Texas Workforce WIA Program (CDL School)

The State of Texas Workforce Commission offers a CDL Training Program, and it is a school usually within 50 miles of your home (if one is there).

The Training is free to you, and they even pick up the cost of the CDL. Here is the catch to it.

Must qualify for the program.

Both
1. Resident of Texas
2. Not currently hold a Class A CDL
One of the following
3. Be layed off from current employer
or
4. Income must not exceed program Limit. (check with Workforce in your County)

Once you get in the program you will be required to call the WFC counselor each month for the next 12 months to confirm you are working using the CDL. you get to select the company you work for. I do know that the FedEx Ground terminal here in FTW is hiring graduates straight our of the C1 school in Fort Worth, to run as teams making between 1,000 and 1,200 a week. The school here has an excellent placment % for grads.

Worth checking into, however it can take 6 weeks to get into the program and have the state pick up the tab.

The program is called "WIA CDL Training"

 

Does Fedex have any solo positions in ftw ?

 

The last I heard the Solo where hard to come by, but I will check tomorrow for you and let you know. I know they have a now hiring sign up on the fence at the terminal, and they haul terminal to terminal....

 

One note on the WIA program, is you have to work you way through it completely if you were laid off from your previous job. ie. You have to really try to get a job in your old field before you'll even be considered for the WIA paid training.

They required you to spend at least three months trying before they'll give you the funds to do the school. I know I tried, after being on unemployment for three months and trying to go through the program, they wanted me to still look for another three months before they would pony up for the new training.

I gave up on it and just spent the money from my savings that I got in my severance package.

Another thing to note, is the training they will send you to is not PTDI certified and many companies will not hire you unless the school you went to is PTDI certified. Well at least companies that are worth a snot.

I ended up going with a PTDI certified school at the community college district and that is accepted by my first choice of companies, Crete.

 

PTDI, HMM

Certified schools in Texas are Schneider, Swift, ATDS, and Houton Community college only. That says a whole lot about this certification .

Lets see, People posts on here about how bad Schneider and Swift drivers are...........:LMAO

Crete also accepts C1 and several other schools, like CRE training, Stevens Transport and Central Refrigerated, or any school out there with some (1yr) exp... Just ask their fleet safety or training manager.

Requirements for membership, for most accrediting agencies (corporations) out there for CDL Schools

• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A Non-Refundable Application Fee of $ [/FONT]
• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A Copy of Your Most Current School Catalog[/FONT]
• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Sample Advertising and Promotional Materials[/FONT]
• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]A Copy of Your State License(s)[/FONT]
• [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Any Other Materials in Support of Your Application for Membership[/FONT]

Those are some real hard requirements for a . They carry about as much weight as a college diploma from JC Penny.... 90% of all schools are not certified by these "corporations" but rather by the state to meet state and federal regulations.

As for the 3 months looking for a job in your last field, sounds like you got a lazy ### WFC counselor, maybe the unemployment check had something to do with this, but I really believe it was that disgruntal state employee you were dealing with.... I was laid off on Jan 14th, and the WFC was offering me the program by Jan 28th... All I had to do is complete the paperwork, and sit back and wait for the system to get me processed in Austin. The Federal Grant this is on provides the funds to the state and offers them X number of students per state. Of the 10 students currently in my class on the WIA Program, the longest wait for any of them was 6 weeks, and that was due to the WFC employee having the flu... I turned down the program, because DS could get me in class on that coming Monday, where I was looking at about 3 to 4 weeks waiting on the paperwork. However I was qualified and submitted in 6 business days, not 6 months.............................

With that being said, if you have advance training in your field, i.e. you have a PhD in Nuclar Medicine, or MCSE with 10 yrs exp.. they are not going to put you thru CDL School.... (common sense just aint so common any more, "CW3 Lawson, US Army")

This is an option for individuals that live in Texas and have the desire to attend CDL Training, and can spare the month or two for processing.

Please don't discredit a program you don't understand.

You state you are in DFW Area, however the only CC in Texas on the PTDI qualified schools page is Houton CC......


