Transcript Issues in Adult Education - The Working Poor Families Project

Increasing Resources for
Adult Education
Amy-Ellen Duke
The Center for Law and Social Policy
Working Poor Families Project Meeting
State Policy Academy on Adult Education
June 2007
[email protected]
Federal AEFLA funded activities
 Adult education and literacy services, including workplace
literacy
 English literacy programs for individuals with limited
English proficiency
 Family literacy services, including between parents and
their children, training for parents so they can help teach
their children, parent literacy training that leads to
economic self-sufficiency, etc.
 FY2006 Federal AEFLA Expenditures: $585 million ($68
million on EL Civics
AEFLA Funding
 Combination of federal and state funds
 25% state match requirement (cash or in-kind)
 Bulk of federal funds distributed to states through a
formula based on number of adults 16 and older who are
not enrolled or required to be enrolled in secondary school
and who do not have a secondary school credential
 Federal funds represent about 25% of total spending
 7 states account for roughly 80% of the total state
investment in adult education
 EL/Civics funding distributed using separate formula that
takes into account immigration patterns
AEFLA Funding
 States funding comes from state general revenue,
sometimes state has counties or localities provide
funding to meet match.
 Amount of state funds varies, so per-pupil costs
vary
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Average yearly total cost per student: $812
Median yearly total cost per student: $645
Miscellaneous states (FY 2003):
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MI: $2,178, MA: $1,781, CO: $567, MS: $347
Federal Requirements related to
AEFLA Funding
 Maintenance of effort requirement on states on spending per
student and aggregate spending
 States required to distribute 82.5% of their allocation through
competitive grants and contracts to local providers based on
state-established criteria (some using performance-based
criteria)
 States may not use:
 More than 10% of funds for corrections education
 More than 12.5% of funds for state leadership activities
 More than 5% for administrative costs
Maximizing Resources
 Access other federal and state funding sources for
direct and supportive services
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Diversity of federal resources provides states with
numerous options for gathering or leveraging large
sums and can create diverse political bases of support
 AEFLA match
 Is state reporting entire match? If over 25%—can
separate money so can use more flexibly
 Explore waivers of state plan that will allow more
flexible use of money
Policies that Promote Blending and
Coordinating Funding Streams
 Brings two sources of funding that serve the same target
population together into one coordinated service activity
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Look for program legislation that allow funds to be used to
 Support basic skills development
 Provide other services that would enhance participation
(e.g., child care, transportation)
 Fund complementary services (e.g., occupational
training, pre-employment training)
 Encourage coordination with adult education
 Include same target populations as those served by adult
ed/ESL
Benefits of Blending and Coordinating
Funding Streams
 Augments funds
 Leads to contextualized learning--customization of
basic skills to support goals of both agencies
 Helps partner agency meet performance standards
(e.g., TANF participation rates)
 Allows holistic, wrap-around services
 Feds support such efforts: Interagency
Coordination Group for Adult Education includes
9 departments
WIA Title I
 Title II programs are mandatory partners
 Populations: Adults, Dislocated workers, Youth
 Basic skills instruction authorized in Title I if delivered as
part of “intensive services”: short-term prevocational
instruction or in combo with another authorized training
activity
 Illinois funding bridge programs through Title I
 When Title I funds are used for basic skills instruction,
providers are subject to employment-oriented performance
measures of Title I
WIA Title I (cont’d)
 WIA discretionary funds (15%)
Not subject to performance measures and often
used for innovation, such as career pathways,
sector strategies or partnership activities, all of
which can that include basic skills and ESL
 Challenge: Title I job training services primarily
funded through vouchers, while Title II education
services funded by contracts; can make it difficult
to jointly fund programs
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TANF
 Funds can be used to support: Basic skills instruction, ESL,
GED, wrap-around support services (child care, transportation)
 Vocational education training can count toward a recipient’s
work requirement for up to 12 months
 Basic skills and ESL are allowable in the following contexts:
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Non-Core: Education directly related to employment (GED) can
only count toward the work requirement of an adult high school
dropout or teen parent, job skills training, and high school
completion
Vocational education: Preamble to TANF regulations says: basic
skills training may be counted as vocational education training “as
long as it is of limited duration and is a necessary or regular part
of vocational education training”
Trade Adjustment Assistance
 Funds substantial training with per-worker benefits that
allow for training up to two years in length
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Participants requiring remedial ed to complete occupational
training may be eligible for an additional 26 weeks
 Pays for income support while workers are in training (up to
78 weeks, after exhausted UI)
 Allowable types of training: OJT, classroom training,
customized training, and basic or remedial ed (including
literacy or ESL)
 Gaining certification difficult; eligibility criteria narrow
Carl Perkins Act
Career & Technical Education
 Goal: Programs should integrate academic, vocational, and
technical training
 Targeted population includes LEPs and those with other
barriers to educational achievement
 Roughly 40% of Perkins funding goes to postsecondary
institutions; depends on state
 New law opportunity for states to think more inclusively
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Minnesota interpreting high school to college transitions to
include career pathways, technical skill and academic
attainment, include multiple entry/exit points, and meeting
the needs of adult learners and transitioning them to the
workforce (2 of 5 goals address adults)
Performance measures include adults
Other Federal Funding Sources
 Food Stamps Employment and Training
 Social Services Block Grant
 Community Services Block Grant
 Community Development Block Grant
 Employment and training activities carried out by
the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
 Vocational Rehabilitation
 Pell Grants
Other Federal Funding Sources
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Family Literacy
Corrections Education
Even Start (cut over 50% in recent years)
Head Start
Migrant Education: High School Equivalency Program
21st Century Community Learning Centers
Grants to States for Incarcerated Youth
Juvenile Delinquency & Delinquency Prevention (DoJ)
Refugee and Entrant Assistance
Special Education funds
State Funding Sources
 State incumbent worker training programs
Massachusetts Workforce Development Fund
 Minnesota Job Skills Partnership
 State customized training programs
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 Economic development funds
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Community Benefit Agreements can include
provisions for basic skills, ESL and GED for residents
 State elementary and secondary school department
 Postsecondary education department
State Allocations
 Many states lack stable funding for adult ed
 Fluctuations based on overall state funding
 Soft funding of many adult ed programs leads to
insecurity and lack of long-term investment
 Variety of funding formulas
 State allocations can be influenced by historical
state funding patterns for adult ed services
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Update allocation formulas regularly
Some states use different formula to distribute funds
than feds do
What Would Additional Funding Buy?
 More capacity: shorter or no waiting lists
 Higher quality, more intensive instruction
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Great variations in amount spent/pupil; some states
spend hundreds of dollars more per pupil
Debate over serving fewer students more intensively
(MA model), but research shows more hours lead to
greater outcomes
 Wrap-around supports
What Would Additional Funding Buy?
 More professional teaching corps
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Most adult educators are part-time (roughly 50%
nationwide), which impacts the number of hours
which can be provided and quality of instruction
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For instance, over 85% of Arizona adult ed providers
are part-time and don’t receive benefits
Most adult educators lack formal training or
opportunities for professional development
High turnover due to low salaries
State policies for expanding resources
 Pursue general increase in state funding
 Seek increase to expand particular purposes of
adult ed/ESL
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Consider targeting funding increases
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Higher quality instruction, professional development
Wrap-around supports
Serving particular populations
 Ensure basic skills/ESL an allowable use of state
training programs, such as incumbent worker
programs
State policies for expanding resources
 Support blending funding streams
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Ease interagency transfer of funds
Establish interagency practitioner workgroup to
advise state agencies on how to maximize funding