It's time to contact your local legislators and Governor Jerry Brown and advocate for including immigrant integration as part of AEBG - the Adult Ed Block Grant.
The challenges that the Trump administration have brought upon us have also brought a deeper understanding of the value of immigrants in California and the importance of supporting immigrant integration through Adult Education.
Both the California Immigrant Policy Center and CCAE - the California Council of Adult Education - are advocating for this important change to happen.
CIPC is continuing our advocacy for equity within California’s adult education and workforce development programs and funding at a local and statewide level. In 2018, we are weighing in on budget proposals from adult education and workforce development stakeholders for increased employment training and services. These include adding “immigrant integration” metrics to the Adult Education Block Grant and funding the Breaking Barriers to Employment Act (AB 1111, 2017).
Adult Education Block Grant -
The Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG) is an important source of state funding to programs and services that provide adults with the knowledge needed to be prepared for the workforce, such as English language courses, GED attainment, and vocational skills. These programs also support integration and inclusion outcomes for immigrants not seeking employment training but adult education services that support their engagement in community and civic life. This year’s budget continues to sustain the $500 million funding.
Budget Proposal: A proposal from adult education stakeholders, the California Council for Adult Education and the California Adult Education Administrators Association, provides a two prong approach to advancing how AEBG funding reaches immigrant communities. The proposal would establish performance based funding that incentives the needs of communities with multiple barriers including limited English proficiency, poverty, and lack of high school completion, and include “immigrant integration” as a reported outcome for state funding. CIPC will be working with stakeholders and the Legislature
Note: CCAE - California Council for Adult Education - is recommending that Immigrant Integration metrics are incorporated into AEBG - the Adult Ed Block Grant.
Even as collaboration between the systems expands through regional consortium-building and AEBG, the K-12 community-based adult schools still have as their core mission to serve those low basic skills adults who oftentimes get caught in the remediation of post-secondary education. Additionally, the structural and cultural differences between the two systems have become more evident through this planning process and it is critical that the strengths of each be leveraged in ways that support student learning outcomes and appropriate levels of support services. The adult learners that are best served by K12 adult schools must not be left out.
- AEBG defines the specific outcomes sought – literacy and career progress.
- Serving immigrant adults in need of English language skills have been at the core of the K12 adult education mission since its inception. They come to adult schools to develop literacy, and in doing so, gain cultural competency and literacy more broadly defined as health, financial, digital literacy, parenting and family literacy, and civic engagement, all also critical to successful transition to college and careers.
- Unfortunately, the statute and overall AEBG framework does not explicitly provide for these types of immigrant integration metrics relative to demonstrating outcomes and accountability for student success.
- We are concerned that immigrant students who may not yet have the skills to demonstrate outcomes on the current statutory spectrum that focuses solely on literacy and career progress will be left behind as AEBG entities seek to focus on programming for those students for which clear outcomes and progress can be measured and for which funding may eventually be prioritized.
- The Alliance for Language Learners’ Integration, Education and Success (ALLIES) is an alliance serving the two-county Silicon Valley region of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Launched by a grant of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2010, mission of ALLIES is to advance regional economic and social health through high-impact alliances for immigrant educational and career success. Through this work, ALLIES developed an Immigrant Integration Pathway offering an innovative way to identify and measure the critical factors for successful immigrant integration. The pathway includes eight high-level goal areas that are then further broken down into approaches and supporting objectives. The goals are intended to be: o Used by individuals as well as service providers via common metrics that can help assess if an individual is progressing and/or practices are effective;
o Measurable qualitatively and quantitatively;
o Achievable with milestones under reasonable timeframes; and
o A tool for the immigrant to have ownership of their progress, with the ability to see how incremental gains are related to longer-term goals.1
1 ALLIES Immigrant Integration Pathway Framework White Paper, 2017
Using the ALLIES Framework, amend the AEBG statute to explicitly reference and include "immigrant integration metrics" under AEBG.
