WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending the federal Job Corps, the largest nationwide residential career training program in the country.
The program’s future remains uncertain as Trump administration officials continue to push for winding it down.
What You Need To Know
- A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending Job Corps
- The program currently has 99 locations across the country with about 25,000 students
- Administration officials said they would continue their effort to shut down the program, citing low graduation rates
Created by Congress in 1964, Job Corps assists 16-to-24-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds earn high school diplomas and vocational certificates. The $1.5 billion program has 99 locations and about 25,000 students nationwide.
A group of Job Corps students attended a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing Thursday to protest the administration’s decision to shut down the program, announced in late May.
At the hearing, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer defended the decision, citing an average graduation rate of 38% and an average cost per student of $155,000.
“The Labor Department is looking at ways to streamline federal programs and evaluate how taxpayer dollars are spent. In line with this approach, the budget proposes to eliminate ineffective training interventions, and that does include the Job Corps program,” she said. “This program is failing to deliver safe and successful outcomes our young people deserve.”
Her comments came one day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the Labor Department from closing the program. The National Job Corps Association had filed a lawsuit arguing only Congress, which authorized the program, can shut it down.
Some Democrats in Congress agreed.
“It is so incredibly frustrating that when Congress in a bipartisan fashion says, hey, we’re going to invest in young people, make sure that they get the training for a good-paying job, that then the President of the United States rips that away. It’s terrible,” said Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio.
Landsman represents Cincinnati, which has a Job Corps program with about 200 students. Ohio also has centers in Dayton and Cleveland, with 800 enrollees across the state.
Some Democrats argued the program’s statistics do not accurately reflect the good results it achieves.
“We in South Toledo, for example, with a lot of the work that was done to upgrade and rebuild South Toledo, there were Job Corps interests there that were used. And we see the evidence of that,” said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio. “So we didn’t have the biggest program in the country, but even where they existed, they’ve made a difference.”
Though the administration’s plan is on hold, the future of Job Corps remains unclear. The judge’s order is only temporary until a full ruling can be held later this month.
Meanwhile, the Job Corps website has already been taken down.