May Revise Follow Up Letter Writing

Writing Letters to Legislators

Here’s some info to help you:

Our message:

We know: the COVID crisis costs a lot of money. 
Governor Newsom had to change the budget proposal and make some cuts.  

All public Ed has some cuts.  Adult Ed has bigger cuts.

Adult Ed has never recovered - been adequately funded again - from
the big cuts of 2008/9.

California needs strong Adult Ed for a strong recovery. 

Adult Education can help people survive the crisis and recover. 
English, job skills, health information, GED, High School Diploma,
and citizenship can help people take care of their families, help their
children with remote learning, work from home, find new jobs, and
volunteer in the community.  

Stable funding for Adult Education will help stabilize California

Letter How To

• Basic info on how to write a letter to a legislator.
• You can write one basic letter and send it to several legislators.  
• Change the name, of course!
• Change some details.

Who are your legislators for where you live?  

• Find out here:  http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

Be sure to mention if you live or work in someone’s district!

Note: It might be helpful to write to  Assemblymember Phil Ting

Why Asm Ting?

* He is on the Budget Subcommittee about Education.

* He is also the Vice Chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.

* “Because of his experience in the financial sector and as the
San Francisco Assessor-Recorder, Ting has become a leading voice

on California’s finances. He now serves as Chair of the Assembly

Budget Committee after having served as Chair of the Assembly

Committee on Revenue and Taxation.” 

Assemblymember Phil Ting  Website

Contact info:

• Capitol Office:
• P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA  94249-0019
• Tel: 916 - 319 - 2019
• District Office
• 455 Golden Gate Ave, Suite 14600, San Francisco, CA  94102



San Mateo Adult School
students with letters to legislators

• Tel: 415 557 1178

Phil Ting’s statement on the May Revise

SMAS Student Edy Vasquez Writes to Governor Newsom

Edy Vasquez is a student at San Mateo Adult School. You can read more of his story here.

In the midst of this pandemic, as we face economic uncertainty, he writes a letter to Governor Newsom:

Governor Gavin Newsom

1303 10th St., #1173

Sacramento, CA. 95814

April 23, 2020

Dear Governor Gavin Newsom,

I am Edy Vasquez,  from Guatemala. I’m  a student at  San Mateo Adult School in
California, United States of America.  

With all due respect, I am writing this letter to you. thanking you for the
effort made in the state of California, keeping everyone safe from COVID 19,
looking after our health and coming to town.  This was an excellent job done
as a governor.  From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for everything.  '

The reason for this letter is because I understand there may be possible budget
cutting for some public institutions and agencies. To continue to function properly,
we need balanced budgets. 

For this reason I took the liberty of writing this letter and to concentrate on adult
education in our county. I attend San Mateo Adult School. Education is very
important for both children and adults. By educating ourselves, we can better
serve the State of California and provide a better economy by producing work.  

On the other hand, if our school continues to be funded, teachers will not be
unemployed, they will be able to contribute to the state that which is valuable,
which is education. I hereby ask you to reconsider aid for all adult schools. As a student,
I see education as the key to success for the future of my family and to improve the
education of my children. On the other hand, I help my community from school
by participating in the programs that exist in the school, which are census,
green team, hot food service, student ambassador, and more.

Please don’t cut our budget. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Edy Vasquez

Edy with the message:
Adult Education Matters!

Letter Campaign for Adequate Funding for Adult Education #RestoreAdEd

The deadline for an approved budget for California is June 30.  Now is a key time to express to legislative leaders what our needs are in Adult Schools and Adult Education.

 

Below is information to help you with letter writing campaigns for adequate funding for Adult Education and in support Assembly Patty Lopez bill AB1846 which would increase funding for Adult Education by 250 million dollars.

 

If you share this on social media, be sure to use the hashtag #RestoreAdEd.

 

Feel free to change in any way that suits your program, school, or consortium needs.

______________________________________________________________________

 

Adult Education matters.  It is important for many reasons.  

For example, Adult Education helps people

• learn English to help their children in school
• learn English to get better jobs or for job advancement
• learn English to get involved in the community
• learn new job skills
• get their GED or HIgh School Diploma
• stay healthy; maintain public health
• use their skills to make contributions to California culture & economy and pay taxes
• learn about US culture, connect with community
• prepare for natural disasters
• share ideas about how to cope with Climate Change

It costs money to provide Adult Education.

Funds for Adult Education pay for

• ESL, Job Training, GED/HSD classes
• Computers
• Teachers
• Technology for online classes and websites
• Student support
• Campuses - providing them, maintaining them
• Meeting new goals of Regional Consortia system

In 2008, the State of California gave about 750 million dollars to Adult Schools.  Then, because of the recession, there were big cuts.  Many schools closed.  All the schools got smaller.

