The Conference was deep and powerful.
An AEM post on the conference is coming soon.
Cuts and reform in California Adult Education are part of a larger puzzle affecting every piece of Public Education in the US. To understand what is happening in Adult Education in California - and to influence it in a positive direction - we need to understand what is happening elsewhere - and we need historical context.
Historical context is what Kristen provided at our panel discussion. Kristen is a lead ESL teacher at West Contra Costa Adult School. She is a founding member of COSAS - Communities Organized to Support Adult Schools, a group that formed in response to the cuts six years ago and has met weekly since. She authors the Save Your Adult School blog, a priceless repository of facts and insight about Adult Education.
Even as things are generally improving for Adult Schools and Adult Education, yet another Adult School faces a serious challenge. This time, it's West Contra Costa Adult School, where Kristen Pursley, author of the Save Your Adult School blog and founder of COSAS (Communities United to Save Adult Schools), works. Other COSAS members work there, as well. Many parts -if not all of - the Adult Ed program at WCCAS is under threat of dissolution.
State Funding for Older Adults and Parent Education Adult Education will end in July of this year.
All along, many folks have thought these programs were valuable. They simply didn't think there was enough money to pay for them, coming out of Great Meltdown of Wall Street, Main Street, and Adult Education. Others, like the folks at the LAO (Legislative Analyst Office), thought the mission of Adult Education should be narrowed to a more work-oriented focus. (They also thought the two systems - K12 Adult Ed and Community Adult Ed should stay as they were - separate, just better coordinated.) Meltdowns are the perfect time to re-form things because everything is nice and gooey and often there have already been losses, changes, etc. This idea is the central tenet of the Shock Doctrine. Before you get too upset about that, just remember that can swing in any direction. It might be a direction you like. It might be a direction you don't like. It's just one of those things that's true and also encapsulated in the idea that crises = opportunity.
* Elementary and secondary basic skills, including classes required for a high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate
Classes and courses for immigrants eligible for education services in citizenship and English as a second language and workforce preparation classes in basic skills
Education programs for adults with disabilities
Short-term career technical education programs with high employment potential
Programs for apprentices
go into effect, there is growing support for programs which will no longer be financially supported by the State.
What will happen?
I don't know. But here's a list of the growing support.
The video of Wednesday's Joint Legislative Informational Hearing on Adult Education: Moving Forward is available on The California Channel. Click here to go right to the video.
This was an informational hearing. In other words, no one voted on anything. It was a sort of check-in on the whole AB86 process. Folks checked in to report what is happening in the whole mighty, messy, complicated everyone come together under the big tent Regional Consortia Creation Game. The legislature needs to know what is happening and how things are going and whether or not people are being served or will be served or won't be served because the Legislature will be voting on these matters in future when it votes on a budget.
I highly recommend that you watch or listen to it as you chop vegetables, fold laundry, flea-comb your cat, or perform some similar task which enables you to listen while you work.
It is a long, meaty hearing full of information about what is happening, what people think, what people know, what people think they know but actually don't, what people want to know, what people need to know, and lots of other stuff all leading us to gaps in understanding that need to be filled.
People, by the way, refers to everyone. It refers to we, the people. And it refers to the people that we, the people, elect to represent us at the decision making table.
Best quote from the hearing came from San Mateo Adult School Director Larry Teshara: "While our colleagues are looking for dessert, we're looking for dinner."
Public comments begin at 2:43 and include:
Commissioner Irma Beserra Núñez (Los Angeles)
George Porter (Berkeley)
Kristen Pursley (West Contra Costa)
Wendy Plew (CTA)
It's Spring - and that means conferences and conventions and legislative hearings and meetings and lots of talk about budget leading up to July 1st, 2015, the start of a new fiscal year and a new era for Adult Education in California.
Each event has its own focus.
Every event is a chance to connect with and learn from others.
Here's what's happening in the world of Adult Ed Spring 2015 along with my notes about how the event connects with advocacy for Adult Ed.
1. CCAE Bay Section Conference February 28 in Berkeley, Northern California. State Senator Loni Hancock and Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates will speak. There will be a variety of valuable workshops, including a SMAS presentation on The Power of Student Leadership. The Conference will be held at Berkeley Adult School which recently faced the possibility of being uprooted or decentralized. This brings home the truth we are still in the process of stabilizing Adult Schools and Adult Education. Until the new funding model is decided, secure, and in place, the back door to every Adult School is open to trouble. A large group of SMASrs, including myself, will be attending this conference.
2. San Diego Regional CATESOL Conference March 7 The primary focus of CATESOL is teaching English as a Second Language. "Kate Kinsella, EdD, a teacher educator at San Francisco State University, will be the featured speaker. Dr. Kinsella is a national leader in the field of academic language and literacy whose 25-year teaching career focus has been equipping youths from diverse backgrounds with the communication, reading, and writing skills to be career and college ready." We can guess that the keynote speaker was chosen at least in part because CCR - college and career ready - are the new watch words in Public Education, including Adult Education.
