Budget Would Cut Job Corps Funding, Move Youthbuild to Labor Department - 2/14/2005 - Real Estate Education Training Schools Conferences

Proposed Budget Would Cut Job Corps Funding, Move Youthbuild to Labor Department

Although it has received wide bipartisan support from Congress and the Administration, Job Corps — which comes under the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration — was not spared from the widespread domestic spending cuts proposed in the budget for fiscal 2006. Its funding would be cut by $29.3 million to $1.517 billion, compared to a $10 million increase for the current fiscal year.

Home Builders Institute (HBI), the workforce development arm of NAHB, is the largest training contractor in Job Corps. More than 2,000 young people — about 92% of those who graduate from the HBI program — are placed in jobs in the industry each year. This year marks Job Corps’ 40th anniversary and is the 31st year since the department awarded HBI its first contract to train its students in the skilled trades.

Also under the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is the Responsible Reintegration of Young Offenders program, which would be rolled into the Prisoner Reentry Initiative for adults. The program taps community- and faith-based organizations to provide services such as job training and mentoring to reduce recidivism among ex-offenders.

The President’s 2006 budget proposal would provide $250 million in funding for the Community College Initiative. The program’s Community-Based Job Training Grants “prepare workers in high demand occupations” through strategic partnerships among community colleges, industry and the workforce system. HBI received a grant in 2004 to partner with community colleges to develop a skilled trades workforce, laying the groundwork for this initiative in the residential construction area.

The budget proposal consolidates four Department of Labor programs under the $3.9 billion Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Plus funding stream that will be disbursed through state formula grants. Consolidated under WIA Plus are Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth activities, as well as the Employment Service, Labor Market Information and the administration of the Work Opportunity and Welfare to Work tax credit programs. Legislation will be proposed to make these structural changes.

Similar WIA legislation will be proposed to transfer the Youthbuild program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Labor Department. This recommendation was first made by the White House Task Force on Disadvantaged Youth as a way to facilitate coordination between Youthbuild and other youth employment and training programs such as Job Corps. In 2004, HBI received its first national grant to give technical assistance to Youthbuild’s local programs. The Administration has requested $58.9 million to fund Youthbuild at the Department of Labor in fiscal 2005.

The Department of Education would also undergo some changes. The Administration’s budget would terminate 48 “ineffective” programs and would redirect these funds, some $4.7 billion, to Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs; improving teacher quality; and the new High School Intervention Initiative, which would take the No Child Left Behind Act to the high school level.

The High School Intervention Initiative would provide $1.2 billion to the states to help improve student academic achievement and graduation rates through an intervention strategy of their choosing — including vocational education, mentoring and partnerships between high schools and community colleges. This proposal would consolidate programs such as Vocational Education, Upward Bound, Gear Up, Smaller Learning Communities and others that are not considered effective in improving student outcomes.