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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...

George Porter, a fourteen year veteran teacher of Older Adults classes at Berkeley Adult School, two term chair of the City of Berkeley's Aging Commission, and member of CCAE (California Council of Adult Education) and CFT (California Federation of Teachers), wrote this perspective piece in response to the news about Acalanes Adult School's survival and their Older Adult program.  ( You can read the news report here .) A PERSPECTIVE ON ACALANES ADULT SCHOOL'S "OLDER ADULT PROGRAM": Congrats to Acalanes Older Adult Ed. for surviving, but at what cost and should they be viewed as a model? Click on the "read more" link to learn more. First off, please bear in mind that Acalanes Adult Ed. is immediately adjacent to Rossmoor, a close to 10,000 strong, gated, 55+, "active senior" community. This is a highly regarded, award winning development that in years past provided an affordable option for middle-class retirees to relocate. That, though (to my ...

The July 10, 2015 Technical Webinar had a lot of helpful information to help guide us through new waters we're sailing through. Implementation Focus Group's Draft Guidelines                Listen to the Recording

In the final part of the budget process, funding for Older Adults Adult Education ( -- to at least some degree), was added into trailer bill AB104.  The new budget was signed by Governor Brown and it goes into effect tomorrow July 1, 2015.    The new trailer bill language in AB104 can be found here. Here are three articles and an announcement from Assembly Member Roger Hernandez' website: 1.  Assembly Member Hernandez Rallies Support for Older Adult Education  - Assembly Member Roger Hernandez' website Today, Assemblymember Roger Hernández (D-West Covina) held a press conference to discuss the importance of keeping older adult education programs a priority in the state budget. Hundreds of supporters came to voice the need to maintain programs which are vital to the success of California’s diverse and multigenerational population available to our senior community throughout the state.   According to the California Department of Aging, almos...

AB104 is the trailer bill about Adult Education. Go here to read AB104 in full. Go here to get to it via the AB86 website (the place to go for info about the new Regional Consortia system). There are lots of things to learn and understand. Here are a few bits.  First, from the AB86 website : AB104: Adult Education Block Grant The California Legislature has passed Assembly Bill 104 which  includes the legislation for the Adult Education Block Grant. The Adult Education Block Grant will fund adult education providers and the adult education regional consortia.  Please refer to Sec. 39, Article 9, Section 84900. What's Next? With this final language, the CCCCO and the CDE are working together to develop guidance regarding next steps for implementation of the Adult Education Block Grant. Guidance regarding the fund allocations,  reporting requirements, and outcomes and measures will be forthcoming over the coming weeks and months. We will be sure to keep yo...

From CCAE - California Council for Adult Education - Legislative Analyst Dawn Koepke:   Adult Ed Block Grant Package Signed by the Governor   Today we breathe a sigh of relief that the future of adult education, particularly with regard to adult schools, will be much brighter and more stable going forward.  The Legislature took the Governor's May Revise budget proposal and ran with it, making a few minor adjustments that are generally workable.  Concluding multiple years of hard work, sweat and tears, today the Governor signed AB 104, which includes the Adult Education Block Grant package.  His signature yesterday is ahead of the June 30th Constitutional deadline for him to sign a budget.    While there was much wrangling over the budget in the last few weeks, the Legislature met their required deadline to pass the budget - or a few key parts of it - by the June 15th deadline.  The bulk of the package came together within 24 hours the...

This is obviously late in coming.  I'm posting it because I think it provides good information and analysis.  The May Revise only partly changes Gov. Brown's Budget Proposal for Adult Ed.  We need all the help we can get in understanding the possible ramifications of it. Also, whatever happens or has happened in Adult Education these last six years, I imagine some day some graduate student or educational policy academic or historian will put it under a magnifying glass.  I certainly hope they do.  When that happens, blogs like this one will be important digs. Hit the link to read Jeff's analysis. Details of Governor’s Adult Education Proposal Made Public Mar 13th, 2015 | By CATESOL News | Category: Advocacy , News Jeff Frost By JEFF FROST —When the governor’s 2015-2016 state budget was unveiled in mid-January, adult education advocates were encouraged to see that it contained $500 million per year in ongoing funding to develop...

From left to right, Bruce Neuberger, George & Kristen Pursley Cynthia Eagleton At the 2015 Network for Public Education Conference in Chicago , Kristen Pursley, Bruce Neuberger, and I presented a panel entitled, "The Battle for Adult Education." The Conference was deep and powerful. An AEM post on the conference is coming soon.  Cuts and reform in California Adult Education are part of a larger puzzle affecting every piece of Public Education in the US.  To understand what is happening in Adult Education in California - and to influence it in a positive direction - we need to understand what is happening elsewhere - and we need historical context. Historical context is what Kristen provided at our panel discussion.  Kristen is a lead ESL teacher at West Contra Costa Adult School.  She is a founding member of COSAS - Communities Organized to Support Adult Schools, a group that formed in response to the cuts six years ago and has met w...