Do California for-profit colleges pay off for job training?

From CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman: 

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to train more Californians for “good-paying, long-lasting, and fulfilling careers,” he said last year, announcing his intent to create a Master Plan for Career Education. 

But many students in one of the largest job training programs in the state end up in low-paying industries, CalMatters has found.

As part of the program, known as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, low-income and unemployed adults can receive tuition assistance. Roughly half of these students attend for-profit trade schools, which the state’s attorney general says can leave students “under a mountain of debt” — with little help finding a job. 

California’s Employment Development Department helps vet these for-profit schools and manages this job training program, which is administered through workforce development boards and job centers across the state. But the department violated its own policy by allowing local agencies to send students to for-profit schools under investigation by state education officials.

The employment department stopped recommending four such schools only after CalMatters asked about them. 

Many of these schools train nursing assistants, medical assistants and truck drivers. But wages for graduates of such medical programs are low — less than $30,000 a year, according to student outcomes collected by the department. Truck driving is the most popular career. It offers better wages, but the working conditions are so tough that most new drivers quit within the first year.

• Abby Snay, deputy secretary at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency: “These jobs are a concern. We need to do better as a system in advising people.” 

The money for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act comes from the federal government, and Congress is considering a new bill this year that encourages states and regional workforce development boards to partner with community colleges, which are often free in California. 

The bill would require California’s workforce boards to spend more money on job training, but a former advocate for workforce boards, Bob Lanter, said the bill could backfire. 

• Lanter: “Let’s not be so focused on how much money is spent. Let’s be focused on how many people are receiving services, and maybe, the type of services they’re receiving.”

Gov. Newsom got his moment in the Democratic National Convention spotlight Tuesday evening, but not from center stage. 

Instead, in announcing California’s 482 votes for Vice President Kamala Harris in the ceremonial roll call, Newsom had two minutes to brag about California and to praise Harris, CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal reports from Chicago. 

Newsom said he has spent 20 years watching Harris’ “star” rising “fighting for criminal justice, racial justice, economic justice, social justice.”

“Kamala Harris has always done the right thing,” he said from the convention floor, surrounded by other California delegates. 

It isn’t clear whether Newsom will get another speaking slot at the convention before it ends with Harris’ acceptance speech Thursday night.

Newsom was one of President Joe Biden’s most visible and enthusiastic surrogates in the weeks when Biden was under intense pressure from Democrats to drop out of the race. The governor had stepped back from the presidential campaign in the weeks since Biden withdrew and endorsed Harris on July 21.

But his camp said that was by design and he told Fox News on Monday that he wasn’t needed since so many Democrats have been jumping at the chance to campaign for Harris.

Tuesday’s brief remarks marked his full-throated return to the fray. And it could help build name recognition among voters nationwide if Newsom seeks higher office — something he downplays though most political observers expect.

But one political consultant told Sameea that Newsom would be better served to focus on California, especially if Harris wins in November and if the Democratic nomination doesn’t open up again until 2032.

• Brian Parvizshahi, who worked for former President Barack Obama’s campaign: “With Kamala as the nominee, he needs to turn his attention from being nationally focused to California. He needs to make sure he positions himself to have a strong legacy over these next two years.”

Read more about what Newsom said in Sameea’s story.

A contentious measure to allow judges to consider reduced sentences for people who are serving life sentences without parole and have been behind bars for at least 25 years is back in play at the Legislature.

The bill by Democratic Sen. Dave Cortese of Campbell has been pulled off the inactive file and his office said it is awaiting feedback while trying to beat the Aug. 31 deadline for bills to win final approval.

The bill creates a multi-step process for judges to either leave a sentence as is, or refer a case to the parole board and the governor for additional review. All three parties must agree for a prisoner to be eligible for release. Most petitions for reconsideration are expected to be denied, according to Cortese’s office.

Republican legislators strongly oppose the bill, arguing that it would reduce sentences for murderers and release violent offenders. Last September, Cortese amended the bill to leave out cases involving sexual offenses, and plans to revise the bill with other exclusions, including cases involving torture and deaths of law enforcement officers.

Other planned amendments include guaranteeing that victims will be notified and have an opportunity to speak, and allowing only one sentence review.

In other happenings around the state Capitol:

• Electric trucks mandate: After an electric Tesla Semi truck crashed and burned on Interstate 80 in Placer County, forcing the highway to close due to toxic fumes, Republican lawmakers fired off a letter to Gov. Newsom urging him to delay a statewide ban on the sale of new diesel big rigs by 2036. GOP Senate leader Brian Jones of San Diego said on social media that “we must prioritize the health and safety of Californians over political agendas.” 

• America’s semiquincentennial: In Tuesday’s WhatMatters I mentioned that a bill that would have created a state commission to help plan celebrations for America’s 250th anniversary failed. But don’t count California out of the party yet: According to Newsom’s office, a newly formed Governor’s Office of Service and Community Engagement is working with the State Library to coordinate activities throughout the state related to the anniversary in 2026.

• Native American foster kids: The state Supreme Court Monday strengthened federal rules protecting Native American families from separation in a decision that directs child welfare agencies to investigate whether a child has Native ancestry before placing them in foster care. As CalMatters news intern Shaanth Nanguneri explains, more than half of Native youth in the state’s foster care system land in non-relative and non-Native homes. Monday’s ruling could help tribes keep families together, but incidentally, the case has impacted parents who didn’t claim to have Native ancestry. Find out how in Shaanth’s story. 

• Pornographic websites: Facing concerns over cost and potential violations of the First Amendment, a bipartisan bill to require Californians to verify that they’re adults before visiting pornographic websites died last week in the Senate’s appropriations committee, writes CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow. It faced pushback from online privacy and civil liberties groups. Assemblymember Juan Alanis, a Modesto Republican and the bill’s author, blamed lobbyists for persuading legislators to “stand with those who have no problems harming kids for greed.” Read more about the measure in Ryan’s story.

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit against Los Angeles Unified School District’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones and producer Robert Meeks have a video segment on Carolyn’s story on how the case raises questions about workers’ rights as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.