3. March 11: Joint Hearing by Assembly Higher Education and Senate Education Committees. The AB86 Group will present their report about Adult Education and the new Regional Consortia system at this hearing.
4.OTAN Technology and Distance Learning Symposium March 13-14 in San Leandro, Northern California. Many of the tech skills I use for advocacy I learned through OTAN. It's important that every Adult Ed teacher know tech skills - and how to teach them - because tech skills are a big key to success for Adult Learners. Tech skills are also a powerful means to advocate for Adult Ed and to empower others to do so.
5. CFT Convention March 20-22 in Manhattan Beach, Southern California. CFT - California Federation of Teachers - represents a variety of teachers (University, Community College, K12, Adult School, Pre-school, Charter, etc.) along with classified staff and school nurses. Several resolutions regarding Adult Education will go to the floor for a vote at the Convention.
7. CCAE Leg Day March 24 Not only administrators and teachers but students will visit Legislators and their staffers on this day. CCAE is the only organization which includes admin, teachers, students, and community members. Here is Former SMAS ESL Student Council President Marco's report on Leg Day 2014. Student participation in Leg Day creates a ripple effect of positivity in Sacramento and in your local school community.
10. CFT Lobby Days April 20 - 21 CFT provides good education and support at their Lobby Days event. Members visit legislators in diverse groups to talk to legislators or their staffers about various concerns. I attended this event last year and it was very worthwhile.
This is the 2nd National Conference put on by NPE. The theme this year is "Public Education: Our Kids, Our Schools, Our Communities." Speakers will include
* Jitu Brown, National Director – Journey for Justice, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Network for Public Education Board of Directors * Tanaisa Brown, High School Senior, with the Newark Student Union * Yong Zhao, Author, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Dragon?“ * Diane Ravitchin conversation withLily Eskelsen Garcia, NEA President and Randi Weingarten, AFT President * Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union NPE has connected advocates for Public Education nationally and catalyzed an examination of Public Ed Reform and where it's leading us. It has yet to address the missing puzzle piece of Adult Education. Possibly, it may this year. I attended the NPE Conference in Austin, Texas last year. It was sobering, inspiring, and educational. I hope that more Adult Ed folks will attend this year.
13. CCAE State Conference April 30 - May 2 in Universal City, Southern California. "Mission Possible: Adult Education, Agent for Change" is the theme of this year's conference. There will be many workshops on topics of all kinds. As the organization most focused on saving and stabilizing K12 Adult Schools, this conference will definitely address the challenges Adult Schools and Adult Education still face as we move into the new Regional Consortia system and a new funding structure. Governor Brown's May Revise of the Budget will be coming out not long after this conference. I attended and presented at the State CCAE Conference in 2013. That conference was hugely helpful on many levels, including the fact it connected me with other advocates around the state. I will attend this year's conference and recommend others do, too.
15. UTLA's Movement for the Schools LA Students Deserve. UTLA is a hybrid union representing LAUSD teachers, including Adult School teachers. UTLA members can belong to either or both CFT or CTA. The UTLA Adult Education Committee is specifically focused on Adult Ed. You can see UTLA and UTLA Adult Ed has a variety of events planned this spring.
If there is one thing we have learned these past six years, it is that there is great value in coming together.
And as great as technology is, there is nothing like face to face connection, including the unplanned, unanticipated connections made in a workshop, standing in line waiting for a name tag, or over dinner.
All these events are the chance for engaging in, contributing to, and benefiting from just that.
I encourage you to choose at least one and attend.
(This is a Perspective Piece. In this case, mine... my personal perspective on current affairs.)
Monterey Coast 2009
This weekend, I've been thinking back on another Presidents Day Valentine's Day Combo Platter Weekend.
What's that on the horizon?
Way back in 2009.
I remember it like it was yesterday, not just because I had a great time in Monterey with my daughter and my folks... but because I drove down there right after my boss called us together to tell us that in order to deal with the economic recession and keep K-12 schools going, Governor Schwartzenegger was "flexing" Adult Ed money.
The flexibility provided by the budget package is unprecedented. Local educational agencies (LEAs) will be able to redirect funding from 40 programs to “any educational purpose.” They will also be able to use restricted account balances from 2007–08 for any educational purpose. Read more here.
I remember driving out to the motel to meet my parents. Distracted by this news, I had spaced out. Now I found myself lost, in a marsh. My daughter was asleep in the back seat. Hmmm, I thought, this flex feels like bad news. Real, real bad news. Serious like cancer bad news. Also, where the heck am I?
