[GLC] More Info. on Federal Appropriations and Reauthorization

[Ira Yankwitt]

Dear Colleagues:

The following are excerpts from two emails I received recently.  The first
is text from the Senate Appropriations bill that recommends full funding
for adult literacy.  The language appears to reaffirm that adult literacy
is fundamentally an education program, not an employment program.  

The second is from an email from Art Ellison.  It explains what will come
next in the appropriations and reauthorization process.  It also gives some
very useful suggestions for how students and programs can have an impact on
November's Congressional elections.

I hope you all are having a relaxing summer.  If you have any questions,
please feel free to contact me.

Best,
Ira

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(From the Senate Appropriations bill)

"Adult Education State Programs- For adult education State programs, the
Committee recommends $569,672,000, the same amount as the comparable fiscal
year 2005 funding level. The budget request includes $200,000,000 for
authorized activities. These funds are used by States for programs to enable
economically disadvantaged adults to acquire basic literacy skills, to
enable those who so desire to complete a secondary education, and to make
available to adults the means to become more employable, productive, and
responsible citizens.

The Committee recommendation continues the English literacy and civics
education State grants set aside within the Adult Education State grant
appropriation. Within the total, $68,582,000 is available to help States or
localities affected significantly by immigration and large limited-English
populations to implement programs that help immigrants acquire English
literacy skills, gain knowledge about the rights and responsibilities of
citizenship and develop skills that will enable them to navigate key
institutions of American life.

The Committee is pleased with the progress States are making in reporting on
and improving performance outcomes generated by this program and urges the
Department to continue to work with States to assist them in these efforts.
The Commmittee recognizes the diverse population eligible for services under
this program, ranging from adults striving to complete their secondary
education to workers requiring better English skills to benefit from
employer-provided job training and to grandparents desiring the skills
necessary to help grandchildren to learn to read. The Committee also notes
that while some participants cite employment as their reason for enrolling
in an adult education program, many program participants do not establish
this as a goal. Furthermore, even if employment is a goal, increased
earnings might not be associated with the career goals of the more than
one-third of adult education participants currently employed. Therefore, the
Committee has recommended level funding for this program, and urges the
Department to consider these facts when assessing program performance under
the Adult Education program and the appropriateness of including this
education program under the Administration's initiative to identify common
measures for job training and employment programs."
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/R?cp109:FLD010:@1(sr103

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(From Art Ellison)

Timeline for Appropriations and WIA Reauthorization

At this point we think that there may not be Senate action on our
appropriation, instead the Senate will probably go directly to conference
with the House in September. Since we have level funding from both chambers
(the full House and Senate Appropriations) our appropriation should not be
an issue in the conference. The only possible change that we will be
preparing to influence in September would be an attempt to implement across
the board cuts in most education programs to fund increases in a selected
few. This action has been utilized on several occasions in past few years
in similar circumstances. 

WIA reauthorization has passed the House and the Senate Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee but has not yet been scheduled for Senate floor
action. We are being told that further consideration of the bill will take
place in the fall or winter.

Even Start was funded at $200 million in the House and $0 in the Senate.
If the Senate does not take up the appropriations bill advocates for Even
Start will be working with the Senate and House conferees to have them reach
agreement on the House figure.

As approach September we will identify the Senate and House members of the
Conference Committee so that targeted efforts can be made on both adult
education and Even Start funding. 


Elections

As you know elections for all members of the US House of Representatives
and 1/3 of the US Senate will be held in November of next year. It is
important that all of us, staff, students and friends of adult education
create a presence in those campaigns, similar to the presence that you have
established with members of Congress now in office. Two activities that
would be useful in this regard are inviting candidates of all parties to
visit you programs and attendance by advocates for adult education at any
candidate forums that might include the opportunity to ask questions about
the candidate's support for adult education funding.

The very best method for helping students to sort through the issues that
would help them decide to support a particular candidate is Debbie Tasker's,
Pick Your Candidate. This document created specifically for adult education
programs and students accessed at
http://tech.worlded.org/docs/pick/pickpr.htm 
<http://tech.worlded.org/docs/pick/pickpr.htm> .



Ira Yankwitt, Director
Professional Development / 
NYC Regional Adult Education Network 
Literacy Assistance Center
32 Broadway, 10th Floor
NY, NY 10004
(212) 803-3356
iray at lacnyc.org