California Governor Jerry Brown submitted a budget revision on May 14 that substantially increases funding for adult education beginning in 2015-16, raising the amount allocated to $500 million instead of the $300 million in his original budget proposal for 2013-14 released in January. The original budget would have made community colleges the lead agency for running the programs, which traditionally have been run by K-12 districts.

However, since the budget revision is for 2015-16, adult education would have no dedicated funding for the next two years.

Adult education has not had a dedicated funding stream since 2009, when the state allowed school districts to use adult ed funds for any purpose. That loosening of restrictions on the funds has led to the closing or erosion of adult ed programs throughout the state. To encourage school districts to not abandon their current adult schools and to join a regional consortium, the governor’s budget revision proposes that 75 percent of the $500 million – or $350 million – must go to existing programs. The remaining $150 million would presumably go to regions, particularly in rural counties, that do not currently have adult education programs.

The California Library Association is requesting an additional $5 million–$750,000 of which would restore library literacy programs that were cut during past budget cycles.

If you think these important literacy programs should be reinstated, let the policymakers in California know!

Reference Budget Item:  State Library:  6120-211-0001 and fax your message to Senate Budget Chair Mark Leno at (916) 445-4722 and Assembly Budget Chair Bob Blumenfield at (916) 319-2145.

You can also send letters to:

Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla
Chair, Assembly Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 4140
Sacramento, CA 94249
FAX: (916) 327-2188

Assemblyman Rocky Chavez
Assembly Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 2170
Sacramento, CA 94249
FAX: (926) 319-2176

Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi
Assembly Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 4117
Sacramento, CA 94249
FAX: (916) 319-2166

Assemblyman Brian Nestande
Assembly Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 4139
Sacramento, CA 94249
FAX: (916) 319-2142

Assemblyman Phil Ting
Assembly Subcommittee Number 2 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 3173
Sacramento, CA 94249
FAX: (916) 319-2119

Senator Marty Block
Chair, Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 1 on Education Finance
State Capitol, room 4090
Sacramento, CA 95814
FAX: (916) 445-3712

Senator Ted Gaines
Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 1 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 3070
Sacramento, CA 95814
FAX: (916) 324-2680

Senator Rod Wright
Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 1 on Education Finance
State Capitol, Room 2032
Sacramento, CA 95814
FAX: (916) 445-3712

The Honorable Rod Wright
FAX: (916) 445-3712

Related to adult literacy and basic education, the proposal:

• Establishes a new Office of Citizenship and New Americans;
• Creates a U.S. Citizenship Foundation to expand citizenship instruction;
• Creates a task force on new Americans to look at adult education and other issues; and
• Sets aside up to $50 million in grants that could include English language learning and civics instruction.

For fiscal year 2014, President Obama has requested level funding at $595 million for adult basic education and literacy programs as compared to last year’s funding levels. This amount includes $74.7 million for English Literacy/Civics Education. With sequestration and continuing resolutions, a level-funding proposal can be considered a modest success when other beneficial programs are being cut.

The president requested a small increase ($3 million) for National Leadership Programs, funding it in FY2014 at $14.3 million. The additional funding would be used for new grant awards to support reentry education models.

What does this mean for education funding? The Department of Education will be funded at FY2012 levels, plus the recent 5 percent sequester cut. Some program received pre-sequester increases. They are the National Science Foundation ($221 million), the National Institutes of Health ($71 million), and Head Start ($33.5 million).

If the sequestration goes into effect, non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs would see a cut in federal funding of approximately 5.1 percent. This includes the Workforce Investment Act, the primary federal legislation that funds adult literacy and basic education. In fact, Career, Technical and Adult Education would be cut by $87 million, eliminating services to 624,000 high school and community college students and 128,000 adult learners. Learn more with this state-by-state fact sheet on the impact of sequestration.

Please contact your U.S. Senators and Representative today and tell them to preserve funding for adult literacy and basic education. A template letter and contact information for your elected officials are found on the ProLiteracy website (use the “Find Your Official” feature).

The topic has started to gain new attention as the new deadline–March 1–begins to loom.