But when to my surprise, I accidentally found the motel, and greeted my parents and settled in, when I opened up my lap top and emailed my co-workers from the motel room, many didn't seem as upset as was. It will all be okay, many said. Things will be fine. Really?, I thought, Am I crazy? I don't feel like it will I feel like we are in seriously deep, stinky and steep, deep, deep doo-doo - up to our eyeballs.
The immense support, letter writing, social media/blog posting, phone calls and participation in various meetings from friends of BAS recently have been received by our Board and it is important that we continue to advocate for our programs, to organize to inform and have a presence at meetings, write letters, and invite Board members to visit. We are moved and grateful for the unified support of ...our school particularly from our staff. Local stakeholders have written letters, made phone calls and spoken at meetings. At Wednesday evening's Board meeting, Superintendent Evans said "We're not in a position to talk about long-term solutions." While the Superintendent's recommendation to re-purpose our site as an elementary school has been postponed, it remains one of two long term solutions, the other to build a new elementary school at the Oregon Street property. In mid-February, the Superintendent's staff will be looking at projected enrollment for Fall 2015 and determining which elementary schools need new modular classrooms as a temporary solution. If elementary enrollment continues to increase we may have to face the possibility that our advocacy turns to keeping us whole and finding a new location.
Students and faculty from Berkeley Adult School
stand and hold signs in solidarity
against relocation of the school at Wednesday’s board meeting.
Photo: Seung Y. Lee
Adult Education is a tool for social justice and like other worthy causes, we need to always highlight the good work we do by informing our Board, District staff, and legislators, asking the press and public to come and write about who we serve and how we do it, attend and participate in school district meetings, engage our students to work with us and stay in the limelight. BAS staff will be focusing our attention on alternative solutions for our Board to consider other than spreading our classes through the district and the value of the investment in keeping us whole.
There will be a town hall style meeting in mid-February regarding the future of BAS, please stay tuned for details and plan on attending if you can.
Thank you for your support.
"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Please see the AEM post, "All Out for Berkeley Adult School" for a full list of resources, contact info, media coverage, etc. That post will be continuously updated.
The governor’s proposed budget, unveiled last week, allocates $500 million for an Adult Education Block Grant, with a provision that existing K-12 adult ed programs be funded for another year.
The new funding allows more time for recently formed local consortia of adult schools, community colleges and other organizations that serve adults to determine what programs their communities need, how they will be funded and who is going to provide them.
K-12 adult schools have been fighting for survival since the recession, when school districts were allowed to use funding formerly dedicated for adult schools for any educational purpose. Many districts, trying to minimize cuts to their K-12 programs, took advantage of this new flexibility and eliminated or severely cut funding to their adult schools.
To stop the decimation of the state’s adult ed programs, the governor and legislators in the 2013-14 budget required districts that still had adult programs to maintain them for two years. If the governor’s current proposal is enacted, adult programs will have direct, dedicated state funding.
Debra Jones, dean of career education practices at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office, calls what is outlined in the budget “a gift to adult students.”
“I never dreamed I would see dedicated funding for disenfranchised adults,” Jones said. “We’re celebrating. Overall, this is pretty special.”
Adult schools provide free or low-cost classes to Californians who are too old for K-12 schools but not academically prepared for community college, or who don’t qualify for skilled jobs. They serve immigrants, the unemployed, disabled adults, high-school dropouts and ex-offenders reentering society.
“I never dreamed I would see dedicated funding for disenfranchised adults,” said Debra Jones, dean of career education practices at the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. “We’re celebrating. Overall, this is pretty special.”
Without dedicated funding for the next year, adult school administrators and teachers were concerned that their schools would close as districts focused their funds on K-12 students. They were also worried that the newly formed consortia – 70 statewide – which have been meeting for about a year, were not yet ready to fully function.
Liv Ames for EdSource
Hessam Ghajar, left, and Takeshi Naoi practice English with classmates in a San Mateo Adult School class.“For the first time in decades, community colleges, county offices of education and school districts have been having meaningful conversations about what adult programs should look like,” said former Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, who was head of the Assembly Education Committee until the current legislative session began. “We need to build on the work that has been done and then have a thoughtful implementation process to really deliver an effective program.”
The Department of Finance does not know exactly how much of the $500 million will go to preserve current programs, though estimates by adult school providers put the figure at around $300 million. The remaining $200 million or so funds will be given to the consortia to be used for programs and support services, such as child care or career counseling. Only 5 percent can be used for administration.
One issue the consortia will have to grapple with is limited funding to meet the needs of adult learners throughout the state, Jones said. Before the recession, K-12 adult schools were getting $723 million in state funding, she said. In addition, many areas of the state, particularly rural counties, had never had K-12 adult ed programs. The 70 consortia now cover the entire state.
