(a) A student, other than a nonimmigrant alien within the meaning of paragraph (15) of subsection (a) of Section 1101 of Title 8 of the United States Code, who meets all of the following requirements shall be exempt from paying nonresident tuition at the California State University and the California Community Colleges: Colleges if the student meets all of the following requirements:
(1) (A)A total of three or more years of attendance in California or credits equivalent to three or more years of full-time attendance or credits at any of the following:
(i) California elementary schools, California schools.
(ii) California secondary schools, campuses schools.
(iii) California schools established by the State Board of Education.
(iv) California adult schools established by any of the following entities:
(I) A county office of education.
(II) A unified school district or high school district.
(III) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(v) Campuses of the California Community Colleges, or a Colleges.
(vi) A combination of those schools, of which attendance at a campus of the California Community Colleges shall be full time and shall not exceed two years of the time counted towards satisfaction of the requirements of this paragraph. schools set forth in clauses (i) to (v), inclusive.
(B) (i) Full-time attendance or credits at a campus of the California Community Colleges counted towards the requirements of this paragraph shall comprise either a minimum of 12 units of credit per semester or quarter equivalent per year or a minimum of 210 class hours per semester or quarter equivalent per year in noncredit courses authorized pursuant to Section 84757. Attendance at a campus of the California Community Colleges counted towards the requirements of this paragraph shall not exceed attendance or credits equivalent to two years full-time attendance or credits.
(ii) Full-time attendance at a California adult school counted towards the requirements of this paragraph shall be a minimum of 210 class hours of attendance for each school term in classes or courses authorized pursuant to Section 41976 or Sections 2053 to 2054.2, inclusive, of the Penal Code.
Resolution
to Ensure that Adult Education Exists in Best and Fullest Capacity
Whereas education is a human
right for people of all ages, and
Whereas Adult Schools have been
serving the people of California from every community, including those with the
greatest needs and least resources, for over 150 years, and
Whereas, during the last
recession, Adult Education was the only branch of public education in
California which was nearly eliminated through a combination of funding cuts
and allowing districts to take any and all adult school funds for other
purposes (Categorial Flexibility), and
Whereas K-12 adult schools were
saved only through the determined action of teachers, students, administrators,
and their allies, and
Under California law, adult school English as a Second Language (ESL) and Citizenship classes must once again be offered free of charge. AB 189, a 2011 emergency measure allowing adult schools to charge for these classes until July 2015, expired this year, and was not renewed or extended. AB 189 legitimized a haphazard pattern of charging for ESL and Citizenship classes that sprang up in the wake of California’s 2008 budget crisis and the resulting “categorical flexibility” that removed protections on state adult school funds. While some districts chose not to charge for adult school ESL and Citizenship classes, others worked out their own systems for charging with no overall coordination at the state level or, often, consultation with neighboring districts. The result was a patchwork system of charges that varied greatly from region to region as to whether students paid, how much they paid if there were fees, and whether they paid by the year, by semester or by class. This system has now been dismantled, at least for the present, and adult schools are again mandated to offer ESL and Citizenship classes free of charge.
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.”
Save Your Adult School is an amazing blog written by Kristen Pursley, one of the founding members of COSAS, Communities Organized to Support Adult Schools. The blog is always chock full of facts, insight, and analysis.
The most recent post is a phenomenal parsing of Governor Brown's new Budget Proposal for 2015-16. Because I think the post is so valuable and helpful and want it to have the widest readership as possible, I asked permission to share it here.
So, with the permission of Kristen Pursley, here it is:
Here it is - Governor Brown's Proposed Budget for 2015-16.
It looks good for K12 Adult Schools. 3 key points:
* For existent K12 Adult Schools, a year more of being funded at MOE (Maintenance of Effort) clause levels directly through their district for existent.
* A block grant of 500 million dollars for Adult Education. This money can only be spent on Adult Ed.
* A new system of Local Allotment Boards which will decide how much each local school gets.
The AB86 Workgroup declares the proposal a victory for adult education students across California.
I'd say it's a victory, too - in numerous ways.
More on that and a full parsing to come in the future.
Destabilization makes an individual, a group, or an institution vulnerable to disease, infiltration, attack, and at worst, death or extinction.