Amend Education Code Section 84920, as follows:
(a) To the extent that one-time funding is made available in the Budget Act of 2015, consistent with the provisions of Section 84917, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall identify common measures for determining the effectiveness of members of each consortium in meeting the educational needs of adults. At a minimum, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall accomplish both of the following:
(1) Define the specific data each consortium shall collect.
(2) Establish a menu of common assessments and policies regarding placement of adults seeking education and workforce services into adult education programs to be used by each consortium to measure educational needs of adults and the effectiveness of providers in addressing those needs.
(b) No later than August 1, 20178, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall report to the Director of Finance, the State Board of Education, and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on options for integrating the assessments described in subdivision (a) into the common assessment system developed pursuant to Section 78219. The report shall address compliance of the assessments with federal and state funding requirements for adult education programs, identify estimated costs and timelines for the assessments, and identify changes in policies that may be needed to avoid duplicate assessments.
(c) It is the intent of the Legislature that both of the following occur:
(1) That the educational needs of adults in the state be better identified and understood through better sharing of data across state agencies.
(2) That, at a minimum, the chancellor and the Superintendent shall enter into agreements to share data related to effectiveness of the consortia between their agencies and with other state agencies, including, but not necessarily limited to, the Employment Development Department and the California Workforce Investment Board.
(d) The chancellor and the Superintendent shall identify, no later than January 1, 2016 August 1, 2018, the measures for assessing the effectiveness of consortia that will be used in the report that is required pursuant to Section 84917. These measures shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, all of the following:
(1) How many adults are served by members of the consortium.
(2) How many adults served by members of the consortium have demonstrated the following, as applicable:
(BC) Completion of high school diplomas or their recognized equivalents.
(CD) Completion of postsecondary certificates, degrees, or training programs.
(DE) Placement into jobs.
(EF) Improved wages.
(e) The chancellor and the Superintendent shall apportion the funds appropriated for purposes of this section in the Budget Act of 2015 in accordance with both of the following:
(1) Eighty-five percent of these funds shall be used for grants to consortia to establish systems or obtain data necessary to submit any reports or data required pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 84917.
(2) Fifteen percent of these funds shall be used for grants for development of statewide policies and procedures related to data collection or reporting or for technical assistance to consortia, or both.
(f) The chancellor and the Superintendent shall provide any guidance to the consortia necessary to support the sharing of data included in systems established by consortia pursuant to this section across consortia.
From the City of San Mateo:A diverse group of immigrants are getting an exclusive look at critical city services as part of the new English as a Second Language (ESL) City Government Academy. The City of San Mateo, in partnership with the San Mateo Adult School of the San Mateo Union High School District, recently launched the program to educate this new segment of the community about how local government works and to empower them to be able to access available resources and programs provided by the City. This first class of 25 students hail from 10 different countries.
The four-month program, which began in January, aims to expand participants' awareness of local government, and increase civic engagement, leadership and volunteerism.
"Our key goal is for participants to feel empowered and comfortable accessing City services," said City Manager Larry Patterson, who championed the program's inception. "We are particularly excited to be energizing a new segment of our community to become more civically engaged."
The program is the brainchild of Stephanie Kriebel, an educator who is herself a graduate of San Mateo's traditional City Services Academy.
"As an ESL teacher at San Mateo Adult School, I saw an opportunity for us to help bridge the immigrant community we serve with City services to help familiarize our students with what the City does, how it helps the community, and what opportunities lie within the City for them to pursue," Kriebel said.
Academy participants have an opportunity to meet with City staff and learn about local government while also garnering concrete knowledge and skills to empower them in their everyday lives, such as learning how to operate a fire extinguisher and register for a recreation class. For some, even visiting City facilities is novel. For others, the impact of participating in the Academy runs far deeper.
"I honestly think I'm so lucky to live in San Mateo because the City of San Mateo organizes so many events and programs for the community. I come from Guatemala originally, and these kinds of programs help me integrate into the community here. Now I have lots of things I can do," said program participant Edwin Turuy.
