career mentoring program means a program that
7 recruits, screens, trains, matches, and monitors mentors for career
8 mentoring and that is administered by a partnership that includes at
9 least one school district or educational service unit and at least one
10 nonprofit organization and that may also include one or more for-profit
11 businesses; and
12 (3) Department means the State Department of Education.
13 Sec. 3. (1) The department shall establish and administer the
14 Career Mentoring Grant Program. The grant program shall provide
15 competitive matching grants to collaborative career mentoring programs.
16 (2) The department shall establish an application process and
17 timeline pursuant to which a partnership that includes at least one
18 school district or educational service unit and at least one nonprofit
19 organization and that may also include one or more for-profit businesses
20 may submit a proposal for a matching grant to establish and administer a
21 collaborative career mentoring program. Each proposal shall include:
22 (a) A detailed plan for establishing and maintaining the
23 collaborative career mentoring program;
24 (b) An evaluation component;
25 (c) Planned measures to assure student safety; and
26 (d) The partnership's funding source for the matching funds.
27 (3) The department shall award grants annually to partnerships that,
28 for first time grant recipients, demonstrate a high likelihood for
29 building successful career mentoring relationships with students or, for
30 partnerships that have received previous grants under the Career
31 Mentoring Grant Act, that have demonstrated success in building career
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1 mentoring relationships with students. No grant shall be awarded without
2 a commitment of matching funds from the partnership equal to one hundred
3 percent of the funds to be received from the grant.
4 Sec. 4. On or before January 1 of each odd-numbered year, the
5 department shall submit a report electronically to the Clerk of the
6 Legislature and the Education Committee of the Legislature evaluating the
7 collaborative career mentoring programs funded under the Career Mentoring
8 Grant Act.
9 Sec. 5. The Career Mentoring Grant Fund is created. The fund shall
10 be administered by the department and shall consist of transfers pursuant
11 to section 9-812, repayment of grant funds, and interest payments
12 received in the course of administering the Career Mentoring Grant
13 Program. The fund shall be used to carry out the Career Mentoring Grant
14 Act. Any money in the fund available for investment shall be invested by
15 the state investment officer pursuant to the Nebraska Capital Expansion
16 Act and the Nebraska State Funds Investment Act.
17 Sec. 6. The State Board of Education may adopt and promulgate rules
18 and regulations to carry out the Career Mentoring Grant Act.
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