Cal Matters
Adam Echelman
June 18, 2026
In summary
Gov Gavin Newsom made job training and the creation of a master plan for career education part of his agenda. Now, key workforce initiatives may get no new funding.
Standing in a West Sacramento high school cafeteria in 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom promised fundamental reforms to the state’s job training programs. A few months later, he was in front of a fire truck in Modesto, and later, in a welding classroom in Redding, making the same promise.
It was a “point of pride,” Newsom said last year.
Now, a handful of those reforms are underway. A new inter-agency council, designed to increase collaboration among workforce providers, is meeting next week. The state is also developing a new kind of digital resume that would help students and workers consolidate information about their work experience and education.
But as the state faces yet another budget deficit, a flagship workforce program could be forced to scale back. One of the state’s leading agencies for coordinating workforce training, the California Workforce Development Board, could lose 20% of its staff.
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