Program days include visits to San Mateo's Fire Station 23, Beresford Recreation Center and Park, Police Station, Wastewater Treatment Plant, and City Hall. Future cohorts will also have the opportunity to visit the San Mateo Public Library. The pilot program culminates with a graduation ceremony April 19, 2018.
Photos courtesy of the City of San Mateo (ESL students learn how to operate a fire extinguisher during a tour of a San Mateo fire station.)
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
Posted: 08/14/2015 05:52:21 PM PDT0 Comments|Updated: a day ago
The first thing that Steven France, director of Del Valle Education Center, wants people to learn this fall is that the Acalanes Adult Education program is open for business. Then he wants them to sign up for their favorite classes.
Last year things were not looking good for the district's popular adult ed program. But a combination of belt tightening, increased course fees, fundraising initiatives and other measures have afforded the 70-year-old program a one-year reprieve.
As some of you might have noticed the previous message was sent out last year.
(Note from Cynthia: I deleted the post from this blog.)
Seems like the important issues then are still the important issues now. Below is updated advice on MOE vs MOC which should be relevant to your current consortia conversations.As Adult Schools move into challenging conversations with our consortia partners we in CCAE realize that if we are to be successful providers of adult education services in this new world we must be successful within our consortia. As such CCAE will be providing advisories that are intended to give the best advice from state leaders of Adult Education within our organization. These advisories are not intended to represent state policy or Ed Code but rather guidance based on the most current information (laws and policies) available and best Adult Ed practices within the state. Our goal is to inform our members of options and recommendations that will ultimately provide the best services for our students and the best return on investment for our state.
MOE is NOT MOC (Maintenance of Effort is NOT Maintenance of Capacity)
Much talk can be heard in the halls of schools and capitols about the value of being college and career ready.
These things are important.
But as we saw this week in the tragedy of Charleston and as we see everywhere in our state, our nation, and our world, there is a need for other skills, as well.
The skills of empathy, social intelligence, self-awareness, kindness, generosity, forgiveness, gentleness, patience, community-building, compromise, compassion.
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.
Poling Tang is a student in the Writing Intensive class taught by Mary Peros at San Mateo Adult School. The Writing Intensive class helps ESL students develop writing skills for college, career, and civic engagement.
Poling wrote the following essay as extra homework during Spring Break, "to express my gratitude to the adult school education system which plays an important role in my journey of life."
Thank you, Poling, for writing this remarkable essay and for sharing it with the larger community. And thank you, Teacher Mary, for helping your students to give voice to their wisdom in the English language.
The long term fate of Berkeley Adult School, whether or not it will remain in place, share space with a new Elementary School or REALM Charter School, move to a new location, or be decentralized into several different locations, remains uncertain. For back story on this situation, go here.
Enrollment/Capacity Update and Potential Action (Action Item #1)
Facilities Plan Update (Information Item #1).
Public input is welcome, wanted, and needed at this meeting.
Remember: While we in the United States have created a system where public education is to tied to property taxes, public education belongs to the public - because all of us depend on its outcome - not just those who own property. That is why Governor Brown asked the public to vote for Prop 30, a special tax just for education, and why all of us are paying that tax, whether or not we own property, have children, attend school, or plan to attend school in the future.
The children or adults who could one day discover solutions to economic, medical and Climate Change challenges, may or may not be property owners or the children of property owners. We need everyone to be educated, able to contribute their gifts to the greatest degree possible, able to communicate with others in English, and healthy, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
More than ever, our future depends on the wellness of the whole.
More info on the BUSD Board Meeting:
All Regular Business Meetings convene at approximately 7:30 PM, unless otherwise noted.
All Study Sessions convene at 6:30 PM. Location: All Regular Business Meetings and Study Sessions of the School Board are held in the Board Room at 1231 Addison St., unless otherwise noted on the meeting agenda. Parking: Ample parking is available in the large lot on Browning St. just beyond where Addison and Browning Streets intersect.
Berkeley School Board Meetings are televised on local cable channel 33!