Stabilization not only keeps the individual, group or institution strong, it enables the individual, group or institution to provide shelter, support, and sustenance to others.
Help or harm - in domino effect.
Hit the "read more" link to see how that plays out in Berkeley.
"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."
San Francisco and San Diego are often presented as models for how a Community College can (or should) deliver Adult Education.
What people often forget is that the Community College system, just like the K12 Adult School system and every other branch of public education, is undergoing reform. Models being held up as examples may in fact no longer exist - or won't exist for much longer. It is good to remember our role in this re-forming process. We have both the right and the responsibility to assess the changes as they are proposed and to speak up about what we think will best serve us as a people.
CCSF has credit ESL and non-credit ESL. The non-credit is what we generally call "Adult Education."
The CCSF Administration is for splitting it.
The CCSF Department Chairs are against splitting the ESL department.
I will provide more information as I get it. For now, here is a leaflet against splitting the department.
Save Community ESL!
CCSF management is proposing to split the ESL Department into two: ESL Community and ESL Vocational and Credit. This would effectively split ESL Noncredit into two pieces; part of noncredit would be under Community, and the other part of noncredit would be under Vocational and Academic. The reason being given is that two departments will be "more manageable" - rather than academically sound reasons such as excellent instruction, a viable program, and meeting real student needs.
Splitting the ESL Department in two is
DISRUPTIVE - The ESL Department once was divided into a noncredit "Centers" program and a credit program under the English Department. We have spent over a decade merging the two, and have achieved a seamless program that goes from Literacy to College Composition. Students move along this pathway at their own speed and have teachers who know the entire breadth of the program. Why would anyone want to disrupt this flow? Why would the college want to weaken the ESL program in this manner?
CONFUSING - How will students read the schedule? How will they enroll in courses in two different ESLs? How will they know the difference between the two? How would they enroll in a "Community" class at 8:00 a.m. and then a "Vocational" class at 10:00? Many do this effortlessly now. Moving from noncredit to credit is already daunting for students. This proposal would add yet another obstacle.
DAMAGING TO STUDENT PROGRESS - Students are now eligible for numerous certificates that include courses that, under this proposal, would be in two separate departments. Noncredit students are already not sufficiently aware of these certificates due to administration's failure to institute them since their inception in 2007. How would they earn certificates if they are split between two separate departments?
DISCRIMINATORY - The proposal to split ESL into "Community" and "Vocational and Academic" smacks of limiting the mission of City College to a degree and transfer mill. Relegating the largest part of noncredit to "Community" is a good way to make it easier to abandon these students in the near future. But the people who would be abandoned are the seniors, the recent immigrants, and those who have the least prior education - in other words, those who don't fit the current definition of "Student Success."
A whole and integrated ESL Department is
HIGH QUALITY - CCSF ESL is a central resource for San Francisco and its language minority inhabitants. If CCSF educates the workforce, ESL provides the support for non-native speakers to benefit from that training. Our minimum qualification for instructors, both credit and noncredit, is a Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language.
ACCESSIBLE - Students come first, and our mission is to serve them in ways that will serve them best, at convenient locations and times. We see students as whole human beings and provide them with the instruction they need no matter what the label. We do not differentiate from an administrative point of view: credit or noncredit; vocational or academic.
FOCUSED ON STUDENT PATHWAYS - Versatile instructors who move easily between credit and noncredit are the best student advocates for transition from noncredit to credit and noncredit to vocational certificate programs. One department ensures that students move from entry to goal in one straight line.
INCLUSIVE - CCSF ESL is open to all. Our mission includes all of the above: community, vocational, academic and several important goals that have not even been mentioned: skills focus, citizenship, bridge-to-vocational courses, and bridge-to-academic courses.
THIS IS AN IMMEDIATE THREAT - NEGOTIATIONS ARE PROCEEDING QUICKLY RIGHT NOW.
PLEASE CALL OR E-MAIL THE FOLLOWING RESPONSIBLE PARTIES AND TELL THEM TO STOP THE ATTACK ON COMMUNITY E.S.L.
Special Trustee with Extraordinary Powers Robert Agrella
I am sharing and analyzing the following 2011 Community College Academic Senate Resolution because I think it reveals a lot about how we've gotten to where we are now...
