[NLA] Media contact

[Thomas Sticht]

  David Rosen recently asked about contacts with the media about waiting
lists or other aspects of adult literacy programs. I recently spent a
couple  of hours talking with a person from a national TV broadcasting
system about a program that will focus on adult literacy education.
Following is a little resume of funding in the Adult Education and
Literacy System (AELS) of the United States, i.e., the set of programs
administered under Title 2 of the Workforce Investment Act, that I gave
the person. Hopefully the program will call attention to the dreadful
funding of this important adult education system.

  In the state and federal  Adult Education and Literacy System (AELS) of
  the United States, the major provider of adult literacy education,
  expressed in constant 2001 dollars, in fiscal year 1970 the AELS received
  funds of some $180.4 million from the federal government. This was the
  federal share of education for around 535 thousand adults, or about $337
  federal dollars per enrollee. In 1980 the federal figure per enrollee fell
  to around $101, by 1990 it fell to $72 and by 1999 it rose to $103 per
  enrollee. This is an (almost) 70 percent drop from 1970 to 1999 ($337 –
  103 = 234/337 = 69.4% ). By 2001, the last year for which enrollment
data are available, federal funds had increased to
  around $540 million and enrollments dropped from 3.6 million in 1999 to
  2.9 million in 2001, or around $186 per enrollee.  This is a 44.8% per
  enrollee drop in per enrollee federal funds since 1970 in constant 2001
  dollars. Assuming that the enrollment figures stay at 2.9 million in 2002,
  with a federal fund level of $575 million, the per enrollee funds will
be around $198, or a drop of about 41 percent since 1970.

  With state and local funds of around $1,100,000,000 ($1.1 billion), and
  2.9 million enrollees, the 2001 state and local funds per enrollee were
  around $379. So combined federal and state in 2002 are going to be around
  $379 + $198 = $577 or less than $600 per enrollee. This contrasts to
  public funds of about $7500 per enrollee in K-12 and $16,000 per enrollee
  in higher education (college). This is only 8 percent of what K-12 gets
  and 3.75 percent of what higher education gets per enrollee. It contrasts
  to around $6500 per enrollee in the federally funded Head Start program,
  or around 9 percent of what Head Start gets per enrollee in just federal
  dollars. The federal funds of $198 per enrollee in the AELS is just 3
  percent of what Head Start gets in federal funds.

  The AELS is truly the marginalized education system serving the
  marginalized population of adults in the United States. And no one seems
  to know about or care about this third branch of public education!




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