We worked hard to save Adult Education.  We succeeded. We saved Adult Education.

We have new funding and stability.  This is good.  But we do not have enough money to do everything we need to do to help California.  Many people need more help, more classes, more programs, more locations.

Now the State of California gives Adult Education - both Adult Schools plus some Community Colleges - 500 million dollars. It is not enough to provide Adult Education for the whole state.

We are writing leaders in the Legislature to ask that they give 250 million more dollars to Adult Education.  We hope they will listen to us and increase the money for Adult Education.

Students can write letters separately, in groups, or as a class.  Send a letter to all six of the Legislative Leaders listed below the sample letter.

In your letter, you can say something like this:

Address of your school goes here

May 25, 2016

Dear _________________,

We are students at __________Adult School.  We are in the  _________class.

We are writing to ask for 250 million more dollars for Adult Education budget.  We need more money.  We need money for ______________________ , _________________ , ________________, and _____________________ .

With Adult Education, we can do many things.  We can _________________, and _______________, and _____________________ .

We like our school.  We appreciate Adult Education.  We want to make a contribution to California.  Education helps us do that.

Please give Adult Education 250 million more dollars in the budget for next year.

Sincerely,

Make 6 copies of the letters.  Send the letters to:

Anthony Rendon, Speaker of the Assembly

Attention:  Rick Simpson

State Capitol

Room 219

Sacramento, CA 95814

Phil Ting, Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee

Attention:  Katie Hardeman

P.O. Box 942849

Sacramento, CA 94249-0019

Kevin McCarty, Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance

Attention:  Brian Singh

P.O. Box 942849

Sacramento, CA 94249-0007

Kevin De Leon, Senate Pro Tempore

Attention:  Kimberly Rodriguez

State Capitol, Room 205

Sacramento, CA 95814

Mark Leno, Chair of the Senate Budget Committee

Attention:  Elisa Wynne

State Capitol, Room 5100,

Sacramento, CA 95814-4900

Marty Block, Chair of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance

Attention:  Kevin Powers

State Capitol, Room 4072

Sacramento, CA  95814

 



San Mateo Adult School students spoke up
about the need for adequate funding for Adult Education



They worked in groups to write their letters.

 

Letter Campaign to Governor Brown for Adequate Funding of Adult Education

Borrowed from Kristen Pursley's blog Save Your Adult School:

Urgent:  Write Governor Brown Today to Request Restoration of Adult Education Funding to $750 Million

Posted on February 28, 2016
  

Between 2008 and 2012, funding for California’s adult schools was slashed by half and never restored.  Adult schools have a new mandate to partner more closely with community colleges and other educational organizations that serve adults, but they struggle with inadequate funding.  Governor Brown needs to hear from adult school students and teachers, from business people who rely on the adult schools to train workers, and from community members who see how their adult school enriches their community.

Hit the link to read more.

From CCAE: Legislative Talking Points

From CCAE - California Council for Adult Education:

FY 15-16 Legislative Talking Points

 

Background: Understanding all the Issues

 

It is absolutely critical that legislators (and their staff) hear directly from their constituents about the looming risk for their local adult schools to be able to continue to provide services to those most at risk in their communities.

 

While we are all engaged in the development of local regional consortium plans as provided under AB 86 (2013), the concern for the future existence of K12 adult schools is at an all-time high.  The two-year maintenance of effort (MOE) as provided for in the 2013 budget is set to expire July 1, 2015.  Unfortunately, after that date there is no funding currently available to support K12 based adult education – despite the regional consortia process.  That process only deals with planning for the future, but entails no funding or clarity regarding how funding will be provided to continue to support adult education. 

 

Current thinking by the Governor Brown Administration and Department of Finance (DOF) is to provide funding to the community college system to fund regional plans developed at the local level.  While we wholeheartedly support the regional coordination and planning, based on identified needs, gaps, and effective services, the absence of identified and dedicated funding for K12 adult schools puts these critical resources at great risk.  In this model, school districts are not provided any certainty to plan for the existence of adult school programs ahead of finalizing their budgets for FY 15-16, much less before the March 15^th lay-off notices must be delivered. 

 

In this regard, it is critical that the Administration and DOF be clear in its January 2015 budget plan that dedicated funding will be provided to K12 districts for their adult education programs based on the plans developed in each region.  These plans will drive the funding, but the actual dollars must be disseminated to school districts directly in order to ensure the stability, certainty and essential funding in order to maintain K12 adult education, as well as to avoid unnecessary wasteful additional overhead for pass through funding.