Jones said the Department of Finance made no promises regarding funding beyond the 2015-16 school year. But, she said, finance officials did say it probably would not be less than $500 million in the future.
In his budget, Gov. Brown states that state-funded adult education programs should include basic reading, writing, math, and other elementary and high school classes. They should also include citizenship and English as a second language classes, he said. In addition, adult ed should provide programs for adults with disabilities, apprenticeship programs and short-term, career-technical classes that provide skills in high demand, he said.
Former adult ed priorities under state law, such as older adult programs and parent education, will not receive direct state funding. Supporters have argued that parent education programs are key to involving parents in their children’s education. Under the Local Control Funding Formula, the new state funding system for schools, districts must meet eight priorities, one of which is parent involvement. Supporters of older adult programs say that as baby boomers retire, the need for programs to keep seniors active and mentally alert will grow.
Liv Ames for EdSource
Patricia Brown teaches English as a second language at San Mateo Adult School.The 2015-16 budget also lays out how the consortia are expected to work. The chancellor of the community colleges and the state superintendent of public instruction will jointly allocate funds among the 70 consortia. In an information session with Department of Finance officials, Jones was told the funds will be distributed based on existing programs, unmet need and performance. More funding is supposed to be channeled to the areas with the greatest needs, echoing the priorities under the Local Control Funding Formula, which gives districts more funds based on the percentages of English learners, low-income students and foster students they serve.
“As with the LCFF for children, allocating more money to areas where there is more need is an excellent idea that has the potential to promote an educational system that is more fair and provides students who stand at a disadvantage with more opportunities to succeed,” said Kristen Pursley, an adult ed teacher with West Contra Costa Adult Education, in a blog about the governor’s plan.
Each consortium will form an allocation committee consisting of seven members – one each from community colleges, K-12 districts, other adult education providers, local workforce investment boards, county social services departments, correctional rehabilitation programs and one public member with relevant expertise. These committees will develop education plans for their consortia and determine which programs will be funded.
Each year, the allocation committees will send a report to the chancellor and state superintendent describing how well they have met the goals in their plans.
Developing an entire new structure and working together to determine which organizations will provide various classes creates a lot of challenges, said Karen Arthur, an Oxnard Adult School teacher. “The allocation committees have a heck of a lot of power.”
Pursley said the proposal leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and its success will depend a lot on the committee members and how well they work together.
The consortia approach is likely to function better, educators say, if communities have worked well together in the past. San Mateo Adult School, for example, has had several years of experience collaborating with community partners through ALLIES, a coalition of community colleges, adult schools and community-based organizations in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Supported by the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and with the help of a federal Workforce Innovation grant, the initiative began in 2011 to help the area’s immigrants get the education and support services they needed to find well-paid jobs and careers.
Tim Doyle, Assistant Director at San Mateo Adult School
Photo Credit: Liv Ames for Edsource
“In some consortia, there is more overlap and more tension between community colleges and adult schools,” said Tim Doyle, assistant director of the San Mateo Adult School. “Here there is much more coordination. The local community college doesn’t do much of what we do.”
Daniel Pec is a 28-year-old immigrant from Guatemala who attends San Mateo Adult School. He said even though both San Mateo College and the adult school offer ESL classes, the focus of the two programs is different. Pec is trained in computer science and expects to eventually go to college, but for now he needs to learn English and support his family.
“The community college is very expensive, and it is more book English,” Pec said, adding that he likes the adult school because he has a chance to practice the language, which has helped him in his job at a restaurant.
Jones said the goal is to align the work that adult schools and community colleges are doing to improve access for all students. For example, a student might learn medical transcription at an adult school and then take a medical technology class at a community college. Or in Pec’s case, after learning conversational English in adult school, he might go on to learn “book English” at the local community college.
“We need better pathways,” Jones said. “When people exit one program, they should be adequately prepared when they get to the next one.”
Pursley said that there are many things left to be decided, but adult schools can now “breathe a sigh of relief.”
“There is money for us, and a system is being put into place for ongoing funding,” she said. “Adult schools have a future, and it’s going to be interesting, to say the least.”
"The “Ending California’s Public Adult Education…” presentation is well worth reading, as it explains why the noncredit/adult school model is under attack. While the model welcomes all students, it is particularly helpful for adults who are not only busy, but dealing with the stresses of poverty. In this type of class, students who had little formal schooling as children or never did well in the traditional school system find a home and begin to fulfill their potential. But with no grades, no credentials or degrees, no hard beginning and end date, it doesn’t look much like what we typically think of as “school.” It’s that “focus on learning” that throws people. Learning? What about grades and tests? But anyone who has taught this type of class can tell you it works, and furthermore, there are standardized test results and other data that demonstrate its effectiveness. There is more than one way to educate people, and not everyone benefits from the formal school model."
