California Education Interagency Council

Frequently Asked Questions

Why California Needs Coordination

Why is statewide education and workforce coordination a high priority?

Operating without a statewide education and workforce coordinating entity, our state administers siloed programs that fail to reach too many Californians. This fragmentation results in wasted money, Californians stuck in poverty, communities without the services they need, and employers without the skilled employees they need. On the other hand, when education aligns with workforce needs, Californians receive better training and higher-paying jobs; employers find more qualified candidates; communities thrive, with an engaged citizenry propelling society forward; and our state builds a strong, inclusive, and resilient economy in which everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

By establishing and operating the Office of the California Education Interagency Council and convening the Council, authorized in 2025 by AB 1098 and SB 638, California can take steps toward these outcomes and fuel shared prosperity statewide.

What are the challenges the Council can help solve?

By strengthening intersegmental and cross-sector coordination, the council can help overcome the following challenges:

Unmet labor market needs in high-demand fields.
Widening equity gaps in college access and completion rate and career outcomes.
Unaffordable college costs.
A lack of clear statewide goals for postsecondary planning.
Low student transfer rates.
A lack of consistent infrastructure for cross- or co-enrollment.
Interruption of support and services when students transition from one campus to another.
Disputes between higher education segments.
Competition between institutions over limited funding opportunities.
Challenges in sharing data, conducting outreach, and allocating funding.

For more information, see California Competes’ one-pager summarizing the challenges coordination can solve here.

According to supporters, what could stronger coordination mean for California?

Supporters envision a future where:

Education and workforce training options align with industry needs and state priorities (like education, climate, health, and housing), promoting a prosperous economy and vibrant communities.
Planning, resource allocation, and infrastructure are coordinated across various agencies and systems, leading to more consistent and sustainable funding at the local level.
Statewide and regional career education councils support integrated planning, resource allocation, data management, and other critical activities to move away from the current fragmented and siloed systems.
Data and technical infrastructure are linked to create a clearer picture for decision-making at all levels.
Educators, including workforce training providers, and employers work together to create aligned curriculum and more work-based learning opportunities, resulting in faster and smoother transitions to good jobs, particularly those addressing state priorities.

About the Office of the California Education Interagency Council

What laws establish the Office of the California Education Interagency Council?

AB 1098 establishes the Office of the California Education Interagency Council (the managing entity) as a neutral administrative body within the Government Operations Agency (GovOps). The managing entity will bring together state leaders from education, business, labor, and finance who form the California Education Interagency Council (the Council). SB 638 outlines the managing entity and Council’s responsibilities, including setting a strategic plan, conducting critical higher education and workforce analyses, and addressing key intersegmental and cross-sector issues. The 2025–26 state budget, enacted on June 30, 2025, provides $1.5 million in ongoing funding to support the establishment and operations of the managing entity and Council.

What are the goals of the statewide coordinating Council and managing entity?

The overarching purpose of the Council and managing entity is to ensure California's education systems meet the demands of its workforce and economy by coordinating efforts and facilitating communication across various agencies. AB 1098 outlines this purpose in these five goals:

Proactively evaluating and addressing the changing nature of work and the economy, and supporting the advancement of state educational attainment, equity, and workforce goals.
Integrating and aligning efforts across elementary and secondary education, postsecondary education, employers, and the statewide workforce system, and maximizing the impact of federal and state funding investments to ensure effective student pathways to quality work and well-paying careers, and to contribute to economic growth.
Increasing collaboration across postsecondary education and the workforce development systems statewide, and with employers to ensure flexibility and support for meeting the skill-building and upskilling needs of adults.
Working in regions throughout the state to ensure that education supply and statewide workforce demand are aligned.
Being a forum for communication to discuss the impacts of proposed intersegmental and cross-sector issues, including, but not limited to, changes to elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education graduation requirements, including California State University and University of California admissions changes.

How will progress be measured?

The Council and managing entity will adopt a strategic plan for achieving the goals outlined above, which will be periodically revisited on a schedule set by the Council to adapt to changing education and workforce needs. The Council must submit a report to the Legislature on a biennial basis to report outcomes from the previous two years.

How will Californians benefit if these goals are achieved?

This entity will help ensure that current state investments in education and workforce development are used more effectively. Despite spending billions in these areas, California has become a state of haves and have-nots, with the widest income gap in the nation. Improved coordination across agencies working to strengthen education and career outcomes will ease the path for more Californians to economic stability.