Hit the "read more" link to see and understand more...
The following post is taken entirely from the "Save Your Adult School" blog. I copied and shared it here because I'm afraid if I just include a link, people won't click on it. The post lays out in a clear way why K12 Adult Schools need secure, stable funding. It absolutely bears reading and consideration.
In less than a year, on July 1, 2015, the current mechanism for funding California’s adult schools expires. There is no clear plan as to how the system will be sustained after that. Adult schools and community colleges are currently engaged in a regional planning process to create consortia between adult schools and community colleges, with the regions defined by community college districts. Governor Brown has indicated an intention to provide money through the community colleges to fund the regional consortia, which would include adult schools. The funding would come through the Community College Chancellor’s Office, not through the Department of Education. The governor and the finance department favor this model because it simplifies the budgets of K-12 schools, clearing the way for the Local Control Funding Formula. The educational needs of California’s adults were not considered at all when this model was adopted, and, not surprisingly, the model would serve them poorly. California’s adult schools need dedicated funding. It is the only way we can assure that the educational needs of California’s adults will be met.
The consortia are a compromise. Governor Brown’s original plan was to dissolve the adult schools in 2013 and give over all of adult education to the community colleges. Strong public advocacy deterred him from this course, and the consortia are designed to preserve the “dual delivery system” (adult schools and community colleges) while bringing the two systems more into alignment. Two of the strongest arguments for retaining adult schools were that 1) adult schools are more accessible for many California adults than community colleges and 2) adult schools support the mission of K-12 schools. These are also strong arguments for providing dedicated funding for K-12 adult schools.
California’s adult schools need dedicated funding for the following reasons:
Create Equity within the Consortia: California’s adult schools need dedicated funding yesterday to be able to negotiate as equal partners with community colleges within the consortia. Adult schools have now gone through half of the two-year consortium planning process in a “one-down” position; for adult schools, everything is riding on the consortia, while for the community colleges, nothing is. Community colleges will continue to receive funding whether the consortia work out or not. Meanwhile, under the current plan, all the money for the consortia will come through the community colleges.
Asking two parties to go “partners” when one party has all the power does not create a real partnership. It’s more like a process of subjugation, and ripe for abuse. This is not to say that I am aware of any overt misuse of their power by the community colleges within the consortia; in fact, the ones I have come into contact with seem genuinely willing to collaborate. But structurally, the potential for bullying is there; in fact, the structure itself is something of a bully. Chances are great that adult schools, already cowed by years of mistreatment by the state government and their school districts, are already censoring themselves when they feel their opinions might displease the community colleges, even when they feel they should advocate for the needs of their students.
It is now unlikely that adult schools will have dedicated funding before the consortia planning process is complete. However, if the state is serious about the consortia, they will have to be an ongoing process. If you really want a system that meets regional needs, the planning process can’t be “one and done”. The needs of a region are dynamic, and the dialog between adult schools and community colleges as to how to best serve the educational needs of adults in their service areas needs to continue long after 2015 if the consortia are to succeed. Once adult schools have their own funding, the negotiations will be more equal, and have better outcomes for California’s adult students.
Assure Adequate and Equitable Funding for Adult Schools: If all money for the consortia is to come through the community colleges, what is to prevent the community colleges from spending all or most of the money on their own needs first? Every branch of education in California is underfunded and cash-strapped, even with the relief provided by Proposition 30, so community colleges are likely to spend the money in this way in the absence of strong directives to do otherwise. The best way to make sure adult schools receive funding is to provide dedicated funding for them, relieving community colleges of the difficult (or not!) decision as to whether fund adult school programs or their own.
After 2015 we have no definite plan to fund adult schools, only a sketchy intention by the governor to provide funding through the consortia. The governor’s statement of this intention is extremely brief, and doesn’t say anything about how the funds would be distributed, or whether there would be any assurances that at least some of the money would go to adult schools. The state likes to be coy about what will happen after 2015, saying that funding levels and mechanism will be based on the consortium planning reports. Since there are 70 consortia, it is hard to see how this could result in a coherent statewide funding system, but that is what the state has been saying. For the inequality built into the consortium planning process, with adult schools at a severe disadvantage due to their lack of dedicated funding, see above. Red Herring Alert: In discussions of funding through the consortia, one often hears the argument that the community college does not have to be the fiscal agent for its consortium. It could be an adult school, or even some other entity! This goes along with the assurance that the fiscal agent is just a “banker”; they just hold and disperse the money. Fact: In most consortia, the community college is the fiscal agent. For a possible explanation of why that might be, see above regarding the unequal position of adult schools within the consortia. It is true, however, that the fiscal agent is just a banker. It doesn’t matter who the fiscal agent it; what’s important is who decides how the money gets spent. That would not be the fiscal agent, whether it is the community college or an adult school.