"Adults with low levels of literacy are exactly the students both adult school mandated programs and community college noncredit programs were designed to serve. With more than five million people in need of these services, the efforts of both adult school mandated programs and community college noncredit programs are sorely needed, and both must be significantly expanded, if the educational needs of California’s adults are to be adequately met."
"The LAO report does not demonstrate much “overlap” between community colleges and adult schools. A concern that there is “overlap” or duplication of effort between community colleges and adult schools is one of the driving forces behind proposals to reform the adult education system, including the AB86 Regional Consortium process. Governor Brown even proposed to eliminate adult schools in 2013 because of this supposed overlap. The LAO report mentions “overlap” as an issue, but the breakdown on page 11 of the report does not show much overlap at all. Instead, it suggests that a division of labor between adult schools and community colleges has already naturally evolved, and that the consortia will work best if they plan to build on the division of labor that already exists, rather than reinventing the wheel."
"Adult schools are school, and community colleges are college. This may seem so simple it shouldn’t even have to be stated, but it plays out in surprising ways. Because one is part of the K-12 school system and the other is an institution of higher learning, adult schools and community colleges interact very differently with the immigration system, have different approaches for making education affordable for low income students, and are even differently distributed throughout the state."
This Save Your Adult School post asks hard questions about why K12 Adult Schools have faced so many challenges in recent years. I've reprinted it here with the author's permission.
What is the real reason for California’s relentless attack on its beleaguered adult schools? Could it be our name? Adult schools have to ask themselves questions like this, because there doesn’t seem to be a rational explanation for the way state government has continually attacked its adult schools and put them at a disadvantage vis-à-vis the community colleges at every turn. It has nothing to do with facts or data. For facts and data we go to the Legislative Analysts’ Office, which issued an extensive report on both community colleges and adult schools in 2012 entitled “Restructuring California’s Adult Education System”. On page 15 of that report, the LAO noted that outcomes for adult schools and community college non-credit programs are comparable.
So if our performance is comparable to the community colleges, why are we continually treated as the unwanted stepchild? Sometimes it feels as if we are being blamed for the recession of 2008. Don’t look at those Wall Street traders and bankers! Just look at that grandma taking a computer class! How about that immigrant mom learning English! What a bunch of freeloaders! It must be their fault.
Just look at the record:
2008
The state removed protections on adult school funding, allowing school districts to repurpose adult school monies for any use (“categorical flexibility”). At the same time, the state stopped paying adult schools for ADA (money based on attendance), removing the ability of adult schools to generate income. Instead, school districts with adult schools (not all had them) began to receive a yearly block grant in the amount their adult school earned during the last year they were able to collect ADA. Until 2013, they could decide to use some of this money to fund their adult schools, or not.
2008 was a bad year for education in general. All branches of education were severely cut, including school districts and community colleges. But the very existence of adult schools was put at risk, and some of them became extinct.
2011
The California Strategic Plan for Adult Education was issued, with no input from students or teachers. The announcement of the general public comment period in late 2011 was accompanied by a notice that no significant revisions would be made to the plan; in other words, the public comment period was a sham. The strategic plan noted that there is a significant return on investment in adult education in the form of improvements in civic participation, public health and improved educational outcomes for children of adult education students. (Again, note that FACTS show that adult schools are actually doing a good job). The plan then went on to propose eliminating many of the programs that produce these desirable results (such as Older Adult and Parent Education programs).
2012
The Legislative Analyst’s Report “Restructuring California’s Adult Education System” was issued. This report was about both adult schools and community colleges, and, as noted above, it found that adult schools do as good a job as community colleges do. However, the report subtly framed the issue and threw around some incendiary language that suggested that adult schools were the problem, even though there were no facts in the report to support this insinuation.
January 2013
Governor Brown proposed to abolish adult schools and have community colleges take over all of their functions.
May 2013
Rather than destroying adult schools outright, the state directed community colleges and adult schools to come together in regional consortia. The consortia are defined by community college districts; adult schools can only enter into consortia with community colleges outside their districts if their own CC district does not want to consort. In other words, adult schools have no autonomy to pick their own partners. The community colleges can opt out of the consortia if they want, and the community colleges have their own funding whether they join consortia or not. Adult schools still have no independent funding; there is a vague promise of some kind of funding through the consortia beginning in 2015.
The legislature does require school districts that haven’t managed to completely close down their adult schools yet to keep funding their adult schools at the same level that they funded them in 2013 for two years. That’s it. No guarantees after 2015, nothing to restore the adult schools that have been devastated. Be grateful we didn’t abolish you.
So, short version:
2008 We’re cancelling your funding and throwing you on the mercy of your school districts. Fend for yourselves. Good luck!
