Friday, April 4, 2025

Newsom Lays Out Plan for CA Career Education

By Lynn La, CALMATTERS

Student Fabian Luna welds a piece of metal during a welding class at the Industrial Technology building at Reedley College in Reedley on Sept. 11, 2024. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

More than a year after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to develop the initiative, the governor on Wednesday unveiled full details of his Master Plan for Career Education, reports CalMatters’ Adam Echelman.

The plan lays out the state’s approach to job training and education programs, but critics have said the proposals are unclear. At the same time, some for-profit career colleges and trade schools — which play a key role in workforce development — face issues with licensing or other violations.

Included in the plan are efforts Adam previously reported: The Cradle-to-Career Data System, for example, is a multi-year project that tracks student progress and remains behind schedule. The plan also expands competency-based education, which focuses on skills rather than grades. Though seven community colleges are moving forward with a pilot to employ this approach, Madera Community College has stalled its efforts due to faculty opposition.

The plan also has three new budget proposals for this year, all of which require the Legislature’s approval and could cost over $105 million.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Californians look to career colleges, trade schools and training programs to become barbers, truck drivers, medical techs and more.

But not every school is properly licensed, and some have been investigated, disciplined or sued by various agencies. California’s Employment Development Department helps vet these institutions, but CalMatters recently found it took years to revoke some schools’ licenses, despite reports of issues such as fraud.

If you or someone you know is thinking about enrolling, CalMatters’ Adam, Ross Teixeira and Erica Yee built a tool to make it easier to look up licenses and violations.

Read more about the project, search the database for yourself and learn more about Newsom’s career education plan.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.