 

Dedicated funding for K12 Adult Schools needs to be clearly provided for in the January 2015 budget plan secured and cannot wait for the consortium plans to be fully developed. 

Hit the "read more" link to learn more.

Soft and Hard: Money, Decisions, Landings

(This one is a combo platter of information and perspective.)

Even though these Los Angeles Unified School District Family Literacy programs have been proven to help the kids the new Local Control Funding Formula is designed to help, it's set to be closed May 29th.

What's the connection to Adult Education?

This program is run with a combination of Adult Ed money and First Five money.  First Five is what we call "soft money."  It's a grant.  Some of the grant money was used to do research on the program to find out if a combination of Parent Ed and ESL for parents and Early Ed for kids could help kids succeed in school in the long run.

What do you think the answer was?  Yes.  You're Right.  It does.

But soft money is called "soft" for a reason.  There's no guarantees.  Donators, philanthropists, foundations, grant givers can change their minds, choose different programs to fund, or run out of money.

Just like the state, I guess.  But the difference is the state is run by our representatives.  We elect the people who make the decisions.  There is some accountability and transparency.  And if we are unhappy with the decisions being made, we can tell our representatives we want them to choose a different way.

With soft money, there is no such thing.

Sometimes soft money is used to get something started or do as First Five did here, find out if something is really worthwhile.  Then the soft money pulls out and the idea is, if the program is really good, if it serves the people and saves them money in the long run, the state or district stays in.

But that's not what's happening here.    

Just as the soft money is pulling out, LAUSD is pulling out, too. 

Why? 

Good question.

Maybe because it reads the writing on the wall of AB86.  Parent Education is not funded.  The emphasis is CCR - College and Career Readiness.

Is that legal?

SB91 - the Maintenance of Effort clause - states that K12 School Districts must continue to fund Adult Education at the same levels previous until 2015 when the new Regional Consortia program goes into effect.

But fund what?  Do districts have to fund the same programs they did last year?  Or can they fund whatever sort of Adult Ed they want to so long as it's some sort of Adult Ed?  I don't claim to know the answer but it seems that LAUSD is interpreting it to mean the latter.

What does that mean for the families served by the Family Literacy programs?  And what does that mean for the larger community of Los Angeles? 

What does that mean for us, as a people? 

These programs have been proven to affect children positively years into the future.

"Independent research has demonstrated that the Family Literacy Program is more successful than other LAUSD preschools in building success for children who come from households challenged by illiteracy and poverty. It has been ranked by its peers as one of the highest performing such programs in the nation, as measured by achievements of both children and adults."

Wouldn't LAUSD want that?  Doesn't that save them money and support them in their efforts to educate children?

Of course, it does.

This leads us to the question of whether or not LAUSD has the wisdom to change its mind.  They made the decision to close the program on Thursday, May 29th.  Is that a hard decision?  A soft one? Do they have the wisdom to recognize that perhaps they made this decision too hastily and cutting these programs will be too costly in the long run?   It's a little like selling your shoes before you climb a mountain, in the mistaken idea that those few bucks will make the climb easier.  Stop!  Don't sell those shoes!  Instead, lace them up tighter!

There will be a rally to save the program on Tuesday, May 27th.  Folks will gather outside school district offices carrying signs and chanting in English and Spanish. They will wear red.  Speakers will use a portable PA system. Speeches and interviews will be available in English and Spanish.  Press Release here.

The decision that LAUSD makes about this program will determine where they land as a community in the future, as will the decisions that other districts make. Together, their decisions and the decisions the Governor and Legislature are making now in this time of great change in how we educate and care for ourselves as a people, will determine our future.

What we fund, how we fund it, how open we are to really looking at what we're doing and where it's taking us - these things decide the softness or the hardness of our landing and the joy or pain thereafter.

When we fund something through democratic means... choosing to tax ourselves to pay for something that serves us as a people...  doing this through a democratic process... voting, representation, etc...  there is recourse when we are unhappy about something.  We can use the democratic process to change the course of things.  And we can use the tools gained through education - reading, research, analysis - to follow the money.  Was our money spent as it we intended it to be?

When we don't... when we rely on private sources of money to pay for something that serves us a people... we really have no recourse when, for whatever reason, that funder pulls out. 

This is why I am concerned when folks in the legislature and elsewhere say that we can still provide Parent Education, Older Adults, Home Economics, and Financial Literacy classes, all still listed on the California Department of Education's list of Adult Education programs, so long as we fund them through fees or foundations.