2013 OK, we’ve decided to destroy you now. You don’t deserve to exist.
Later 2013 OK, we’ve decided not to destroy you right away. But still no funding! Get into a consortium with the community colleges. Maybe you’d better do everything they say. After all, they have funding and you don’t.
So why the unwanted child treatment, really? There are no facts to support it anywhere in the two extensive reports that were done, the strategic plan and the LAO report. Both reports put us down with generalities, but the actual facts in the reports show that we’re doing a good job.
Maybe it’s our name. Seriously. Juliet famously sighed that “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” She meant that it doesn’t matter what you call something. However, names are powerful. When there is no rational reason for something, sometimes we have to look at words and the power of their subliminal associations. So “community colleges” vs. “adult schools”. What are the associations of for those words?
Everyone knows the educational system in the U.S. is defined by a strict hierarchy. At the tippy top of our alleged meritocracy: the Ivy League colleges, of course! They are schools for the elite. No one will ever question their efficacy. There won’t be a lot of reports about them and how they need restructuring. They are assumed effective. The fact that they admit mediocrities like our former president George W. Bush because they are the sons and daughters of the wealthy and powerful doesn’t hurt them; it actually adds to their cachet. The name Harvard sounds impressive and mildly intimidating even with the word “Lampoon” after it.
After the Ivy League schools come the great public universities, like the U.C. system in California, then the state colleges (in California, at least), then the community colleges. Everyone knows where these institutions fall in the hierarchy. Community colleges are certainly the low man on the higher education totem pole, but they are still part of the higher education system. They still have the word “college” in their name. And then “community”! Community is a warm and fuzzy word that everyone likes. They just sound more prestigious and important than “adult school”.
And where do adult schools stand in this hierarchy? Right at the bottom, below elementary schools. On the educational ladder, adult schools are one rung above the School of Hard Knocks.
And that name! Take “school”. School is a simple word, a humble word. It isn’t grand like “university” or even “college”. And it is a word with rich and complex associations both good and bad. In the minds of most societies with a formal educational system, the world “school” is so closely associated with childhood that it is difficult to separate the two.
And, for most of us, school is an intense experience which we go through when we are young and vulnerable. The word cannot help but elicit, somewhere deep down, strong emotions. The loneliness of a first long separation from a parent, the teacher who made you cry, the bully in the hall, the playground humiliation – echoes of all of these resound when you hear the word “school”, as do the memories of friends you made, the things you learned, the fun you had, and your gratitude at being an educated person. The negative associations we all have with our school days are probably one of the reasons it is so easy for “reformers” to beat up on schools and teachers these days.
So a name like “adult school” probably elicits, deep down, a certain cognitive dissonance for most people. School is for children. So what’s wrong with those adults that are still in school? Why didn’t they get it the first time? Even very sophisticated people, like our legislators and governor, may have this reaction at a subconscious level. People are much more comfortable with the idea of adults, preferably young adults, in college than they are with the idea of adults in school.
These are gut reactions, subliminal reactions, but such reactions are powerful. The facts in the LAO report and the State Strategic Plan report showing that adult schools are effective and a good investment don’t make a dent in such visceral responses.
So you may think I am about to suggest that we find another name for this rose, something euphemistic and pretentious like “Citizens’ Success Academy”. But I think it would be better to take the course of movements that took words that had been slurs and turned them into words to be proud of. I propose that we turn the stigma on its head and proclaim everywhere that we are adult school teachers, students and supporters, and that we are proud of it. Or we could just call ourselves the Harvard of Second Chances, orthe Princeton of those who never even got a first chance.
K12 Adult Education needs a stable source of funding separate from the community college system.
Within the Regional Consortia system, both Community Colleges and K12 Adult Schools are mandated to provide Adult Education, but only Community Colleges have secure funding. And they will continue to have secure funding because their funding exists independent of the Regional Consortia system. They have apportionment (this is what their funding is called). They are secure. On top of their apportionment money, they may get extra money for Adult Education - which may come in through the Community College Chancellor's Office.
K12 Adult Schools are not secure. K12 Adult Schools are not safe. K12 Adult Schools have been mandated to do a job but haven't been given the means to do the job and can't properly prepare to do it, given the fact they don't know what the future holds.
This is the plain truth.
It is a also a truth some folks have danced around when asked to explain how K12 Adult Schools can survive this challenge. And it is a truth that has sometimes created division amongst Adult Ed advocates in their desperation to figure out a way to save K12 Adult Schools.
It is not, however, a truth which K12 Adult Schools or their advocates created.
It is just a truth they must face... that K12 Adult Schools, themselves, need stabilizing if they are to continue on as the stabilizing fourth leg of California's Public Education system.
In what form that stability will come - a return to categorical status, some new form of dedicated funding specific to K12 Adult Schools, or some other way - we don't know.
