bodner085

From Kristen Pursley's Save Your Adult School blog : Adult School English as a Second Language and Citizenship Classes Must Be Offered Free Again – Let’s Keep It That Way! by kpursley Under California law, adult school English as a Second Language (ESL) and Citizenship classes must once again be offered free of charge. AB 189, a 2011 emergency measure allowing adult schools to charge for these classes until July 2015, expired this year, and was not renewed or extended.  AB 189 legitimized a haphazard pattern of charging for ESL and Citizenship classes that sprang up in the wake of California’s 2008 budget crisis and the resulting “categorical flexibility” that removed protections on state adult school funds.  While some districts chose not to charge for adult school ESL and Citizenship classes, others worked out their own systems for charging with no overall coordination at the state level or, often, consultation with neighboring districts. The result...

From CCAE Legislative Analyst Dawn Koepke: An Attempt at Clarity to Avoid Audit Exceptions & Penalties We've heard from across the state that you all are working earnestly to implement the new era of adult education; however, you've also shared questions and concerns about the details of moving forward.  I believe we can all agree that the Adult Ed Block Grant provides such great opportunity and yet it is filled with provisions that, arguably, seem to lack clarity or sufficient level of detail.  As with any law or budget passed, we must always consider the intent that led to the details of the policy and budget for clues about how to address such perceived lack of clarity.  We worked hard and were at the front lines of developing the policy framework that led us to this point, so let's revisit what we believe to be true based on those discussions in an effort to provide some clarity on some of the biggest issues/questions we've heard to date. Hit the li...

Dawn Koepke Legislative Analyst California Council of Adult Education A legislative update from Dawn Koepke, Legislative Analyst for CCAE (California Council of Adult Education): Moving Forward - Fee Authority, Administrative Cap, Concurrent Students & SB 786 (Allen) As we move forward in a post-AB 104 adult education era, we will undoubtedly become aware of components that need to be adjusted and/or reworked.  Some of the initial items we identified mid-summer needing legislative engagement included reinstating fee authority for ESL and citizenship programs and clarifying the interpretation of the 5% administrative cap. Click on the "read more" link to learn more. As you may recall, AB 189 passed in 2011 provided fee authority for adult schools to charge fees for classes in ESL and citizenship.  The caveat was that it was a time-limited authority that expired as of July 2015.  Going forward, there is no longer the authority for adult schools to charg...

What happens when funding is threatened, reduced, removed, and destabilized for programs paid by the public and designed to serve it? Click on the "read more" link to find out. That's what we can learn from what happened to Adult Schools and Adult Education these last six years, and stretching back further than that, from the last one hundred and fifty. Acalanes, as did so many Adult Schools since funding was flexed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2009, went through tremendous turmoil and at one point, was slated for closure .    The LaMorinda Weekly story, " Adult Students Wanted at Del Valle, " provided in full below, tells one version of the story. George Porter, in his Perspective piece on Acalanes' Older Adult Program , tells another. Putting those two pieces together, the question comes to mind, "Which adults are wanted at Del Valle - and why?" Adult Schools and Adult Education have gone through many changes in the past 150 years, as we can lea...

From the Adult Education Advocates in the Montebello Community California Adult Education ______________________________________________                                                 A Newsletter on Adult Education in California August 2015 FEES IN ADULT EDUCATION NEED LEGISLATION THIS 2015 SESSION Legislation on fees in adult education is needed before the Legislature adjourns in September.  At a minimum, the provisions of AB 189 (Eng, 2011) need to be extended since they sunset on June 30th. AB 189 allowed fees in ESL/Citizenship classes, and supported districts as they sought to continue these course offerings. Click on the "read more" link to learn more. The fee legislation is needed because AB 104 (2015 budgt trailer bill that contains the Adul...