To my mind, education funded through fees and foundations is not public education. 

It's education, but it's not public education.

Democracy cannot function without public education.

To erode education is to erode democracy.

And I don't want to live where that lands us.

It might seem I have wandered far from where I started but I don't believe I have, anymore than I believe it will not be long before we go from closing down these programs and a future where even more money goes to build and run privatized prisons, and deal with the price our people pay for addiction, mental and physical illness, and the breakdown of strong family and community connections.

We need strong families and communities.  Schools - even community schools - can never replace them.  Programs such as this one support and strengthen families and communities so they can do what they do best and schools can do what they best.  Together, we work to create a future where we can live in health and harmony.


For more information on this matter please see:

http://saveouradultschool.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/letter-to-governor-brown-re-closing-of-the-la-family-literacy-centers/

http://saveouradultschool.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/save-our-school-appeal-from-la-family-literacy-program/

http://saveouradultschool.wordpress.com/2014/05/23/urgent-la-family-literacy-centers-set-to-close-may-29/

http://saveouradultschool.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/la-school-district-set-to-dismantle-effective-and-popular-family-literacy-program/

For more information, please contact: 

Patricia Bauer, spokesperson. patriciaebauer@mac.com; 310-617-5809 

savefamilyliteracy@gmail.com

 

If you are unable to attend the protest, please send an email to lend your support.  

 

They need to receive this message: SAVE LAUSD FAMILY LITERACY. 

Please copy us on all emails you write: savefamilyliteracy@gmail.com

 

LAUSD Superintendent of schools:

John Deasy <john.deasy@lausd.net>

LAUSD Board of education:

Bennett Kayser <bennett.kayser@lausd.net>

Monica Garcia <monica.garcia@lausd.net>

Monica Ratliff <monica.ratliff@lausd.net>

Richard Vladovic <richard.vladovic@lausd.net>

Steve Zimmer <steve.zimmer@lausd.net>

Sylvia Rousseau <sylvia.rousseau@lausd.net>

Tamar Galatzan <tamar.galatzan@lausd.net>

LAUSD Department of Adult and Career Education:

Donna Brashear <donna.brashear@lausd.net>

Jim Chacon <jac04621@lausd.net>

LAUSD Department of public affairs:

Thomas Waldman <thomas.waldman@lausd.net>

Gayle Pollard-Terry <gayle.Pollard-Terry@lausd.net>

Lauren Mendoza <lauren.mendoza@lausd.net>

Los Angeles Mayor and staff :

Eric Garcetti <mayor.garcetti@lacity.org>

Ana Guerrero <ana.guerrero@lacity.org>

Los Angeles City Council:

Herb Wesson <councilmember.wesson@lacity.org>

Older Adults Matter: George's Plan

Gov. Brown's May Revise recognizes the value of Adult Education - but not the value of Adult Education for Older Adults or Parents.  They are specifically excluded from the new funds for Adult Education.

Following that plan would be a mistake.

So George Porter, who teaches Older Adults classes for Berkeley Adult School and serves on the City of Berkeley's Aging Commission, has a different plan.

Hit the "read more" link to see it.

Use Your Tools

Quick! 

Name the most important tool humans have!

Did you say this?

If you did, you are CO-rrect!

Opposable thumbs!  Yes!

It's also called getting your hand up, asking what you don't know, sharing what you do.

Speaking up.

It's time.

We're in process.

The Governor has come out with the May Revise and it has some good parts, some very, very good parts, some not so good parts, and some bad ones.

And...

we're in process.

San Mateo Assistant Director Tim Doyle breaks it down for us:

“The governor’s proposals have been introduced to both houses as trailer bills to a budget omnibus bill.  They will go to the subcommittees which make recommendations, changes, etc and send it to the full house.  Each house will vote on their version of the entire budget bill.  It passes with a simple majority vote.  A committee of senators and assemblypersons will reconcile the differences between the bills and send that to the governor for his yea or nay.  The governor does have line item veto power so he can line out items he doesn’t agree with.”

And ACSA (Association of California School Administrators) says:

The next 30 days leading to the adoption of the state budget by June 15th will be a fast paced process with many different rumors and proposals arising before the final adoption takes place.  Every education stakeholder will advocate for their point of view and attempt to sway the Legislature.  It is more likely that the governor will push to pursue something within the budget process because that is where his leverage lies.  However, the Legislature will continue to pursue the policy process in an effort to give stakeholders a public forum to voice concerns or support.  

That means nothing is set yet for sure.

