[NLA] News About Massachusetts (long, but passionate)

[David J. Rosen]

NLA Colleagues,

Several NLA subscribers have e-mailed me to learn more about the sudden
threat to public adult education in Massachusetts. Below is my
explanation of what has happened and what we are doing about it.  I have
also included the URL of a 5-minute audio clip , with students at the
Massachusetts State House, which gives you a good sense of what this
budget cut will mean for students, but also of their active
participation in turning this around. (Note that you may need to
download Media player - free -- to play the audio clip. Instructions are
on the Web page.)

In Mid-November, Massachusetts was the only state which had not yet
passed a FY 02 state budget.  There are many reasons for this, but one
was the rapidly declining tax revenues, and an unwillingness of the
Speaker of the House to commit to a budget which did not take this into
account.  But time was running out -- a budget was needed.  The adult
education and literacy community in Massachusetts kept its collective
ear attuned, but no one was saying there would be any cuts for adult
education. Then suddenly, the day before Thanksgiving, something beside
the turkey's neck got chopped.  We did.  The leadership in the
Legislature put together a budget for an up-or-down vote (no
consideration of line items) and adult education was slashed 44%. (They
meant to slash adult ed by 50% but they thought the line item from the
previous year was $34M, when it was actually $30M.) So we lost $13M out
of a $30M budget. But, since this is late in the fiscal year, and
programs have been spending at the same rate as last year, there is only
enough money left now to fund programs through January or early
February.  By February most publicly-funded programs will close or
cancel nearly all of their classes.  Because a cut of this size is a
failure of the state to maintain effort, in the next federal fiscal year
Massachusetts can lose all its  $10.5M federal funds -- and after that,
perhaps more state funds until public adult education will disappear in
our state.

Gulp.  Is this possible?  In Massachusetts?  Yes....however,

Since we heard this news, the Massachusetts Coalition for Adult
Education, and programs and students and friends of adult literacy
across the state have been in high gear  education and advocacy mode .
As you may know, for many years our state has been well organized for
adult literacy advocacy.  We have had good leadership in the state
education department and strong activists at the grass level. We have a
well-run state professional organization and a vital, new statewide
adult learner organization.  Practitioners and students know how to
advocate, and over the years, increasingly have seen the importance of
advocacy to their work.

So in the past week or so there have been thousands of phone calls,
cards and letters sent to Legislators and to the Acting Governor.  By
yesterday, when students, practitioners and supporters called the State
House, aides answered right off "Is this about adult education?"  We
have been on the radio, in the press, in State House press conferences,
on the State House Steps, in Legislators' offices -- working with Mayors
and other local officials.  The Mayor of Boston yesterday publicly
denounced this cut (and other serious cuts) which would affect the
city.  Yesterday, the Acting Governor announced she will submit a
supplemental budget this week with a $12.5M (of the $13 M) restoration.
The Speaker of the House and Senate President have both now said that
restoration of adult education funds are a top priority.

Have we succeeded?

Not yet.  We don't have the bird in our hand yet -- and when we do --
there may still be a budget cut -- although a small one.  It's  too soon
to rest.  The fight must continue until we know that all the funds have
been restored -- and beyond.

Why is this important to the NLA list which, after all, is not about
Massachusetts, but about adult literacy advocacy at the national level?

Many states are now re-visiting their budgets in light of revenue
shortfalls.  In many cases adult education and literacy are vulnerable,
are regarded as marginal, expendable.  This is a budget line item which
is often misunderstood as adult auto mechanics, cake decorating and
crafts.  I think the current Massachusetts experience may soon be
experienced in other states.  I urge adult education advocates in every
state to be prepared.

What does it mean to be prepared:

1.  There is an active statewide adult education advocacy organization
(or advocacy committee of a statewide professional organization)
2.  This group is organized: It has a membership list with phone,
address, and e-mail addresses for every member.  It has a telephone and
fax tree to get the word out fast.  It has a list of effective
short-term and long-term strategies.
3.  There are well-developed alliances and collaborations with other
organizations: statewide job training organizations, Local Workforce
Investment Boards (LWIBS), and collaborations at the community level
4.  There are good relationships with Mayors' Offices -- with City
leaders ready to advocate for adult education if needed.
5.  There is a champion in the Legislature -- ideally one in the House
and one in the Senate for adult education and literacy
6.  There are student activists who are part of all these planning and
action activities.
7.  Ideally there is a statewide adult learner organization which sees
advocacy as part of its role.
8.  There are leaders -- people from the field who are ready to dig in
and hold on for victory regardless of what it takes.  These are people
in for the long haul -- who understand that these battles are part of
the work of adult education and literacy - that the battles never go
away, that we never are allowed to "just go back to teaching and
learning," that for practitioners and students alike, advocacy for adult
literacy is as much as part of the work -- the vocation -- as teaching,
and that there is overlap, that in a democratic society this is how
students and teachers learn -- first hand -- about democracy and how it
works.

The audio clip will be found at:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wbur/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=311175

David J. Rosen
<DJRosen at theworld.com>

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