Who are the members of the Council, what will they do, and when do they start?

The Council serves as a leadership body providing operational guidance and recommendations to the managing entity, Governor, and Legislature. Members will participate in public meetings at least once every six months, discuss cross-sector topics, review reports and deliverables developed by the managing entity, and designate staff to participate in relevant workgroups or task forces as determined by the work plan. The Governor will designate one member of the Council to serve as the chairperson. The deadline for the Council’s first meeting is June 30, 2026.

The Council’s ten members include each of the following (or their designees):

The President of the State Board of Education,
The Superintendent of Public Instruction,
The President of the University of California,
The Chancellor of the California State University,
The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges,
The Director of Consumer Affairs,
The Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development,
The Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development,
The Director of Finance, and
The President of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities.

Who will lead the managing entity?

The Governor will appoint an executive officer who is exempt from civil service to oversee the managing entity. This executive officer will report directly to the GovOps Secretary.

What will the managing entity do?

The managing entity acts as an administrative body supporting the Council including by staffing meetings and helping develop a strategic plan. Its administrative functions include the following:

Evaluating data to help the state prepare for emerging skills needs in areas critical to its economy.
Tracking progress toward meeting statewide education and employment goals.
Making recommendations to strengthen education and career pathways.
Providing support for collaborative work to strengthen pathways from high school to postsecondary education.
Developing reports and other resources.
Developing and maintaining the Council’s website
Coordinating learning opportunities across TK-12 and higher education.
Hiring experts or technical and professional services.

The managing entity may also administer interagency programs, adopt rules and guidelines for those programs, and allocate funding if appropriated.

Why establish the managing entity within the Government Operations Agency (GovOps)?

GovOps is a neutral state office with a record of creating new initiatives and fostering collaboration, including those related to education and workforce. Notably, it also houses the Cradle-to-Career Data System (C2C), which provides tools to help students reach their goals and delivers information on education and workforce outcomes. Being housed within the same agency may ease the process to establish a memorandum of understanding between C2C and the managing entity within the first year. In turn, C2C could provide the managing entity with a wide range of education and workforce data to support their analysis and plans with the Council.

How will the public, experts, and advocates be included in the managing entity and Council’s goals and planning?

The managing entity will ensure the Council meets every six months to ensure the strategic plan is implemented and to provide a forum for public input. The first strategic plan must be adopted by November 30, 2027 followed by a work plan within 120 days of its adoption. The plan may include the establishment of workgroups, committees, and task forces to further the Council’s goals.

The Council must establish a principal advisory committee to assist the Council with its goals. The principal advisory committee will include transitional kindergarten to secondary education, inclusive, postsecondary education, workforce, and business practitioners. The Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly may each appoint, to the principal advisory committee, two individuals representing workforce and business practitioners. The principal advisory committee shall ensure that access and equity principles for underserved populations are part of their discussions. The council may appoint additional representatives to serve on the principal advisory committee to ensure representation from a cross-section of relevant interest holders, such as students, parents, teachers, faculty, staff, associations, employers, labor organizations, experts, and other public entities that have relevant content jurisdiction or expertise regarding work before the council.

Funding Details

How is the Council and managing entity funded?

The enacted 2025-26 state budget provides $1.5 million ongoing general fund investment to establish and support the Council. This is a reduction from an earlier proposal by the Governor of $5 million in ongoing general funds with a budget change proposal requesting the hiring of 16 staff to support strategic planning and implementation.

Why is ongoing funding necessary?

The educational and labor market landscape is constantly changing. The managing entity will ensure California remains competitive and responsive to employers and workforce needs while improving worker and student experiences in navigating their education and career paths. This is not a one-time activity but an ever-evolving need.

Is this a good use of our money, given our current fiscal environment?

Yes! In times of economic uncertainty, maximizing existing investments is crucial. This managing entity’s work will streamline the state’s existing efforts, reduce wasteful duplication, and ensure every dollar spent on education and workforce development yields the greatest possible return. By improving student and workforce outcomes, the work will directly bolster California’s economy and make the most of the state’s resources when they are needed most.

Support

Who supported the establishment of the Council and the office?

