Adult Literacy

Sequester Cuts Begin to Affect Availability of Adult Education

/ The Old Crank

From The Salem News (Missouri):

Those who want to study for the General Educational Development certificate will no longer be able to do it in Salem.

Salem’s Adult Education and Literacy program will be forced to close its doors Friday because state funding has been denied.

AEL Community Liaison Jackie Hobaugh said the program will end after about 30 years here. The nearest alternative class site is in Houston in neighboring Texas County.

The grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education was denied because of the federal sequester, according to Hobaugh. Seven sites, including those in Dent, Phelps, Maries and Crawford counties, were targeted for closure.

Local phone service has already been disconnected.

“The DESE grant is our only source of funding,” she said. “These classes are needed now more than ever. At a critical time in our local communities, a way for individuals to pull out of poverty and move to self-sustainability is being eliminated. This should not be allowed to happen.”  (my emphasis)

Houston, Missouri is about 40 miles from Salem. For those of you in D.C., like me, this would be like being told that your GED class was closing, and then being referred to a program in Baltimore.

Something to remember as programs close is that they don’t just reappear overnight when/if funding is restored. Facilities are re-purposed, teachers move on, etc. The sequester isn’t just about cutting services in the present, but also, in some cases, will result in the permanent loss of infrastructure needed for the future.

Witnesses Announced for This Thursday’s HELP Committee Hearing on WIA Reauthorization

/ The Old Crank

(Updated Below)

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) will be holding a hearing on on WIA Reauthorization this Thursday, June 20 2013, at 2:30 PM.

It’s been widely reported that Senator Murray (D-WA) and Senator Isakson (R-GA) have been working on a bi-partisan WIA reauthorization bill, and that they are getting close to the finish line on a draft.

Here is the witness list:

UPDATE 6/18/13: The final witness was announced late yesterday; I’ve amended the post above accordingly. Also, the WIA bill itself may be released as early as June 25th. The hope is that they might get it passed out of committee shortly after the July 4th recess.

Nuance on Skills

/ The Old Crank

When the New York Times publishes a scathing editorial against the whole notion of a skills gap, it alarms me, because so much of adult education and training advocacy has coalesced around this idea. It also alarms me because whatever the economic data tells us about the root causes of unemployment, it doesn’t take away from the fact that we still have a substantial number of people who are trying to improve their basic skills, enroll in job training programs, and/or acquire industry credentials. We wouldn’t have waiting lists for services if this wasn’t the case.

Many economists have been arguing for some time that the skills gap has not been a major cause of unemployment. But a case for investing in skills doesn’t need to be dependent on this argument. I’ve often cited an old blog post from Jared Bernstein as an example of a way to argue for skills that isn’t dependent on proof of a skills gap.

The Times piece suggests that skills gap arguments will be increasingly met with skepticism. It’s going to be important not to let that turn into an argument against investing in skills altogether.

Senate Immigration Bill – Amendments Submitted Related to English Proficiency

/ The Old Crank / 2 Comments

(Updated Below)

I’ve scanned the amendments submitted thus far to the Senate immigration bill (S.744) and found at least four five that pertain to English proficiency:

S.A. 1204, introduced by Sen. Inhofe (R-OK)
AKA the “English Language Unity Act of 2013’’. Would declare English the official language of the United States government.

S.A. 1205, introduced by Sen. Inhofe (R-OK)
Would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 so that it would be legal for an employer to “require employees to speak English while engaged in work.”

S.A. 1206, introduced by Sen. Inhofe (R-OK)
Would require each government agency, within 180 days of enactment, to provide a “Multilingual Services Expenses Report” that provides a summary and analysis of all multilingual services provided.

S.A. 1225, introduced by Sen. Rubio (R-FL)
Would remove the opportunity for immigrants applying for legal residency status to demonstrate that they are “satisfactorily pursuing a course of study, pursuant to standards established by the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary, to achieve an understanding of English and knowledge and understanding of the history and Government of the United States” at the level of proficiency now required for citizenship. Instead it would require that all immigrant achieve that level of proficiency prior to applying for a green card.

S.A. 1348, introduced by Sen. Fischer (R-NE)
Would insert an English language requirement as a prerequisite to registered provisional immigrant status. Essnetially, an undocumented immigrant who could not demonstrate English proficiency would not be allowed to attain legal status of any kind at all. h/t CLASP

Let me know if I missed anything!

 

UDPATE 6/20/13: I’m updating as I go. Just added the Fischer amendment (see above).