NLA Info/"pre-ALERT": H.R. 1385 and ABE/Literacy

Sun Jan 8 12:38:57 EST 2006

[Here is the part of Bob Bickerton's previous message that caused his
buffer to overflow.  It is a re-posting of a previous message, but newer
NLA subscribers may not have seen it. David J. Rosen, NLA List Moderator]

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     Dear All,

     You've seen some overviews of the bill developed by the House that 
     would incorporate ABE/Literacy on this list;  H.R. 1385, the 
     "Employment, Training and Literacy Act of 1997."  The bill 
     incorporates a great many of the provisions that many of us in the 
     field have been working towards over the past few years -- our thanks 
     to members of the Education & the Workforce Committee and especially 
     the many key staffers who helped this come true.  While it is true 
     that the bill has bipartisan support, this doesn't mean it 
     incorporates everything we need it to.  There were also some problems 
     with the bill that could be quite harmful to ABE/Literacy and that 
     haven't been discussed yet on this list -- some of these have been 
     resolved and others have yet to be addressed.  Again, thanks to our 
     friends in Congress AND the many advocates who worked and continue to 
     work very hard to correct these deficiencies.  

     Following is a brief review of what's transpired and where we are 
     today.  This is NOT an alert -- we need to get a bit more organized 
     before we ACT on the remaining issues.  We WILL need everyone's help 
     when such an alert goes out in the next few days so that as many of 
     these issues as possible can be addressed by the full House.  

     bob bickerton, legislative committees: NCSDAE chair & AAACE co-chair 
     rbickerton at doe.mass.edu

     1. IS ABE/LITERACY (+ ESOL, etc) AN EDUCATION PROGRAM? -- PART I

     The bill you first heard about eliminated ABE from Education and 
     placed it under Labor as an amendment to JTPA;  the role of the 
     Secretary of Education was not eliminated, however, this generated 
     enormous concern about whether the broad purposes of ABE would be 
     sustained into the future.  

     SUCCESSFULLY RESOLVED:  The Committee agreed to change this so the ABE 
     section, Title V is now an amendment to the current Adult Education 
     Act (replacing it with the new provisions) and remains with the 
     Education code.  

     2. THE BROAD PURPOSES ABE/LITERACY(+) MUST SERVE.

     Title V does articulate most of the broad purposes that ABE must serve.  
     It does, however, reside within the larger structure of a bill that really 
     only emphasizes employment & training and the originally posted version 
     failed to even mention ABE/Literacy in its overall "Purposes."  

     SUCCESSFULLY RESOLVED:  The Committee agreed to include a purpose related 
     to ABE/Literacy(+).

     3. WHAT INDICATORS MUST ABE/LITERACY(+) BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE TO?

     The original bill held ABE/Literacy accountable to "Core Indicators" four 
     out of five of which were related to getting people jobs, better jobs, 
     higher wages, etc.;  only the fifth was about getting students a GED.  
     There was also an additional list of indicators specifically for ABE that 
     dealt with educational gain and other ABE specific concerns.  [The bill 
     contains "sanctions" and "incentives" related to performance on these Core 
     Indicators"] 

     PARTIALLY RESOLVED:  The Committee agreed to focus Core Indicators for ABE 
     in a separate section dedicated to it.  Two issues remain to be resolved:  
     (a) these ABE Core Indicators reside in Title I, hence they will 
     statutorially reside in Labor -- we need them moved to Title V so they are 
     fully grounded in Education;  (b) the ABE Core Indicators go beyond 
     ensuring programs have provided individuals with the skills, and require 
     placement in, retention in and completion of several "next steps."  We 
     believe that ABE must be accountable to providing an educational 
     foundation;  we also agree that we need to document our students success in 
     the next steps they take, but that these should not be part of our "bottom 
     line accountability."

     4. DIRECT AND EQUITABLE ACCESS

     Some of the provisions from the current Adult Education Act (AEA) have been 
     incorporated in Title V;  we were concerned that some of the "teeth" from 
     the AEA was omitted and that some of the language to strengthen these 
     provisions (as in our ABE for the 21st Century Act) were not included.  

     PARTIALLY RESOLVED:  Some of the language was strengthened, but more needs 
     to be done to ensure that ALL eligible providers receive a fair, direct and 
     equitable opportunity to receive funding support under the new bill.

     5. IS ABE/LITERACY(+) AN EDUCATION PROGRAM?  PART II

     The bill vests state management of the ABE program with an "Eligible 
     Agency" rather than the State Education Agency (flexibly defined to 
     include the diversity of education agencies currently managing ABE).  
     The bill does defer to state law if it designates which agency should 
     administer ABE and further provides that if no statute exists, the 
     program would go to the agency in charge of ABE on the date the new 
     bill is enacted.  Further, the bill provides the "eligible agency" 
     with approval authority related to the Title V portion of the state 
     plan required for a state to be eligible for funding provided under 
     the bill, but does not explicitly address its role in developing the 
     State Plan nor what happens when there's disagreement at the state 
     level over provisions in different sections of the plan.

     UNRESOLVED:  There has been NO movement from "Eligible Agency" to 
     "State Education Agency" nor has its role in developing, approving and 
     submitting the plan been clarified or strengthened.

     6. SUPPORT FOR STAFF & PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT, EVALUATION, ET AL...

     The "8 Essential Elements for ABE Legislation" have been part of the 
     field's "bottom line" consensus for three years now, and include 
     reserving 15% of a state's grant for program and staff development, 
     evaluation, technology initiatives and other statewide activities.  
     The bill allows only a CEILING of 10%.

     UNRESOLVED:  There has been NO movement in raising this provision to 
     15%.  Even the USDOE bill only allows a ceiling of 13% (the AEA 
     provided for a FLOOR of 15%!).  It appears a victory on this one may 
     take an especially strong effort from the field.

     7. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.

     This can get a bit arcane, but it's ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL if we're to 
     prevent states from withdrawing funding from ABE and letting this 
     meager level of federal funding pay for everything.  The Committee HAS 
     included a maintenance of effort provision in the face of resistance 
     from some sectors -- and we thank them for this.  There is, however, a 
     serious loophole in the current wording that needs to be corrected and 
     another part that needs to be clarified.

     UNRESOLVED:  There has been NO movement in cleaning up the maintenance 
     of effort provision.  It appears a victory on this one may take an 
     especially strong effort from the field.