California's job training system needs overhauling
An excellent blog posting by former Employment Development Department director Michael Bernick touches on how the state's job retraining apparatus is reacting to this recession.
Among other points, Bernick notes that the Workforce Investment Boards, a principal conduit of federal funds for retraining "dislocated (laid-off) workers" has lots of money but has been slow in spending it because its training boards have not been able to idenity enough occupations that are hiring in sufficient volume to justify revving up the training engine.
Bernick also says: "For some time, California has had a diverse retraining system, with the community colleges, California State University (CSU) system, adult education schools, community-based training agencies, and private proprietary schools."(emphasis added)
So far as I can glean from my reporting on the jobs front, it is a misnomer to call this agglomeration of players a training "system." They are more like a collection of well-intentioned but largely uncoordinated fiefdoms that have not yet created the menu of training options that our desperate situation so desperately demands.
Many of these agencies, like the community colleges and the adult education centers, are overworked and underfunded due to the state budget crisis. They are in not in the enviable position of the Workforce Boards which may have more money right now than they can prudently spend.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gettowork/detail?entry_id=55786#ixzz0dRnwCVRP