Kaine's vo-tech provision part of federal bill

STAUNTON — Kids should start learning about career options in technical fields before they get to high school, said U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who lobbied for a vocational counseling provision included in federal legislation this week.

Since joining the senate two years ago, Kaine, D-Va., has made education and employment in vocational areas one of his personal causes.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee made early technical education counseling part of a bill to renew No Child Left Behind benchmarks, Kaine said during an interview Friday for The News Leader that touched on many subjects.

"One of our strong beliefs is that kids don't understand enough about what career and technical fields that are available to them," Kaine said.

Young people typically start exploring career options in high school. Kaine persuaded the Senate committee for education to make vocational career counseling part of school curricula as early as middle school for public schools who participate in the federal standards.

"By the time a kid's in high school and has to start picking courses, they would have gone through some pre-career assessment," he said.

The provision is part of the Career Ready Act Kaine introduced with two other senators this year that aims to strengthen career readiness in schools and encourages states to keep track of workforce preparedness.

The senate health and education committee's bill, titled the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, incorporates parts of Career Ready, Kaine said. The legislation advanced out of committee on a unanimous vote and will go before the full senate for a vote.

Kaine is a founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Senate Career and Technical Education Caucus.

His advocacy for vocational education was part of a talk he gave Friday for the Shenandoah Valley Partnership's Spring Economic Development Forum held Friday at the Blackfriars Playhouse, Kaine said.

Kaine later took part in the dedication of the Mary Baldwin College Murphy Deming School of Health Sciences.

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