Senate Sends Clinton Apprenticeship Bill : Education: Nation’s first ‘school-to-work’ plan will let students train in industries while attending classes part time. Programs would be run by the states.

The Senate voted final passage Thursday of landmark legislation to train high school students to enter the American work force--the first national apprenticeship or “school-to-work” system in the nation’s history.

The bill, which the House approved Wednesday and which now goes to President Clinton for his signature, is considered an integral part of the Administration’s agenda for revising education and job training.

“We are on the verge of accomplishing something that will make a difference in thousands of young lives across this nation, and . . . our economic future,” said Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.), the bill’s chief sponsor.

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act, which the Senate approved on a voice vote, would launch a national system for young people to work as apprentices in industries while attending school part time. The students would eventually receive high school diplomas and certificates of competency in their chosen fields.

It also represents a change toward greater partnership between the federal government and business in regard to education.

Seventy-five percent of American young people do not complete a four-year college program, and the United States is one of the few major industrialized nations that lacks a “school-to-work” system for them. Japan, for instance, offers training to roughly 90% of its non-college graduates.

The shape of the U.S. apprenticeship system remains undetermined. The programs would be designed and operated by each state, in cooperation with area schools, businesses and community and labor leaders. The federal government would oversee the program and provide some funding in the shape of federal grants.

The act calls for spending $300 million for fiscal year 1995 and “such sums as may be necessary” through 1999. But most sources said it seemed unlikely that the bill would be fully funded because of federal budget constraints.

Senate sources suggested that the actual funding would fall between 30% and 75% of the total. They noted, however, that the Administration is particularly committed to the bill and said the funding outlook probably will be better in the second and third years.

Some critics have derided the Administration’s education agenda as lacking substance because it relies too much on the ingenuity and commitment of states to design and operate the programs.

But Simon has called the bill a solid beginning after what has been more than a decade of debate on the issue. And Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the floor leader for the bill, has called it a down-payment on real change.

The bill addresses one of the most vulnerable parts of the nation’s economy. Between 1975 and 1989, the Administration points out, salaries of people under 25 who had only high school diplomas dropped by 40% after accounting for inflation, and wages for high school dropouts suffered even more.

Labor Department statistics suggest that by age 30, only one-third of the nation’s working adults have been in their jobs for more than a year.