CCAE Meets Legislators, Promotes New Legislation

Approximately 90 adult educators attended the 2010 CCAE Sacramento Leg Day, meeting their legislators and discussing the most pressing adult education issues, such as  budgets and pending legislation.

Adult educators, including students, teachers, and administrators, told their own stories to their legislators, giving a personal dimension to the consequences of recent budget cuts. Students in particular delivered a powerful message to the legislators by talking about their new careers and the opportunities they have now as a result of their adult school programs.

CCAE adult educators advocated for AB 1673, a bill proposed by Representative Mendoza, which sets a requirement to study the impacts of flexibility on adult education.  Since the unprecedented cuts to adult education, established by the “maximum flexibility” that local school districts have over 39 categorical programs, a majority of California Adult Schools have experienced a drastic reduction in their budgets, and many will be closed by next year. Given that community college non-credit programs are also subject to the flexibility requirement, it is important for legislators to know the programmatic impacts of these fund shifts before they are required to make policy decisions in 2012-13 about whether this “full flexibility” should be sunset or extended.

AB 1673 will require the Legislative Analyst to analyze specific policy areas related to adult education programs and report this information to the Legislature by January 1, 2012.  The Analyst is to study, among other questions, the impact on local employers resulting from fewer adult education students receiving training, the effect of reduction of adult school programs on the amount of federal program funds, and the ratio of cuts to credit and non-credit courses in community colleges.

The information requested in AB 1673 is intended to help legislators make educated policy determinations when they debate what actions to take when the statutes authorizing the full flexibility of categorical programs expires at the end of the 2012-13 fiscal year.