SAN ANTONIO – Nearly four years after enrollment launched for Ready to Work, the city’s workforce training program is less than a third of the way toward accomplishing its biggest goal.
Still, city officials say they should be able to place 15,600 people in “approved” jobs by 2030 while also spending the rest of the nearly $236 million collected in sales tax.
Voters approved the 1/8 cent sales tax funding the program in November 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a way to provide free job training.
Estimates for the program ahead of the election focused on 10,000 people getting training every year of the four-year program, for a total of “up to 40,000″ people served.
But after voters had approved the plan, the city presented a different picture: 39,000 people interviewed, 28,000 enrolled in approved training, and 15,600 placed in quality jobs.
The city announced the opening of enrollment in May 2022. According to numbers on the program’s dashboard, about 25,600 people have finished the intake process. Of that number, about 15,600 had been enrolled in a training course, and 6,600 had finished it.
However, only about 4,600 had gotten an “approved” job — one that pays at least $15 an hour in a target field, with access to benefits.
In a Wednesday briefing, though, Workforce Development Office Executive Director Mike Ramsey told council members they expected to hit the 15,600 job placement target by the spring of 2030.
City staff have also advised council members to begin strategic conversations about what should exist after that.
“Right now, the plan is to scale the program down to sunset the program when the funding runs out in 2030,” Assistant City Manager Alex Lopez told KSAT after Wednesday’s meeting. “But we need to know what’s the new role of the city going to be in this space. There’s a lot interest in continuing this kind investment, but it’s important that we understand how and where that will be most meaningful for us.”
The program was funded with a 1/8 cent sales tax that collected nearly $236 million before expiring in December.
According to budget documents, the city has not yet spent even half that, but Ramsey told council members it would be “fully expensed” by the 2030 fiscal year.
There have been success stories, too.
Sebastian Oberg graduated Texas A&M University in late 2024 with a computer science degree. Despite months of searching, he was unable to land a job.
After undertaking a three-month training through Ready to Work, he came away with some IT-related certifications and landed a “great” job as a system administrator for a bank.
Oberg said he believes the program is “very reliant” on participants’ own motivation to get them through.
“If I had no intention of going to school and I didn’t have the drive to get that job, I think it would have been really hard,” he said. “But ultimately I think the person that is applying to it, that’s using the resources, it’s their job to make sure that they complete the program."
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