Keep Adult Education Accessible: If all money for adult education is routed through the community colleges, as the governor intends, and there are no guarantees that some or any of the money must be spent on adult schools, adult education in California will become much more inaccessible. Adult schools are more accessible than community colleges in a variety of ways. For one thing, there are more of them; there are 112 community colleges in California, and about 300 adult schools. Community colleges tend to be located in large urban areas; smaller cities and rural areas far from the nearest community college may be served by an adult school. While all California community colleges and adult schools are now joined in consortia, some of those consortia must cover vast areas, as there are large counties in California where no community colleges are located.
Additionally, adult schools are often more decentralized within their service area than community colleges. With some exceptions, community college students are expected to go to the college campus for services. Adult schools go where their students are, setting up classes at the elementary schools attended by their students’ children, the churches where their students worship, or community centers where their students go for services. Even the parking fees at community colleges are a barrier for some students, who do not find this obstruction at their adult school site.
If all money for the consortia comes through the community colleges, and the community colleges are allowed to spend consortium money on their own needs first, the adult schools within their consortium area are likely to wither away, leaving California’s adults with much less access to education. To keep adult education accessible, the state needs to commit to dedicated funding for adult schools.
Ensure that Needs of Adult School Students are Met. Adult school students are often very different from community college students, though they may become community college students in time. They may be older students who are not comfortable in the more youthful community college environment. They may be immigrants with little or no formal education in the home country who need to get used to doing academic work. They may have very limited English, and need time to acquire the English they need to function well in daily life in the U.S., let alone do academic work. They may be native born students who need to acquire basic skills before they can tackle more difficult learning tasks. These are among some of California’s most vulnerable adult learners, and an important gateway into education would be closed to them if adult schools were to dry up for lack of funding.
Assure Continued Adult Schools Support for the K-12 Mission: Adult schools belong in K-12 districts because they support K-12 schools in a variety of ways. English as a Second Language, Family Literacy and Parent Education classes at school sites increase parent involvement in the school, give parents skills they need to support their children’s school success, and turn schools into community centers. High School Diploma, GED, and Adult Basic Education programs help schools complete their mission of providing basic literacy to all Californians by providing learning opportunities for adults who , for whatever reason, did not attain basic literacy before the age of 18. If all money for adult education comes through the community colleges, the goals of the community colleges may begin to take precedence over those of K-12 districts. Adult schools need dedicated funding to ensure that they can continue providing vital support for K-12 schools.
Maintain Good Relationships between Adult Schools and K-12 Schools: If all money for adult schools comes through the community colleges after 2015, as the governor seems to intend, what is to prevent school districts from eventually regarding their adult schools as an alien encroachment by the community college into their affairs? While the state has supposedly committed to an adult education system that includes both community colleges and adult schools, the lines between the two systems are significantly blurred when all the money comes through one system. This has the potential to disrupt relations between adult schools and K-12 schools, which might in turn threaten successful features of adult school programs such as Family Literacy and ESL classes held at K-12 school sites.
Establish Clarity Regarding the State’s Intentions: The Legislative Analyst’s Office advised that the state maintain an adult education system that includes both K-12 adult schools and community colleges. Public advocacy against the governor’s plan to collapse the adult schools into the community colleges in 2013 demonstrated that the people of California support adult schools. Now the state needs to clearly establish its support for adult schools by committing to dedicated funding for them. The current state of uncertainty creates anxiety in supporters of adult schools while encouraging those who do not support adult schools to be increasingly dismissive. Many school districts still respond to all concerns about their adult schools with some version of “It’s all going to the community colleges.” This attitude has led to debacles like the near-closing of the LA Family Literacy Centers, even though this model program had been shown, through an eight-year study, to produce excellent results for low income and English Language Learner children, the very children the Local Control Funding Formula is supposed to help.