Except...  we have this window of time... this public forum... in which we can speak.

If you like something... if you don't like something...

you need to get your hand up!!!

You can email, you can snail mail, you can phone call.

And you haven't used it, you can use this:

The Rebuild Adult Education petition.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/rebuild-adult-ed-k-12

When you sign it...

when you leave a comment!!!

it flies to every single Legislator and the Governor instantly!

Wow!

Magic hold your hand up get chosen every time!

So if you haven't yet signed the petition - or left a comment! - use this tool!

And if you have, lend that tool to someone who needs it

Just like you'd lend them one of these:

You can even sing this song while you're using your tools or lending them:

Singing songs while you work not only makes life more fun...

it's sometimes lifesaving.

I know...  is this process EVER gonna end?

Haven't we been doing this forever already?

Kinda, sorta not, my friends.

It's only been four and a half years since Hurricane Housing Crash.

Adult Ed was doing fine till then.   It was doing great.

People worked for generations to get the freedoms we have now.

We can work a little longer.

Singing will help.


So okay then...

what do you like?

what do you dislike?

about the May Revise?

What do you want the Legislature to know?

We are the people.

The Governor and the Legislature work for us.

And they can't do their jobs if we don't speak and tell them what we need them to do.


Use your tools!

If You're Not At The Table...

There's a saying in Sacramento...

What's that mean for us?

Especially the K12 Adult Schools?

It means we need to be part of decision making in Sacramento.

Especially now - the week before the "May Revise" -

(that's Gov. Brown's revise of his budget proposal...

you remember...

the one where he wanted to put all Adult Ed
inside the Community College system...

Yeah... that one!  Important!)

So how do we do we become part of the decision process?

Click the "read more" to learn how...

Now, Before the Knife

This Thursday, April 11, Gov. Brown's plan to shift Adult Ed out of the K-12 programs and solely into the Community College system, will go before the following Senate subcommittee:

 senator.block@senate.ca.gov (Marty Block, chair)
Senator.Wright@senate.ca.gov (Senator Roderick D. Wright)
senator.wyland@sen.ca.gov (Senator Mark Wyland)

Now is the time to contact these committee members and tell them Gov. Brown's plan is not what is best for California.  You can refer them to the petition.  You can refer them to this blog.  You can describe, in your own words, what YOU think is best for Adult Education.

We can and should keep Adult Education as it has been for many, many years:  primarily in K12 districts with a few programs within Community Colleges.  We can and should keep serving immigrants, parents, job seekers, and seniors.  There is no need to make massive changes in how Adult Ed is delivered or what it delivers.  It does a bang-up job of supporting California.

The problem is the money.

The Wheel Turns

It's been an amazing year.

This time last year, things didn't look good.  Adult Ed was hardly on the map of the public's mind.

This made it easy to slice and dice it when the state faced a budget crisis.

And hard to explain what Adult Ed is and how it is funded - which is darned complicated, anyway.

In such a situation, we always have choices.

We can give up.  Life is hard and people are stressed and good things are hard to save and do and create.

Or we can stand up.

Give the Fairy Tale A Happy Ending

Education is not just a State issue.  It's a Federal issue as well.

In the following video, the California Federation of Teachers reminds us that as we approach the "fiscal cliff," we need to consider how we got here and where we want to go in the future.

The "cliff" is just a point on the journey.  It's not where we came from or where we're going - those are the places that determine how we get past the cliff and what happens when we do.

They also remind us that the average Joe and Juana and Jin and Juan and Jamal and Jane are the not the people who brought us to the edge of that cliff.

But they are the people who need a good and stable economy and good and fair chances for health, community, and success.

So consider this illuminating tale carefully.

Then give it a happy ending, by clicking here to send an email to your representatives in Congress, reminding them we the people are the ones who generate the money and we the people need it to care for ourselves as a nation.


More info about the CFT video:

Tax the rich: An animated fairy tale, is narrated by Ed Asner, with animation by award-winning artist Mike Konopacki, and written and directed by Fred Glass for the CFT.  The 8 minute video shows how we arrived at this moment of poorly funded public services and widening economic inequality. Things go downhill in a happy and prosperous land after the rich decide they don't want to pay taxes anymore. They tell the people that there is no alternative, but the people aren't so sure.  This land bears a startling resemblance to our land.  After you watch the video, you’ll be able to share it with friends, and send an email to your elected officials to let them know they need to restore higher federal income tax rates on the wealthy so that we may once more enjoy properly funded public services.  WATCH THE VIDEO, which arrives just in time to help with the fight in congress over rescinding Bush’s tax cuts for the rich.