FYI, The State of Texas requires that all training programs meet state and federal guidlines, as well as industry standards to be awarded funding of any kind.

Texas Law Title 3 and Title 40


Sorry if this comes off a little strong, I just hate when people put their foot in their mouth before they do research on a project.....

• Graduates of the school training program must demonstrate understanding of the basic operation of the tractor-trailer so that they may function properly as an entry-level driver in the trucking industry.

These competencies are publised in most of their brochures and are very generic to say the least.....

• <LI class=MsoNormal>The graduate must be able to demonstrate safe motor vehicle control and procedure skills for the tractor-trailer under situations normally encountered in the trucking industry, so that he/she can successfully attain a basic commercial drivers license as required by the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986.
• The graduate must be familiar with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, including hours of service and maintenance of logs, so that he/she will be able to comply with these regulations as an entry-level commercial driver Graduates must demonstrate that they meet federal, state, and local standards for entry-level employment in the trucking industry.

 

I can only speak for my own experience from my own district.

That said; My experience was similar to TexasMike's. I walked away from my WIA "orientation" a week ago, with the impression that in my district, it would be hard if not impossible to qualify for the program if the funding was to be used for CDL-A training. The "Career Counselor" never actually came out and said "No", but was certainly discouraging if not evasive, when I asked about it. In fact, when she started her presentation, one of the WIA qualifier examples she started to use was that of a displaced worker from the construction industry, who had had been laid off due to the mortgage crisis and wanted a career in driving trucks. I immediately said "Cool, that's me!" she stopped and said, "Uumm, well let's not use that example". (Huh??) After the presentation, I talked to her briefly and asked specifically about CDL-A training. She said it "would be hard" and "probably wouldn't work". Part of the reason she cited had to do with the monthly accounting for the student and the students file closure at the end of the program term. If understood her correctly, the issue with a OTR driver is that his, or her month to month location, makes it look as though the district funded the education for an out-of-state, out-of-district career. If my home base is still here then so what? Dang if I know, but I suspect every file a district opens, needs to be closed as "successful", otherwise it affects their future funding allocation of that district. That's probably over-simplified and maybe even inaccurate. I don't really know, but all of the above leads me to believe a different career counselor in a different district would have said something completely different.

Good luck!

 

sounds like a lot of the WFC Personnel, don't want to do the paperwork on this....

I am not sure why, it is only about 10 pages, and then it is done, except for the monthly calls for 1 yr.

That may be the reason they are not wanting to do this, the file remains open for over 12 months...

 

the wia program in dallas county seems to be out of funds and no one knows when it refurbished. Anyone know when or how refurbishment works? kneed the funds to get the CDL!

 

In Texas, you can go to ANY Workforce Solutions office, no matter where you live in Texas, and even if you have been to another one already. I personally met people who were DENIED WIA funds for various reasons at other Workforce districts, then came over to our district and got funding. And it's all perfectly OK with them. So, if Dallas has run out of money, go over to another district and they can hook you up. You may end up having to drive a bit more to their office, but worth it for those funds!

Each Workforce district has their own directors, their own "council", and are free to set certain guidelines, threshholds, etc. within some broad boundaries. For instance, in my district if you have been laid off, that is the ONLY qualification you need to get WIA funding...nothing about 3 months of trying, don't hassle you on "current employable skills" or current income, etc. Also, they have no problem with CDL training. BUT, they would not let me choose a PTDI certified school...I was forced to go to the community college (non-PTDI) because they had a "discount package deal" set up with them. But other districts would have let me choose ANY school in Texas, I just didn't want to start the process over. Plus, the community college is claiming over 90% placement rate, even for the most recent classes. Yeah, people lie, but with all else being equal, I'd believe a community college educator over a CDL mill.

So if you are denied in your district, just pop over to another. Yeah, you have to start over and it's more time, but it IS possible.

 

hi im looking to get into the wia cdl program. however i have no idea where to even begin. can anyone here point me in the right direction? forgive me for being clueless. i have scoured over the twc website for hours, and cannot find any information available on this. any help would be much appreciated.