The fact is that in the absence of a state commitment to dedicated funding for adult schools, both supporters and detractors of adult schools have every reason to believe that the state’s support for adult schools is an illusion. There are many who believe the consortia are simply a slower and less obvious route to the governor’s original plan, which was that the community colleges become the single provider of adult education in the state. To be honest, there is much evidence that this may be the case. The Regional Consortia regions are defined as community college districts, even though it would have made more sense for some adult schools to enter into consortia with a nearby community college in another district. And as far as we know, the governor intends that all the money come through the community colleges. If all the money comes through one system, in what sense do we actually have two systems?
California’s adult schools have existed in a state of uncertainty for seven long years. For most of those years, they have been fighting for their very existence. They are still around because Californians need them, want them, and support them. Now it’s time for the state to step up and support its adult schools with dedicated funding to provide adult schools and their students with some stability at last.
That's the rail on the subway tracks you don't want to touch because it could kill you.
In Adult Ed politics, it's the size of the mission.
Some are for a full mission. CFT - the California Federation of Teachers - is.
Some are for a narrow mission. CCAE - the California Council of Adult Education - is.
Some are for a full mission but think it's not possible in the current climate so they put their focus on doing the best they can with how things are and what they have and what they can find to fix things.
Click the "read more" link to learn more about why it is and isn't dangerous to touch the third rail.
This is a long post. You can read it all in one piece here. Or you can read it in parts. Hall of History; Hall of Mystery
Last week - the week of Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and what I like the call the start of the Holiday Slide, there were four Townhalls about the new Regional
Consortia system.
I attended the Bay Area Townhall, held in Oakland, on the day before Halloween, from 1 to 3 in the afternoon, at McClymonds High School. It is a large building, partly in use as a high school and partly in use by what bravely remains of Oakland Adult & Career Education (and may it rebuild!), a program which once served over 20,000 people (who still need Adult Ed programs!) and now serves I am guessing less than 1,000 students. The entry halls are decorated by a panel of beautiful murals painted by a McClymonds High School student years ago.
There was a very quiet feel to the campus - and to the Townhall. The large auditorium was mostly empty.
As Townhalls go, it struck me as not so much an opportunity for the
public to share their needs and opinions, as a chance for administrators to
have some input on what the applications for the new Regional Consortia will be
like. Adminstrative input is important. So is public input. We still need more of the second.
Information about how the Regional Consortia will work
Reminder: In the new system, K12 Adult Schools and Community colleges and any other providers of Adult Ed, such as Jails and Prisons, will work together to decide who teaches what to whom - region by region. Each consortium will have one fiscal agent - the "banker." The fiscal agent can be a K12 Adult School or a Community College.
in the form of a letter from Tom Torlakson and Brice Harris
explaining how the planning process for the new Regional Consortia system will work
Opposable thumbs are not the only thing that make us human.
The ability to think and to ask questions, to consider past, present, and possible futures, are tools more important than thumbs.
And we've got 'em.
As the money from increased tax revenues and Prop 30 flows in, and we make choices about how and where to spend it on education, across the state, let's use 'em.
This week, Governor Brown will present the May Revise of his Budget Proposal.
The future of Adult Education is at stake in what he proposes and in how the Legislature responds.
Every Californian will be affected by what's decided.
For over 150 years, Adult Education has been helping parents, the unemployed, seniors, young adults, & immigrants gain the skills they need to contribute to California at full power.
California still needs that. In fact, now more than ever.
This Tuesday, May 14th, let's remind California - and ourselves - of who we are and what we do. Let's all wear some measure of red - t-shirts, scarves, socks - and provide information about how our programs serve the community. Send out press releases, fact sheets, and photos. Post pics on blogs, Facebook, and websites. Remind everyone: we are one community serving one purpose: to support and empower California through education. All of us - the K12 Adult Schools, the Community College non-credit programs, the classes that are on-site and off, in senior centers and pre-schools, in run-down old buildings with leaky roofs and in brand spanking new ones, in programs that are hanging on by just a few teachers and in places where Adult Ed is still strong, in schools that are slated for closure and in schools that facing votes on closure. Let's stand together this Tuesday, May 14th, in red. Red for vitality. Red for crisis. Red for apples of A,B,C - learning empowers you and me.