You can view them live on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. on meeting nights, or when the meeting is rebroadcast the following Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. All televised board meetings are available on Vimeo.com by Board Item, and can be easily accessed in the Board Updates posted on the far right column below.
Meetings agendas are available on the Friday before the meeting. Just bookmark this page so that you can keep informed about items to be discussed as well as special School Board presentations and discussions.
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.”
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.
"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."
In his 2013 budget, Gov. Jerry Brown included a provision to safeguard existing adult schools from further cuts and closures. The “maintenance of effort” clause mandated that school districts maintain their current level of funding for adult education for two years, during the formation of regional consortia, as outlined by Assembly Bill 86.
The maintenance of effort expires at the end of the current school year. 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. Brown has indicated that he intends to provide money for adult education through the regional consortia, although he has not yet spelled out how to do so.
Brown’s goal of putting “responsibility where it should be,” by eliminating the prescriptive commands from Sacramento, is admirable. However, the educational needs of California’s adults were not considered when this model was adopted – and, not surprisingly, the model would serve them poorly. Simply transferring the money for adult education to community colleges without restrictions will not assure the colleges will actually spend money for this purpose.
Last Tuesday, September 30, "Red Letter Day," students all over California wrote letters to Governor Brown to share their experience at San Mateo Adult School, express their support for Adult Education, and advocate for Dedicated Funding for Adult Schools. San Mateo Adult School High School Diploma Student William Gonzalez shares his letter here: Hit the "read more" link to see his letter.
Here are some facts about Adult Literacy from the ProLiteracy Toolkit:
Adult Literacy in the United States
More than 36 million American adults struggle to read, write, do math, and use technology above a third grade level. The recent Program for the International Assessment of Adult Literacy (PIAAC) examined the United States and 23 other industrialized countries and found:
• The U.S. mean literacy score was below the international average—ranking 16th out of 24 countries.
• Only twelve percent of adults in the U.S. performed at the highest proficiency level on the literacy scale.
• Only nine percent of adults in the U.S. performed at the highest proficiency level on the numeracy scale.
• Only six percent of adults in the U.S. and 8 percent of adults under 35 in the U.S. performed at the highest proficiency level on the problem-solving/technology scale.
More Facts about Adult Literacy in the US
* Current federal appropriations for adult basic education in the U.S. total just over $600 million, which provides funding to serve just three million individuals.
* There is a correlation between a low literacy rate and a low paycheck.
• Just 35 percent of individuals with below basic skills are employed full time, while 64 percent in the proficient category have full-time jobs.
• The salaries of adults with below-basic literacy skills are, on average, $28,000 less than salaries of adults with proficient skills.
• Single mothers who lack a high school degree are much more likely to be on welfare than women who have a high school degree.
• Women with low literacy are twice as likely as men to be in the lowest earnings category of $300 a week or less.
• Minimum wage workers increased wages by 18 to 25 percent within 18 months of exiting an adult education program.
Health
• People with low skills are four times more likely to have poor health (two times the national average).
Employment
• The percentage of employed adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency level was lower than the international average of employed adults who performed at the highest proficiency level.
• The U.S. has the highest levels of income inequality and literacy skills inequality.
Education
• Americans with a high school diploma or less scored lower in literacy, on average, than their counterparts in the other 23 countries.
• People who come from low educated families are 10 times more likely to have low literacy skills.
• The difference in literacy proficiency between people with the lowest and highest education
levels was greater in the U.S. than in any of the other 23 countries.
Demographics
• The percentage of black and Hispanic adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency level on the literacy scale was lower than the percentage of white adults.
• Literacy differences between native-born and foreign-born Americans were greater than the average internationally.
• The difference in average literacy scores between the youngest and oldest Americans was
smaller than in any other country.
Civic Engagement
• Low-literacy Americans are far more likely than high-literacy Americans to express low political engagement and understanding.
5 4
ADULT LITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES
Current federal appropriations for adult basic education in the U.S. total just over $600 million,
which provides funding to serve just three million individuals.
