A bi-partisan package of eight bills that aims to address business and industry workforce shortages and alleviate the mis-perception attached to career and technical education won House approval on Monday.

While a four-year college degree might be right for some students, the lawmakers who introduced the pieces of legislation said career and technical education can lead to a career path with lower or no debt and a family-sustaining wage.

"There is no one-size-fits-all with it comes to education issues," said House Education Committee Chairman David Hickernell, R-Lancaster County, at a recent news conference.

The package of bills now go to the Senate for consideration.

The legislation grows out of two years of work by a House select committee that traveled the state and gathered information about career and technical education and employers' needs for skilled labor.

One bill in the legislative package that was approved creates an online career resource center that provides information to students and public about on educational and career options, available career and technical education resources, and data and statistics on employment opportunities and compensation.

Another bill, sponsored by Rep. Steve Bloom, R-Cumberland County, seeks to alter the qualifications that career and technical educators need to be able to teach to remove barriers that hindered their ability to teach.

"We've heard in Pennsylvania that it's difficult not only to get the students we need into these technical education roles but also to get the educators in the room to transfer the skills that they've got to the students," Rep. Mike Tobash, R-Schuylkill County, said at a recent news conference.

Among other bills in this package, one would create a tax credit program for businesses that contribute to nonprofit career and technical organizations, another accelerates the establishment of new classes and curriculum in emerging career and technical fields, and yet another requires schools to give representatives of skilled trades and career and technical schools the same access to students as other presenters when career information is presented.

While career and technical education centers across the state are turning out students who are prepared to enter the workforce immediately after high school and to continue their education, there are challenges facing them, said Jackie Cullen, executive director of Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators.

"We are thrilled to see that the bipartisan package of bills address many of the those challenges," Cullen said. She said the package of bills will go far to increase the "number of students completing high-quality CTE programs. These students will be college and career ready and will play an important role in Pennsylvania's continued economic growth."