We just know if it doesn't happen, more K12 Adult Schools will collapse, which will destabilize our public education system, economy, and social stability.
This December 2012 Edsource article provides helpful information. I've highlighted the section with quotes from Paul Steenhausen, who wrote the LAO Report.
California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office says the state’s embattled adult education system needs a dedicated and permanent funding stream that can’t be appropriated for other school programs when the state budget goes south. Restructuring California’s Adult Education System calls for the state Legislature to restore adult education as a categorical program. Adult Ed advocates lauded the proposal, even though it relies on funding that is speculative and requires a commitment from legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown that they have so far not shown. Adult schools are an important strand in the state’s safety net, offering community-based classes to some of the state’s neediest adults, ranging from the unemployed, the disabled and the elderly to ex-offenders reentering society, immigrants trying to learn English and become citizens, and high school dropouts seeking to earn their GEDs.
Until the 2008-09 academic year, adult education was funded through one of the dozens of categorical programs that could be used only for their stated purpose. But as part of the February 2009 state budget plan, legislators approved what’s known as “categorical flex,” giving school districts the authority to use funds from 40 categorical programs, including adult education, for any educational purpose. Chris Nelson, State President of the California Council for Adult Education. Photo courtesy CCAE. (Click to enlarge)The LAO report says that move signaled “adult schools’ lower priority within the K-12 system.” Since then, local school boards have funneled as much as 70 percent of statewide adult ed funds to support K-12 programs, according to Chris Nelson, president of the California Council for Adult Education.
At least 35 programs have shut down as a result, and many of the 300 remaining programs are operating on shoestring budgets. Altogether, the LAO estimates that in 2011-12, the state and federal governments spent about $400 million on district-run adult schools, down from $854 million before flex started.
Many community colleges also offer adult education classes, spending about $1.7 billion last year, according to the LAO, but the colleges take that money from their regular state funding and not from separate categorical accounts.
Categorical flex is due to expire at the end of the 2014-15 school year, and the LAO is recommending that starting in 2015-16 adult education be restored as a categorical program with a dedicated funding stream. The program is a good candidate for restoration of funds, said Paul Steenhausen, who wrote the LAO report, because it reaches a distinct, underserved population.
“Adult education is a different animal,” Steenhausen said. Because it doesn’t serve K-12 students, it is “fundamentally different from other categoricals.”
However, many observers believe that the current level of flexible funding will continue beyond 2014-15 unless Gov. Brown convinces the Legislature to reconfigure the school finance system using a weighted student formula (WSF). Under this approach, money would follow the student, so schools enrolling students with greater needs, such as English learners and those from low-income families, would receive more funds. When Gov. Brown first proposed WSF last January, he didn’t support separate funding for adult education, leading advocates to oppose it.
Even the recent passage of Proposition 30, which increases funding to schools through a combination of a small sales tax increase and higher income taxes on the wealthiest Californians, has not revived support for adult education, according to Nelson.
“We’re still hearing that programs are being threatened with being cut more,” Nelson said. “I have not heard of anybody who has said they’re going to get an increase because of Prop. 30.” Roadmap to restructuring Adult Ed, California Legislative Analyst’s Office. (Click to enlarge)Instead, Nelson said he believes that school districts will be under pressure to use increased revenues to provide raises for teachers. “We’re all fighting for every little dollar, and it’s unfortunate how this has played out – one program against another.”
Nelson described the situation in Sonoma County, which had 11 adult education schools a few years ago, but has only one remaining program, in Petaluma. That program is being inundated by prospective students from all over the county. Nelson expects that Petaluma, which doesn’t have the capacity to serve so many people, will soon have to restrict its program to city residents.
One reason adult education may lack support from some legislators is the program’s uneven distribution across the state. Adult ed schools are more common in urban than rural communities.
The LAO report addresses this issue. The LAO is predicting that as the economy improves, the state will soon be receiving more funds that must be spent on K-14 education. The report recommends that some of this new money should be allocated to adult education based on regional needs and the ability of districts, colleges and local businesses to work as a team to avoid duplication of services and provide smooth pathways for students to jobs and college. The LAO also recommends that funding be allocated based on student outcomes – such as how many successfully complete courses – the way federal funds are now distributed.
But, finally, “the bigger issue is how is adult ed going to get funded,” Nelson said. “The LAO does recommend designated funding for adult ed, and that’s very key.”
Going deeper
At Risk: Adult Schools in California, EdSource, June 2012
California Council for Adult Education
Restructuring California’s Adult Education System, Legislative Analyst’s Office, Dec. 5, 2012 Video: Paul Steenhausen, LAO principal fiscal and policy analyst and author of adult ed report, discusses the findings and recommendations.
