SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio’s Ready to Work workforce development program, created to help low-income residents train for higher-paying careers, could eventually end under a proposal from Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones to address the city’s financial challenges.
Jones is asking the San Antonio City Council to consider redirecting the remaining funds from the voter-approved program as the city faces a projected $158 million budget deficit or seeks to increase borrowing capacity for the 2027 bond program.
Ready to Work was approved by San Antonio voters in 2020 and launched in 2022. Funded through a dedicated one-eighth-cent sales tax, the program provides education, job training and career placement services to residents pursuing high-demand occupations.
According to data posted on the Ready to Work website, 16,883 people have enrolled in training programs, 8,062 have completed their training, and 5,762 have been placed in approved jobs.
One graduate, Sebastian Oberg, told KSAT in April that the program helped him secure full-time employment after struggling to find work.
“I think it’s great. I went last year having no job, and now I have a full-time job — and it’s a great job at that,” Oberg said. “My parents are super proud. I’m very happy with it.”
Oberg said he now earns $58,000 annually in his first job after completing the program.
“Oh yeah, 100%,” he said when asked whether the program was worth it. “I’d probably still be jobless.”
Financial information published by Ready to Work shows the program has collected more than $235 million in sales tax revenue and has spent nearly $112 million.
In a memo to City Council, Jones said her goal is to redirect the remaining funds without disrupting services for current participants.
“My intent would be that any diversion of funds does not impact those enrolled in the Ready to Work program,” Jones wrote.
The mayor added that, under the proposal, the program would stop accepting new applicants after a date agreed upon by the council and “would begin to wind down.”
Jones said increasing property taxes remains a last resort and suggested redirecting Ready to Work funding could instead help eliminate the projected budget shortfall or expand the city’s bonding capacity for future infrastructure projects.
The proposal is still in its early stages.
Because Ready to Work was established through a citywide election, redirecting its dedicated funding would require voter approval. Before that could happen, the City Council would first need to vote to place the measure on a future ballot.
KSAT has reached out to former Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who championed the creation of the Ready to Work program, and program officials for comment — neither had responded by publication time.
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