[AAACE-NLA] Should ESL funds be separate from ABE/ASE?

[Ellison, Art]

To the list,

  The issue of pulling ESL funding out of the WIA Title II ESL/ABE/ASE
line item for state grants has been under discussion in the policy arena
for some time. There are good political/education reasons for both
continuing the current position and for looking at a new arrangement.
One of the dangers of pushing for more money as a set a side in any bill
is that the additional funds could be taken from other portions of the
bill instead of being added to the overall appropriation level. 

 There is a separate mandated line item for ESL funding out of WIA-Title
II that is included each year in the appropriation language for this
bill. That figure is approximately $70 million and goes for EL/Civics
programs in all of the states. While not mandated, approximately 50% of
the remaining $490  is spent on ESOL instruction by the states. So the
expenditure per year from WIA Title II for ESOL is about $315 million.

 Representatives of the State Directors of Adult Education have been in
discussions since last year with staff members from Senator Kennedy and
Senator McCain's offices over ESOL funding in any immigration
legislation. These discussions will continue with both House and Senate
staff in the Congressional session that starts today.

 I look forward to the continuing dialogue on this issue. Art Ellison,
Co-Chair, Policy Committee, National Council of State Directors of Adult
Education.      

-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org] On Behalf Of Andrea
Wilder
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 3:08 PM
To: National Literacy Advocacy List sponsored by AAACE
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Should ESL funds be separate from ABE/ASE?

On first reading, Tom, i would say that the idea makes sense.  
Immigration is a hot topic, and I think money would be available for 
ESL classes as an obvious method of acculturation.  Of course parents 
literate in English  could serve as role models, teachers, for their 
children. We need a new supply of teachers, too.

Andrea

On Jan 2, 2007, at 1:21 PM, tsticht at znet.com wrote:

> Aaace-nla Colleagues: Here is a statement about comprehensive reforms 
> for
> ESL from the executive summary of a new ESL report from CAAL to which 
> Gail
> Spangenberg called attention recently. It calls for consideration of
> pulling ESL out of the ESL/ABE/ASE line of education and instead 
> funding a
> separate line of ESL education. Is this a good idea? Tom Sticht
>
> The CAAL (www.caal.org) report says,
>
> "Targeted funding increases would make a major contribution to 
> improving the
> quality of adult ESL service. By themselves, however, these increases 
> would
> not be sufficient to reduce waiting lists or to take many innovative
> strategies to scale. To accomplish these goals, a major increase in 
> total
> federal/state funding specifically for ESL is required. At present, 
> total
> national funding is on the order of $700 million per year. Doubling 
> that
> amount would be a reasonable initial goal.
>
> Accomplishing this may well require a reconsideration of how adult 
> education
> ESL is positioned in the overall adult education system. At present, 
> there
> is no separate authorization or line item appropriation for ESL. 
> Policy and
> funding for this service are combined with policy and funding for 
> ABE/ASE.
> Yet, in most respects, ESL is a wholly different service from adult
> education for native speakers of English. It serves a very different
> population with very different needs and goals, and it employs almost
> completely different instructional methods and tools. This study 
> recommends
> that policymakers and adult education leaders consider carefully 
> whether it
> is in the best interests of all aspects of adult education, including 
> its
> adult ESL strand, to sever the present policy and funding links. In 
> many
> respects, these links are artificial and may be counter-productive to
> improving both ESL and ABE/ASE service."
>
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