Plan Seeks to Boost Pool of Skilled Labor

With a drought of talent to fill a rising number of skilled labor jobs, the state’s community colleges may start sharing the cost of vocational education courses--from metal cutting to respiratory therapy--with private firms.

A $72-million reform package that the state Community College Board of Governors is scheduled to consider today would work to reverse what trade educators call “vocational discrimination” against blue-collar training.

Vocational programs have received little attention over the last decade as the state’s 108 community colleges responded to legislative pressure to improve graduation and transfer rates to universities, educators say.

“Vocational education in high schools has been almost totally wiped out as we see it,” said Nick Kremer, executive dean of community, industry and technology education at Cerritos College. “Pressure to get kids into a university is driving everything, although only 10% will ever make it. It’s hurting us because we don’t have a pipeline into our work-force education programs.”

Under the proposal, colleges and companies together would design curricula, and companies would send employees to the colleges for training. The campuses also would launch public relations campaigns to recruit students, especially from area high schools.

If approved by the Board of Governors, the proposal would go to the Legislature for funding consideration. The $72 million would cover only the first year, but would not maintain the costly programs. Proponents say they plan to keep the project going by using state grants and partnerships with businesses.

Julie Korenstein, a Los Angeles Unified School District board member and a member of the statewide committee that created the proposal, said legislators and students often place less value on training programs than on academics.

“We must stop being elitist about our education system,” Korenstein said. “A degree for degree’s sake doesn’t put food on the table or pay rent.”

A recently completed study of how well the community colleges prepare students for the workplace showed that technology was outdated and few people off campus were familiar with their programs, adding to the shortage of skilled workers, said Linda Wong, director of the Los Angeles County Workforce Preparation and Economic Development Collaborative.

Machining classrooms were empty on a number of campuses, while machine shops were struggling to fill jobs, she said.

Although state figures are unavailable for the skilled work-force shortage, the Small Manufacturers Assn. of California estimates that one in three machine jobs in Los Angeles County remains unfilled because of the lack of trained labor.

David Goodreau, chairman of the association, said the colleges are out of step with students and the business community.

“The high schools are pushing students away from work-force training,” he said. “No one is saying we shouldn’t be graduating people with bachelor’s degrees. But in reality, only a few students will ever graduate with a four-year degree. We do them a disservice when we don’t make them aware of other options.”

Only about a quarter of the state’s 1.5 million community college students say they plan to earn bachelor’s degrees, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

A key component of the proposal is recruiting from high schools, which have cut their vocational education programs by 75% over the last decade, the commission reported.

Faculty unions say they support the expansion of vocational programs but caution against giving private companies too much leeway.

“The college must retain control of any of its programs,” said Carl Friedlander, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Federation of Teachers College Guild. “It’s easy to see how there can be an outstanding relationship set up, or one that would quickly raise eyebrows.”