[AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261

[Eileen Eckert]

Considering the anti-democratic nature of recent developments around NIFL, I 
have to wonder if $30,000 more is good news. Will it be used to pay for 
electronic surveillance and censorship, or to add to the salary of a NIFL 
director whose mission is to control discourse and intimidate anyone who 
does not agree with him? More money, if used for the activities this 
administration promotes, is not necessarily a good thing.

And if the situation gets to where states are only allowed to do phonics 
instruction (that's what they mean by scientific or research-based reading 
instruction) with federal money, and federal funding drives state 
activities, then pursuing the goal of $1 billion for state grants is asking 
for more money to limit effectiveness to those whose reading difficulty 
coincides with the prescribed cure. Maybe I'm being alarmist, but I think 
it's important to push back on the definitions and challenge the undermining 
of democracy in the name of "rights" to read, "scientific" instruction, 
"research" based reading instruction, etc. The rhetoric is the opposite of 
the reality when it comes to Bush administration activities, and I don't 
think we do adult learners any service by ignoring that in favor of just 
pushing for more money.

Eileen

From: Thomas Sticht <tsticht at znet.com>
Reply-To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
To: <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
Subject: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261
Date: Fri, 9 May 2003 11:29:46 -0700 (PDT)


As David Rosen has noted, the House of Representatives has passed HR 1261
and sent it on to the Senate. For me, the good news is that the House
revised the Workforce Investment Act and renamed it the "Workforce
Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003.’’ This places Adult
Education on more of a par with workforce development, although I would
have been happier with the title the "Adult Education and Workforce
Reinvestment Act of 2003." But I'm willing to take the present title as a
small recovery of the importance of the  original Adult Education Act of
1966 with attention to the education of adults not only to improve their
opportunities in the workforce, but also for purposes of general education
for a wide array of needs beyond employment.

Another piece of good news is that the House supported the continued
existence of the NIFL in the new act in what is called by the short title
of the "National Institute for Literacy Establishment Act." The purpose of
the new NIFL has, on the one hand, been narrowed to focus on reading and
its legislated purpose is to "provide national leadership in promoting
reading research, reading instruction, and professional development in
reading based on scientifically based research."

On the other hand, the new legislation has broadened the NIFL's scope
beyond a focus on adult literacy to consider reading achievement across
the life span and its purpose includes "disseminating widely information
on scientifically based reading research pertaining to children, youth,
and adults."

The final good news that I find in the new act is that it includes a bit
more funding (about $30 thousand) for the NIFL than requested by the Bush
Administration.

The major bad news as far as I am concerned is that the House did not
provide more funding for the state grants beyond the $584.3 million that
the Bush Administration requested. This is well below the $1 billion goal
that the National Literacy Summit has set for the state grants. However,
the Summit document set the year 2010 as the year for achieving $1 billion
for the state grants, so there is still time to work to achieve that goal.
While I personally think that the goal of $1 billion for the state grants
is way too low to make much of a meaningful impact on the adult education
and literacy system of the United States, either now or by 2010, I think
that it is better to have $1 billion than $584.3 million.

I understand that many advocates have their particular concerns and wish
to advocate for them. As for me,  I think the primary advocacy efforts
should be aimed at advancing the National Literacy Summit's goal of
getting the Senate to increase the appropriations for the state grants
program for the Adult Education and Literacy System of the United States.

Tom Sticht
Tsticht at aznet.net



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