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Shared with permission rom Kristen Pursley's Save Your Adult School blog: Write Governor Brown Now to Request More Funding for Adult Schools Posted on February 5, 2017 by kpursley In January, Governor Brown released a proposed 2017-2018 budget that, once again, fails to provide any additional money for California’s adult schools.  The  amount of the Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG), which now provides the only state funding for adult schools, is still $500 million, the same amount that was provided when the block grant was created two years ago.  Of the $500 million provided by the AEBG, only $350 million is earmarked for adult schools.  The state spent $750 million on adult schools before the financial crash of 2008.  If the budget passes with the amount of the AEBG unchanged, 2017-2018 will mark the ninth year that adult schools have gone without an increase in their state funding, which is their largest and most important source of funding.  Of...

COSAS - Communities Organized in Support of Adult Schools - arose in response to the cuts and closures of Adult Education that began in 2009.  They meet weekly for years and now meet monthly.  Kristen Pursley is the founder of COSAS and writes the Save Your Adult School blog.  Here, with her permission, are meeting notes from a recent January 30, 2017 COSAS meeting.  They contain excellent suggestions on how to respond to changes in Federal policy that affect Adult Education and the communities we serve. These notes can be found in this Save Your Adult School blog post . Responding to New Federal Immigration Policy (Travel Ban, etc.) Teachers need to teach students how to contact their U.S. congressional representatives by phone in case they are personally affected by the new immigration policies and need help.   Representatives can sometimes intervene on behalf of constituents who are affected by federal policy.  Here is the link for finding congressional...

Kristen Pursley COSAS  Communities Organized to Support Adult Schools The following is a perspective piece from Kristen Pursley, founding member of COSAS  (Communities Organized to Support Adult Schools) and author of the Save Your Adult School Blog .   She is against charging fees for Adult Education.  She lays out her reasons for this and gives background on the topic in this letter to CCAE (California Council for Adult Education).       To: California Council for Adult Education (CCAE) Dear CCAE, As I renew my membership in CCAE, I wish to register my opposition to legislation that will lock in fees for adult school ESL and Citizenship classes.  As an ESL instructor in an adult school that has managed to survive without charging fees for these classes, I am very concerned that legislation allowing districts to  permanently charge for ESL and Citizenship  classes would greatly damage our program and shut many of our students out ...

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...

Even as things are generally improving for Adult Schools and Adult Education, yet another Adult School faces a serious challenge.  This time, it's West Contra Costa Adult School, where Kristen Pursley, author of the Save Your Adult School blog and founder of COSAS (Communities United to Save Adult Schools), works.  Other COSAS members work there, as well.   Many parts -if not all of - the Adult Ed program at WCCAS is under threat of dissolution.  West Contra Costa Unified School District serves a population where almost 60% of the kids live with one or more foreign-born parent and 25% of the children live in poverty.  ( Kidsdata.org )   I think we can safely assume Adult Education is needed.   Supporting adults with language, civic, community, and job skills directly benefits school age children .    What the heck is the West Contra Costa Unified School District thinking? Visit this Save Your Adult School bl...