Carolyn Jones
California is set to announce today which schools will receive extra money to bolster students’ career paths, but delays and mishaps have meant thousands of students missed out on the opportunity.
An estimated 300 K-12 schools will pool together $450 million to create internships, boost dual enrollment programs at community colleges and take other steps to connect students with high-paying jobs in fields such as health care, technology and the arts.
The announcement comes after months of turmoil over California’s Golden State Pathways program, part of a broader effort to bolster career and technical education in high schools and community colleges. Along with other investments, the program aims to eventually give all students access to job training.
The Golden State Pathways program was originally scheduled to be created by the state Legislature in 2022 and launch the following year, with schools applying for grants and the state Department of Education set to announce winners in January 2024.
But as the state faced a deepening budget deficit in the spring of 2023, some lawmakers proposed postponing the program and redirecting the funds elsewhere. After protests from school districts and vocational education advocates, the program survived but faced further delays after the state extended the application deadline.
The Department of Education announced in May that 302 school districts had received grant funding, but EdSource reported that some of the grant amounts were significantly different than what schools applied for.
In July, the state suddenly cancelled its entire roster of grant recipients, saying it had been inundated with challenges from school districts and needed to reconsider the applications.
“The California Department of Education takes Golden State Pathways and all of California’s investments in workforce-ready educational opportunities very seriously and is committed to getting these funds to local education agencies as quickly as possible. We recognize the impact this (delay) has had on school districts and are making every effort to ensure funds are distributed as quickly as possible,” Education Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Sanders said in an email this week, adding that the department is working to “ensure all future communications are clear, responsive and collaborative.”
School districts and vocational education advocates were outraged. Many groups were already working on programs, but the delays meant they couldn’t move forward with plans for this fall. In early September, a group of 20 school districts and nonprofits sent an emergency letter to state officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, urging them to speed up the process.
“We respectfully ask that you do everything in your power to ensure that promised Golden State Pathways grant funds flow, are sent, and are received by the hundreds of local education agencies that planned, staffed, and set expectations for this funding across California communities,” they wrote. “Time is of the essence for the communities that depend on them.”
The delays have been especially painful for school districts struggling to help students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since campuses reopened, districts have struggled with chronically high rates of absenteeism, poor test scores and increased student misconduct, while many students have suffered from high levels of anxiety and depression.
Career Pathways offers some hope: Students who participate in career pathways tend to have higher graduation rates, college-going rates, and earnings afterward, according to research compiled by the nonprofit think tank California Education Policy Analysis.
By improving career paths for students, the state hopes to boost the state’s economy by providing skilled workers to growing industries such as healthcare, technology and climate-related fields.
Student escape
But delays and uncertainty have forced schools and organizations to put hiring and planning on hold.
“We’re at a plateau, and the school year has already begun. We’re missing an opportunity to reach more students and help more school districts reach their goals,” said Kirk Ann Taylor, executive director of Climate Action Pathways for Schools, a nonprofit that offers paid internships to high school students working on environmental projects in their schools and communities.
Porterville Unified School District in Tulare County was one of the districts that took the risk to postpone its Career Pathways expansion plans. This year, the district hoped to use a Golden State Pathways grant to expand its Climate Internship program, in which students conduct energy audits of school buildings and recommend ways to conserve gas and electricity. Over the past three years, student audits have saved the district more than $830,000 in energy costs. Students are also working on green yard projects and switching to electric buses.
Taylor’s organization eventually found other funding sources for the Porterville program, but other districts haven’t been so lucky, she said.
“The program in Porterville is great, and we’re excited to move forward in Porterville and other places,” Taylor said.
In Los Angeles, a nonprofit called UNITE-LA connects schools with local businesses to provide internships, job shadowing opportunities, mock interviews and professional tutors for students to gain work experience. Delays have put plans to expand the program to dozens of Los Angeles County high schools on hold for a year.
Career education “has the power to transform students’ lives,” said Carrie Lemon, UNITE-LA’s senior vice president of systems change strategies. “Today, many students are struggling, and while we’re grateful for the grant, every year we delay implementing these reforms means we’re losing more students.”
This article was originally published by CalMatters.