On Valentine’s Day, Senate Democrats unveiled a sequester replacement plan that would achieve $110 billion in deficit reduction over 10 years, half in new revenue and half in spending cuts.  Titled the American Family Economic Protection Act, the proposal would implement spending cuts equally between domestic programs and defense and last through January 2, 2014.

Half the cuts would actually be offset from revenues, and the other half from defense discretionary and agriculture subsidies. There would be no cuts to non-defense discretionary programs. If this proposal passes and nothing else is changed, the FY2014 sequester would be a total of about $84 billion, instead of $109 billion.

Read more about the American Family Economic Protection Act.

ProLiteracy, the largest adult literacy and basic education membership organization in the nation, today commended President Obama for his emphasis on education in the 2013 State of the Union address. President Obama made clear statements about the importance of early childhood education, redesigning our high schools to make them more technologically competitive, and making higher education more accessible.

“When acknowledging that Americans must possess the education and training required for today’s jobs, President Obama unfortunately missed the opportunity to demonstrate his commitment to adult literacy and basic education,” says Kevin Morgan, interim president and CEO of ProLiteracy. “Ensuring that Americans are trained for a 21^st century workforce and making high-quality early childhood education available for every American child are critical. But they go hand-in-hand with making high-quality adult instruction available to the more than 30 million American adults who cannot read, write, or do basic math above a third grade level.”

An additional 63 million adults are unable to read, write, or do basic math above an eighth grade level.

Additionally, ProLiteracy applauds the President for including English language learning in his plan for comprehensive immigration reform. However, the President omitted a commitment to increase public funding for adult literacy and basic education that must accompany any immigration proposals.

“A logical place to start with the President’s pathway to citizenship is committing additional public funding to adult literacy and basic education programs,” says Morgan. “We also urge the President and Congress to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, which provides job training funds for adults, disconnected and underemployed workers, and youth.”

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, individuals who are at the lowest level of literacy have an unemployment rate of more than 14 percent—almost twice the national average of 7.9 percent.

“Workforce development and basic education for all adults—including immigrants—are inextricably linked,” says Morgan. “Helping people get the skills they need to find jobs, earn wages, strengthen communities, educate our children, and strengthen our economy means investing in adult literacy and basic education.”

We applaud the U.S. Senate and President Obama for their recent and renewed focus on the need for English language acquisition as a major component of immigration reform. Both the Senate’s and the Administration’s immigration proposals released last week require speaking English as a requirement for attaining permanent residency status in the United States.

“English language acquisition for the 11 million undocumented immigrants who may seek citizenship through these proposals cannot be achieved unless it is paired with additional funding for adult literacy and basic education services,” says Kevin Morgan, ProLiteracy president and CEO. “ProLiteracy and the 1,000 programs we represent across the nation urge the Senate and the President to include increased public funding for adult literacy and basic education, especially as existing programs are already deluged with demands for English language instruction. We also urge Congress to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, the primary source of federal funding for adult literacy and basic education programs.”

Morgan continues: “We and the members we serve look forward to working closely with the Administration and Congress to identify the resources necessary to provide English instruction, and to include those resources in any immigration reform package.”

Learn more about ProLiteracy’s advocacy and public policy work.

Learn more about how literacy intersects with immigration.

For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Amy Schmitz, director of communications at ProLiteracy, at (315) 214-2580 or aschmitz@proliteracy.org.

You’re invited to a special briefing on “Educating Immigrant Workers for a New Economy: Immigrant Integration in the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act,” taking place on February 13, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. in 122 Cannon House Office Building.

This briefing will examine what Congress can do to ensure adult literacy and basic education programs serve as a vital education partner in immigration reform efforts and explore promising programs in immigrant integration. Presenters include Margie McHugh, co-director of the Migration Policy Institute’s Center on Immigrant Integration Policy; Joanie Rethlake, state director of Texas LEARNS; and Jose Gonzalez, director of adult programs at the SED Center.

RSVP by contacting Laura Kline, legislative associate at Washington Partners, at lkline@wpllc.net.