Berkeley Adult School blog

Berkeley Adult School News and Views 

Visit our Facebook page for lots of spontaneous updates, pictures, legislative and public interest items, https://www.facebook.com/Berkeley.Adult.School. You do not need to have a Facebook account to read our page.

The word on the street is that Governor Brown's Weighted Student Formula (WSF) Education Budget proposal is dead for this year. The WSF proposal would eliminate all categorical programs and put all the money in one pot (adult education is one of 40+ categorical programs, including After School Programs, GATE, Professional Development, Adult Ed, etc) and give local districts further flexibility to use the money as they see fit. Adult Educators do not favor the proposal as it deletes any language of adult education in the state budget. For K-12 programs, it would provide more money for districts that serve economically disadvantaged and second language learners. The Governor's Administration, according to Finance and CDE, has pulled it for this year based on all of the criticism by stakeholders and the Legislature's distaste. That said, they plan to revisit it next year, possibly with some sort of a weighted formula for CTE. So our fight now focuses on getting out of "Categorical Flexibility", and to secure stable funding to serve our students. 

There is strength in numbers; the California Council for Adult Education (CCAE) has been mounting a grass roots campaign to get ALL stakeholders involved, especially students. Check their website to get involved in this critical effort to save adult education. There is a very short survey (name, email, address, adult school) that will add you to the list of supporters of public adult education. PLEASE join our effort to preserve adult education in California. Recently, CCAE put some funding into public relations, and the results are powerful graphic letters being hand-delivered to each member of the Legislature, the Governor and Finance Committes in Sacramento. You can see these posters on the CCAE website. 
 

Why do we need to convince legislators and the public to support Adult Education? Beyond economic arguments, adult education fosters democracy and builds community. In California, nearly 20% of adults, or more than 5 million adults, do not have a high school diploma or GED. Adult Education programs are best positioned to serve these folks. 

We are connected to local and state advocacy organizations and need your help. We are fighting to be removed from 'Categorical Flexibility' and from the 'Weighted Student Formula'. There is a real threat to remove adult education funding from public education. If you're interested in legislation, policy and Ed Code, and want more info, please send us a message. There is a press release and rally at 10:30 am Tuesday, June 12 at San Mateo Adult School as part of a continuing effort to get the word out to the public and legislators that Adult Education matters. http://adulteducationmatters.blogspot.com/

On the local front, we are fortunate to have support from our governing body, Berkeley Unified School District. In general, our district is in decent shape, fiscally. However, times are tough for public education. If a local board of education must decide between funding a middle school program or an adult school, the untenable decision may not favor adult learners seeking job training, academic programs, English language acquisition, specialized instruction for adults with disabilities or classes for older adults.  So, while we are grateful for our local support, we must raise our voice at a state level to ensure we can continue to offer services to adults. 

We recently completed a WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) review and expect a renewed accreditation term. The substance of the report is our Action Plan, which provides for improving Student Services and Professional Development. To that end, we will expand college and career counseling for all of our students, and provide targeted professional development that focuses on student learning data for all staff. The goal is to improve schoolwide learner outcomes. 

On Thursday night, June 7, we graduated 125 High School and 23 GED students, ranging in age from 18-57. It is most gratifying to hear their stories, meet their families and share their success. President Obama recently said "In today's economy, there's no greater predictor of individual success than a good education. The incomes of folks with a college degree are twice as high as those who don't have a high school diploma." One of our goals at BAS is to help students transition from graduation to post secondary education. We know many of our graduates have plans for higher education, and we salute them. 

As we wrap up the current school year, plans for the 2012-13 school year include a similar level of programming and classes, upgrades to all of our computers (in classrooms, for staff and faculty) including a new computer lab for the Academic Department, an investment in our food service program, student identification cards, college and career counseling, and introducing a professional development concept known a Professional Learning Communities (PLC).