Berkeley Adult School blog

Some noteworthy news here. I've been doing most of my web-posting on the fly, on our school's Facebook page. Please visit that page for more, and mostly student-centered posts and info. https://www.facebook.com/Berkeley.Adult.School

Firstly, the long process of the Adult Education State Plan, aka Linking Adults to Opportunity: Transformation of the California Adult Education Program has now been distilled into an Implementation Guide that the Dept. of Education/Adult Ed Office is pushing is located here...http://www.otan.us/strategicPlanning/index.html. We in the field are reading over the Implementation Guide and discussing the actions that we already do and how to hold the CDE accountable for their part. If you are an Adult Education stakeholder, I strongly encourage you to read this document, and share your thoughts with the folks that matter: CDE/AEO, CCAE, CAEAA and ACSA.

Secondly, here is the content of a recent newsletter from our professional organizations, CCAE, CAEAA and ACSA.

CALIFORNIA

ADULT EDUCATION

A Newsletter on Adult Education in California September 2012

Proposition 30 Leads Narrowly in Polls

The crucial measure for supporting California’s public education continues to show a narrow lead in most recent polls. Passage of the “30” is necessary to avoid mid-year cuts to public education in the state. The present 2012-13 state budget is premised on Proposition 30 passing. The budget also has the trigger mechanism that requires immediate cuts amounting to over $5 billion to education should the measure be unsuccessful.

Assembly Bill 18 Vetoed So Now the Weighted Student Formula

Governor Brown vetoed the measure calling for a commission to study how to reform school finance. AB 18 by Assembly member Julia Brownley asked for a 21-member commission to present recommendations after analyzing the Governor’s proposed Weighted Student Formula and Brownley’s block granting approaches. Both proposals call for collapsing categorical programs and providing more streamlined funding without the specificity of categorical programs. Adult Education is the third largest categorical program, and it would have been part of the discussions. Prior to it being converted into a study bill, AB 18 specified which categorical programs would be collapsed into which block grants. In that version of AB 18, Adult Education would have been allowed to continue as an autonomous program. Governor Brown vetoed the bill, his message stating that the AB 18 study would have delayed the legislature acting on his Weighted Student Formula.

California Needs Adult Education Because…

·         More than 1.2 million California residents of labor-force age are unemployed.

·         One out of five adults over the age of 18 does not have a high school diploma.

What to Do………

Continue to focus on generating support and getting out the vote for Proposition 30. Without 30, Adult Education programs can expect major cuts. The Governor’s proposed budget for the 2013-14 fiscal year will be released on January 10th, and predictably it will have the Weighted Student Formula as an element. An exploration of the options and impact on Adult Education programs would be valuable. 

Lastly, please do what you can to get out the vote, and support Prop. 30 above all choices.