[NLA] New Feature: News From the States

[BSemple680@aol.com]

David;
I wanted to give a brief status report about our efforts in NJ to impact 
public policy
concerning adult literacy and high school completion.  
We were successful in getting a law passed in 2000 establishing a governor's
State Council on Adult Literacy Services.  And after 2 years of meetings we 
are
now working on a report to the governor for early Fall.  It will depict a 
fragmented
and inadequate adult literacy delivery system characterized by 22 funding 
sources
located in 4 depts of state government, all with drastically different 
requirements.
There will be an attempt to consolidate most funding into the dept. of 
labor...
But basically, although our governor is saying "literacy" is his top 
priority, this
has largelyy meant  3 to 8 year olds.  The signifcance of the child's first
teacher, the parent, has been totally over looked so far..   Nj has the least
state aid for adult ed. of any state from Maine to Florida...many GED
Test Centers have closed for lack of adequate funding and long waiting
lists exist all over the state.   The state association, the NJ Association 
for
Lifelong Learning, is begining to do some serious, and we hope effective 
lobbying.
Barry Semple       member NJ State Council for Adult Literacy Services 
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