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

[Debbie Yoho]

Eileen, a "boycott" wouldn't work in our state because those who choose not
to boycott would only absorb the funding that is "unclaimed" by those who
do boycott--that's the nature of formula funding. The state would just
recompute the formula.

Nine years ago, we had no federal funding.  We were surviving.  But only
serving 121 learners.  Now we serve over 700.  The federal funds allowed us
to grow.  We could go back to where we were, but aren't willing to do so
without replacing the federal funds because learners would suffer.  Debbie 

Deborah W. Yoho
Co-moderator, NIFL-Health Listserv
President, SC Adult Literacy Educators
Executive Director, Greater Columbia Literacy Council
2728 Devine Street,  Columbia, SC  29205
803-765-2555   Fax  803-779-8417   dwyoho at earthlink.net


> [Original Message]
> From: Eileen Eckert <eileeneckert at hotmail.com>
> To: <aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org>
> Date: 5/13/2003 9:06:13 AM
> Subject: RE: : Re: [AAACE-NLA]HOUSE PASSES H.R. 1261
>
> I'd like to respond to Allan's statement:
> "Now, in practical terms, what can be done since few institutions can
even 
> consider doing without their federal dollars that they have been
dependent 
> on for so many years?"
>
> I agree that few institutions will consider doing without federal
funding, 
> but is it true that they <can't>? Does the dependence on federal funding 
> still come from a real need (after all, does the funding even cover the
cost 
> of all the mandated activity anymore?) or does it come from a mindset
that 
> says you can't let go of federal funding no matter how expensive the 
> attached strings? I don't just mean the mindset of the people in the 
> program--it's hard to imagine any college turning down federal funding.
>
> What would happen if a number of colleges and large K-12 based programs 
> decided to forego, or to boycott, federal funding and accompanying 
> regulations? (I ask about those because many smaller programs have let go 
> of, or been frozen out of, federal funding already.) For those who really
do 
> run or work in such programs, think of the specific things you have to do
in 
> order to be eligible for federal funding. How much time do those things 
> take? How much staffing and money? Does federal funding pay for anything 
> except its own mandated activities? Does it even cover all of those? How
do 
> mandates "pull" the direction of your program, and do they pull it in a
good 
> direction or are they a distraction or a roadblock to what you really
feel 
> you should be doing?
>
> I think that a boycott might just be greeted gleefully by members of the 
> Bush administration ("Oh, goody, they're privatizing all on their own!" 
> they'd say), so I'm not advocating for that even if it were realistic to 
> think it might happen. However, I think lots of creative thinking happens 
> when we let go of assumptions about what has to be, even if it's only 
> hypothetical. With some of that creative thinking, we might generate some 
> ideas about what actually can be done.
>
> Eileen
>
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