The California Education Interagency Council received broad support from the administration, legislators, leaders in the field, students, workers, employers, and advocacy organizations. Further evidence of support includes:

The need for state and regional coordination was consistently identified as a top priority during listening sessions related to the Master Plan for Career Education in each region of the state.
The legislature championed several bills in prior years, aiming to establish a coordinating entity, and in 2025, three legislators introduced legislation to improve statewide coordination: Assemblymember Fong’s AB 95, Senator Cabaldon’s SB 790, and Senator Padilla’s SB 638.
Governor Newsom initially included $5 million in the proposed January budget and ultimately signed the legislation to establish the Council, reflecting administrative support.
Note: California Competes shared this coalition sign-on letter urging the Governor to sign AB 1098 and SB 638.

Models, Relationship to Other Efforts, and Distinctions

Hasn’t California already made significant investments in career and educational pathways?

California offers a myriad of programs and supports to address education and workforce needs, but they are disconnected across agencies and departments and often do not reach the intended participants. This fragmented structure leaves too many Californians without the skills to secure well-paying jobs, and employers lacking the workforce they need. An example of this is that nearly $1 billion invested in the Golden State Education and Training Grant Program (GSETGP) and the Learning-Aligned Employment Program was largely unspent before cancellation because the programs struggled to be rolled out due to issues that could have been addressed if we had greater coordination. Note: California Competes created a workforce primer to showcase the various investments made and their siloed and fragmented nature.

Do other states have a coordinating entity? Are any of these entities similarly structured to this proposal?

Yes, all 49 other states have a coordinating entity; however, their governance structure, location, membership, and authority vary. Washington and Missouri’s entities are the most similar to the Council, covering TK-12, higher education, and workforce. Both have demonstrated success and impact.

The Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board (WTECB) is an 11-member partnership of TK-12 and higher education, labor, and business leaders. While the board creates the policy objectives, the board is supported by a separate Director who administers programs and board policies. Among its accomplishments, the WTECB modernized the education and career platform to be more interactive and engaging for younger users and has grown its viewership.
The Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development is a citizen board representing each of the state’s nine congressional districts. They focus on workforce development policies, TK-12 and higher education coordination, and policy development, research, and alignment with regional workforce needs. The Department approves academic programs, provides a unified budget for the Legislature to consider, and convenes meetings with regional workforce development boards to share best practices. The Department successfully partners with the state Department of Corrections on re-entry programs and postsecondary enrollment for people in prisons.

Where can I learn more about state coordinating entities?

For more information about the link between state workforce entities, TK-12, and higher education entities, see the National Conference of State Legislatures’ 2024 Brief on Aligning State Education, Workforce Development, and Benefit Systems to Support Students or the Education Commission of the States’ brief, Education and Workforce Development Connections.

How does the Council differ from the Governor’s Council for Career Education?

The Council differs significantly from the existing Governor's Council for Career Education, which advises on the economic and social impact of higher education in the state and is specific to the current administration. The Council will build on the lessons learned and benefit from longer-lasting operational authority as a cross-sectoral and systems-level coordinating body. It will have a broader scope, hold public meetings, and have an enhanced coordination infrastructure with a dedicated managing office and staff. The Council will have fewer members but will incorporate regular input from the public and workgroups.

How will this office work with existing systems and programs in California? Will this duplicate efforts in other departments?

No, this entity will not duplicate efforts. This office will focus on intersegmental and cross-sector efforts. California has not had a statewide entity that does this with the broad vision and mission of TK-12, higher education, and workforce in mind. In the absence of such coordination, the state has had to set up specific councils, workgroups, and task forces to focus on a targeted population or issue. For example, to address transfer, the legislature created the Associate Degree for Transfer Intersegmental Implementation Committee. Piecemeal approaches force the legislature to monitor closely all intersegmental and cross-sector challenges and inefficiently legislate coordination strategies.

Instead, the Council will be staffed with experts to focus on this, relieving the legislature to stay focused on its key priorities. Moreover, the Council will guide the creation and implementation of a strategic plan, which includes assessing the feasibility of consolidating and co-locating similar initiatives across agencies, further reducing any wasteful duplication.

Looking Forward

How can the public stay informed and get involved?

Stay up to date on the latest developments related to the California Education Interagency Council, and learn about opportunities to support its launch and long-term impact, by signing up for email updates and visiting our webpage, How to Support Greater Statewide Higher Education Coordination. For any questions, please contact AJohnson@CaliforniaCompetes.org.