OXNARD : Dispute Places Job Program in Jeopardy

A contract dispute between the Oxnard high school district and a federally funded jobs agency is threatening the existence of a program that trains 150 welfare recipients each year to re-enter the work force, officials said.

The Oxnard Union High School District board Wednesday will consider a staff recommendation that trustees reject renewing a contract with the Oxnard-based Jobs Training Policy Council for a district training program.

The jobs council is one of three agencies that pay the Oxnard district to teach adult welfare recipients such courses as English as a second language, preparation for a high school equivalency certificate and remedial math and reading.

The program, known as Greater Avenues in Independence, or GAIN, is designed to help people get off welfare and into the work force. The Oxnard district’s adult school has offered the program for at least six years.

The district receives about $273,000 each year to offer GAIN courses. The jobs council pays the district about $83,000 in federal funds. Another $156,000 comes to the district from the Ventura County Public Social Services Agency, and the state Department of Education pays an additional $134,000.

But district officials are objecting to the jobs council’s proposal to change its contract so that the district would receive only half of its $83,000 payment up front, with the other half withheld until the yearlong program is complete.

The GAIN program runs each year from July through June.

Phil Bohan, the council’s contracts manager, said he believes the school district is not eligible to receive GAIN program payments from the county social services agency or the state education department unless it first signs a contract with the jobs council.

Bohan said the new contract provision as proposed would allow the jobs council to first audit how the district has spent its initial GAIN funding during the contract year before delivering the final payment.