The mission: Connect with every legislator in the state.
The message: Restore full, secure funding for adult & career education in California.
Why? Because K12 Adult Schools have no funding past March 2015. Yes, they are part of the new Regional Consortia but they have no secure funding. Without such funding, there is no guarantee that the districts which anchor them can continue to do so and no guarantee that they will get adequate funding through the Regional Consortia system. The RC system was a compromise between the old system and sweeping all Adult Ed into the Community College system and it's tilted toward the Community Colleges. K12 Adult Schools cannot survive unless they are part of the RC system but Community Colleges go on, regardless. Community Colleges are funded through apportionment. K12 Adult School funds were flexed (made available to K12 districts) and even that flexed funding is ending... as noted... in March 2015.
So... K12 Adult Schools need secure funding!
In response to this very serious situation, Grassroots, CFT, CCAE are all making an effort to reach the Legislature, the Governor, and the Department of Finance.
The NLLB Campaign is a statewide, grassroots effort to connect people to the people who represent them.
Democracy in action. The best and in the end,
the only real means to moving forward together as a people.
2. Visit them in their District Offices. They are in there in July and early August. Aides are good, too!
3. Talk to them about Adult Education. Tell them K12 Adult Schools need secure funding.
Tell them what you know about why Adult Education matters to you and your community. Are you a student or former student? The family member of a student? How has Adult Ed helped you and your community?
Tell them about the situation in your community now. Is Adult Ed available? How badly was it cut? How are things going in the rev-up to the new Regional Consortia system? What does your community need to thrive?
Remind them that over 70 Adult Schools have been closed since the 2009 and all were cut. Remind them that once the "MOE" - Maintenance of Effort - Clause runs out - there is no funding for K12 Adult Schools. Remind them that California has the 8th largest economy in the world. We can afford to educate our adults - and we need to!
Share your concerns with them. What is it you most need? What is that you know from lived experience?
Ask them about their concerns. What do they need to know, to understand?
Take advantage of this opportunity to have a conversation. In order to save and rebuild Adult Education, we need to work together. In order to work together, we need to understand each other. This is how we avoid polarization and move forward.
Give them contact information for you and/or your school. Invite them to visit a class or event.
We'll look to see where visits have been made and where they haven't - and need to be - and we'll report all this back to you on a website coming soon. This is a work in progress and we're working as hard and fast as we can to make it happen.
For more information on NLLB or to share your ideas or feedback, email a4cas@gmail.com
L to R: John Mears, ESL teacher and Adult Ed activist at West Valley Occupational Center;
Alejandro Carmona, Adult Ed student from Costa Rica;and Alejandro's wife, Artemis;
on a visit with Andre Hollings, field representative for Assemblymember Scott Wilk.
If you are comfortable sharing a photo of visit, email it to a4cas@gmail.com
to share and inspire others.
And remember to wear Red for Adult Ed on Tuesdays!
ESL Student Council President Marco on the left
Moni, Melika, Vice President Maricruz, Teacher Lisa,
Advocate Marina, Yulia, Jess, Daniel, James
On Saturday, June 21, students, teachers, community members, political aides, and the press gathered for a Grassroots Meeting about Adult Education in Berkeley, California.
A group of San Mateo Adult Students presented a panel discussion about student participation, advocacy, community, and voice. It was a powerful and inspiring presentation.
The group included ESL Morning Student Council President Marco Estrella.
About why he got involved in advocacy for Adult Education, Marco said,
I wanted to inspire my kids. Now that I have time, I enrolled in San Mateo Adult School. I am doing the best I can to promote adult education because everyone should have a second try. Creating alliances with other schools and connecting with the media would help us. Every time we have an event we invite the media. Sometimes they come. Sometimes they don't - but we keep insisting. I have seen in places where Adult Education has been cut that people get in trouble. Adult Education not only helps us... it helps the whole community. It helps business because then the community is a secure place for them.
At the conclusion of the panel discussion, Marco said,
When our education was threatened by closures and cuts, being organized, being informed, being able to cooperate with others is what made the difference to saving our school. We have written letters and emailed lawmakers. We have been in Sacramento talking to legislators telling them our stories.
All this has been a team effort. Teachers, office staff, and students all working together to raise awareness about the importance of Adult Education.
Our Student Council has been the VOICE of the students. Wherever we have gone, we have insisted that student's input be considered when planning or deciding about our education that would affect our future. For instance, when planning for the new Regional Consortia.
SMAS Student Council believes that learners of all ages have THE RIGHT to a fair education and opportunities for all. In an environment where everyone can feel safe and proud to be in..............And this right should not expire due to age!
At the 2015 Network for Public Education Conference in Chicago, Kristen Pursley, Bruce Neuberger, and I presented a panel entitled, "The Battle for Adult Education."