Like many old things, it is a little complicated. Like a tree, over the years it grew branches which grew out in different directions, some of them small, some of them big.
Here's the thing: All those branches produce fruit.
The same fruit.
And they all stem from the same root.
Whether Adult Education is provided through K12 districts (Adult Schools) or through Community College districts (non-credit), it is still Adult Education.
Whether it's ESL, GED, Job Training, Older Adults, Parent Education, High School Diploma, Family Literacy, Disabled Adults, Financial Literacy, or Citizenship, it's still Adult Education.
Gov. Schwartzenegger imposed "flexibility." K12 districts made hard choices in order to survive. Choices which harmed the very children they served, because they were cutting the programs that empowered those children's parents, grandparents, and older siblings to better support them as learners and to succeed in their communities. Survivor choices are never happy ones. They are always ringed with grief.
And the Adult Education community is fighting over how to survive. We all want Designated Funding. But some want to go with the Governor's plan and be entirely under the control of the Community College District. And some want to continue as is, in the K-12 supported Adult Schools that have served their communities for many decades. Some for over 100 years.
Some are okay with narrowing the mission of Adult Ed. They feel it is okay to lose the Older Adults and Parent Ed and Family Literacy programs because perhaps this is the only way Adult Education can survive.
Some are cite the necessity and wisdom of serving these communities we have served for so long.
There is no reason for us to fight over resources unless we want to give a third party a reason to get rid of both of us.
Divide and conquer. It's an old strategy. Old because it works - just like Adult Education works.
In some way, there really is nothing new in this world.
Just the choices we make in the present moment, using our knowledge of the past, to decide what we want for our future.
Which way do we want?
The way of education, wisdom, unity? Sitting down together to figure out strategies to serve all of California together? Sharing our skills - assessment, creativity, organization - to make the best Adult Education system possible?
Or the way of division, fear, and blame. It's your fault. Look at your shortcomings. We can't trust you. There's not enough for both of us. I'm the only one who can do it right. I'm the only who matters.
Really?
Isn't this whole thing about the group?
Isn't this whole struggle about how to best serve the group of human beings who live in California - old, young, native born, immigrant, employed, unemployed, parents, childless, literate, illiterate. We all live here. We all suffer the consequences when things go badly.
True, there are always those who profit in times in discord. But can we trust those who do?
Isn't it better to trust each other? To work together to serve the people of California?
We don't have to work out all the details now.
Group process is hard.
Ask anyone who knows me well and they will tell you that I personally hate it and sometimes shrink from it. Why do you think I'm a writer? I can do that alone! Conflict is hard! It's hard to trust the process - and each other - enough to hang in there with it and work things out.
But it's the only thing that's going to save us.
Because we are a group.
We, human beings, are a group species. No matter how wonderful the technology we invent, technology that enables to live alone, communicate without being in the same room with others, even reproduce without benefit of human touch, we are still a group species.
We need each other.
Let's use technology to connect.
Let's use our understanding of what's happening to overcome our differences and work together to serve the greater whole.
Gov. Brown is right. Education is a civil rights issue.
And no one knows that better than those of us in Adult Education.
Let's stand together this Tuesday, May 14th. One community. One source of information, wisdom and strength about the necessity to empower our people through education.
San Mateo Adult School at a rally for CCSF -
City College of San Francisco
LA is already rallying on that day.
San Mateo Adult School at CCAE Conf.
San Mateo - staff and students - will be wearing their Adult Education Matters t-shirts.
We can do this.
Look at what we've already done!
We are powerful.
Even more powerful, together.
Let's show everyone who we are.
Let's who show everyone where we are.
Let's remind everyone what we do to benefit all California.
Wear Red on Tuesday, May 14th
Share what you do with the press, your community,
state and local government, and social media.
We are Adult Education.
And we matter.
Because we the people do.
These people understood the danger of division, the power of unity, and the necessity of courage, action, and forgiveness.
We have that same greatness in us.
Let's reveal it.
SB68 extends and clarifies language in AB540 allowing undocumented students to attend community colleges without paying non-resident fees. 