There is a correlation between a low literacy rate and a low paycheck.
• Just 35 percent of individuals with below basic skills are employed full time, while 64 percent in
the proficient category have full-time jobs.
• The salaries of adults with below-basic literacy skills are, on average, $28,000 less than salaries
of adults with proficient skills.
• Single mothers who lack a high school degree are much more likely to be on welfare than women
who have a high school degree.
• Women with low literacy are twice as likely as men to be in the lowest earnings category of $300
a week or less.
• Minimum wage workers increased wages by 18 to 25 percent within 18 months of exiting an adult
education program.
Health
• People with low skills are four times more likely to have poor health (two times the national average).
Employment
• The percentage of employed adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency level
was lower than the international average of employed adults who performed at the highest
proficiency level.
• The U.S. has the highest levels of income inequality and literacy skills inequality.
Education
• Americans with a high school diploma or less scored lower in literacy, on average, than their
counterparts in the other 23 countries.
• People who come from low educated families are 10 times more likely to have low literacy skills.
• The difference in literacy proficiency between people with the lowest and highest education
levels was greater in the U.S. than in any of the other 23 countries.
Demographics
• The percentage of black and Hispanic adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency
level on the literacy scale was lower than the percentage of white adults.
• Literacy differences between native-born and foreign-born Americans were greater than the
average internationally.
• The difference in average literacy scores between the youngest and oldest Americans was
smaller than in any other country.
Civic Engagement
• Low-literacy Americans are far more likely than high-literacy Americans to express low political
engagement and understanding.
5
ADULT LITERACY IN THE UNITED STATES
Current federal appropriations for adult basic education in the U.S. total just over $600 million,
which provides funding to serve just three million individuals.
There is a correlation between a low literacy rate and a low paycheck.
• Just 35 percent of individuals with below basic skills are employed full time, while 64 percent in
the proficient category have full-time jobs.
• The salaries of adults with below-basic literacy skills are, on average, $28,000 less than salaries
of adults with proficient skills.
• Single mothers who lack a high school degree are much more likely to be on welfare than women
who have a high school degree.
• Women with low literacy are twice as likely as men to be in the lowest earnings category of $300
a week or less.
• Minimum wage workers increased wages by 18 to 25 percent within 18 months of exiting an adult
education program.
Health
• People with low skills are four times more likely to have poor health (two times the national average).
Employment
• The percentage of employed adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency level
was lower than the international average of employed adults who performed at the highest
proficiency level.
• The U.S. has the highest levels of income inequality and literacy skills inequality.
Education
• Americans with a high school diploma or less scored lower in literacy, on average, than their
counterparts in the other 23 countries.
• People who come from low educated families are 10 times more likely to have low literacy skills.
• The difference in literacy proficiency between people with the lowest and highest education
levels was greater in the U.S. than in any of the other 23 countries.
Demographics
• The percentage of black and Hispanic adults in the U.S. who performed at the highest proficiency
level on the literacy scale was lower than the percentage of white adults.
• Literacy differences between native-born and foreign-born Americans were greater than the
average internationally.
• The difference in average literacy scores between the youngest and oldest Americans was
smaller than in any other country.
Civic Engagement
• Low-literacy Americans are far more likely than high-literacy Americans to express low political
It's time to contact your local legislators and Governor Jerry Brown and advocate for including immigrant integration as part of AEBG - the Adult Ed Block Grant. 
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."
Start here:
Lick your finger and stick it in the air.
The children or adults who could one day discover solutions to economic, medical and Climate Change challenges, may or may not be property owners or the children of property owners. We need everyone to be educated, able to contribute their gifts to the greatest degree possible, able to communicate with others in English, and healthy, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The always chock full of facts and insight Save Your Adult School Blog has a new series on 
ProLiteracy provides an International Literacy Day and National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week Toolkit. It has a lot of helpful information to help you get the message out the need for literacy in the US and around the world.