School Trustees Vote to Refuse Job-Awareness Grant : Education: In 3-2 decision by county board, opponents cite concerns about bureaucracy, ‘Big Brother’ intrusions. But supporters vow to find ways to accept the funds if U.S. makes money available.

Bucking the pleas of Ventura County’s education Establishment, the county Board of Education voted Monday night to refuse a $500,000 federal grant intended to prepare 50,000 students for jobs after high school.

Trustee Marty Bates said the money would do little more than create a new layer of bureaucracy that is not needed.

The Thousand Oaks businessman, who was joined in the 3-2 vote by Trustees Angela N. Miller and Wendy Larner, objected to the involvement of the federal Department of Labor in administering the program.

Many of the career-awareness programs the federal program advocates for students in kindergarten through community college are already in place through volunteer business groups and existing vocational-training classes, Bates said.

“You have to say, ‘Wait a minute. Why are we going to spend all of our money on this?’ ” Bates said, reading from a prepared statement.

Trustees Al Rosen and John McGarry voted in favor of accepting any grant money offered by the federal government under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. Ventura County officials expect to learn in January whether local school districts will receive any portion of the $15-million federal pot.

Supt. of Schools Charles Weis denounced the board’s decision, saying it is a unilateral attempt to kill a project endorsed by educators at 17 high schools, two continuation high schools and the county’s three community colleges.

“I think there’s overwhelming support for kids being more employable,” Weis said. “Obviously, there wasn’t anything the people could say tonight that could change their minds.”

Weis said he would be in Sacramento today and would meet with state education officials to find other ways the county might receive the funds. The Ventura County Community College District is a likely candidate to act as the local grant administrator if its governing board agrees, Weis said.

“That is an option,” he said. “I want to talk to them and see how they feel about it.”

The vote came after more than two hours of often contentious debate in a boardroom packed with more than 60 people. Administrators and school board members from school districts in Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo attended to express their concerns.

Several educators told the county board that the job-awareness programs backed by the grant had broad support in Ventura County’s public schools.

Among other things, the grant would form partnerships between Ventura County businesses and school districts to provide students with a variety of work experiences. Starting in the 11th and 12th grades, students could take advantage of business mentors, paid and unpaid internships, work site tours and job shadowing.

Ken Smokoska, a Camarillo resident and business owner, told board members he could not understand why they would turn down a grant that could provide up to $2.5 million over five years.

“I just think that there’s a reality check that needs to be put in place here,” Smokoska said. “I can’t believe that we’re even having this discussion.”

But Larner has said she is concerned that aspects of the grant represent a federal “Big Brother” intrusion into local education. Although the focus of training programs is on high school students, educators would be required to introduce career awareness into classrooms as early as kindergarten, Larner notes.

And records on how students have fared in grant programs, stored on computer files, are tantamount to “electronic dossiers,” Larner has said.

“I do not believe we need to involve more directed activities in our schools,” Larner said Monday. “To say that won’t happen is disingenuous.”

Educators at local school districts said Monday’s vote convinced them that they will have to find other ways to go after future grant money. The county board traditionally has served as the districts’ local fiscal partner because the superintendent of schools office is an umbrella agency serving all 20 local public school districts.

But with a hostile governing board blocking action, local school districts may need to apply for grants individually or form their own consortiums, said Doris Didio, a trustee on the Conejo Valley Unified School District board.

“If you vote this down, you are in essence taking away the local control of the school districts in this county,” Didio said. “Your role is to support education in this county, not to obstruct education.”