CRUSHING

CALIFORNIA’SADULT EDUCATION

“Visible” Education in CA• UC System• CSU System• Community Colleges (credit)• pre/K-12 ― CA Dept. of Education• Private and charter schools

Adult Education = Invisible

Invisible→Easily “Disappeared”

• Low public awareness• Low status• Low priority assigned• Low funding per student

Adult Education Is Publicly Subsidized under Dual Systems

Noncredit Programs• Agency: CA

Community Colleges

• Local Boards of Trustees

• Free; available at some colleges but not all

Adult School Programs• Agency: CA Department of

Education• Local School Boards • Charge small fee for

registration• Many school districts are

closing these programs

Noncredit Throughout CA

• 23 Community

College Districts have

significant noncredit

headcount (# or %):

San Francisco

North Orange

San Diego

Rancho Santiago

Santa Barbara

Glendale

Allan Hancock

Mt. San Antonio

South Orange

Copper Mountain

Rio Hondo

Pasadena

Sonoma

Merced

Gavilan

Monterey

Cerritos

West Valley

Palomar

Mt. San Jacinto

Los Angeles

Southwestern

Coast

Little or No Noncredit

Significant Noncredit Program

But Only 1/3 of 72 Community College DistrictsHave Significant Noncredit Programs

Adult School Availability

• CA Dept of Ed has about 333 adult schools /about 950 K12 districts

• In the past two years, more than 32 schools have been CLOSED

• At least 44 have lost OVER HALF their funding

Same Subjects Taught in Both Systems

• ESL • Career Techical• Basic Skills/HS/GED• Citizenship

• Older Adults• Parenting• Disabled• Health & Safety• Home Ec/ Consumer Ed

Diverse Students Served

• Alternative access point to credit• Higher % people of color than CA• Higher % immigrants than CA• Lower income• At-risk students such as high school dropouts,

single parents, referrals from justice system

Some agricultural and conservative counties have few adult education opportunities, e.g.:

• Kern County• San Joaquin County• Riverside County• Sacramento County

Need Also Urgent in Cities

Los Angeles County has 1.7 MILLION poor

Alameda County has 200,000 poor

Even “wealthy” SF has 100,000 people below federal poverty level!

Wrong Direction, Folks…

Year Adult Ed Enrollment

State Population

ParticipationRate

1950 1,000,000 10,000,000 1 in 10

2008 2,000,000 36,000,000 1 in 18

2012 1,000,000 37,000,000 1 in 37

Budget Cuts→ Unacceptable Choices

• Education for adults OR education for children?

• How shall we ration education?

Real Choices

• Do you want to educate the families in your community OR not educate them?

• Provide intellectual opportunity for all persons OR accept ignorance?

Rationing intellectual stimulation, access to knowledge and skills

Who shall receive basic educational opportunities that support human life and

dignity? Who shall be denied?

Believe the Myths of Falling Demand?

• “There is less need, less demand for adult education now”

• “The need is for ages 18-24, university education”

• “After 9/11/01, ICE stopped the flow”• “Immigration is at net zero”• “Mexicans have returned to Mexico”

These are the facts

• The very competitive University of CA serves 200,000 lucky students―Adult Ed served 2,000,000 students until it was cut 50%

• Adult ed is open access, education for all

• Credit students have great need for basic skills and many, discouraged by failure, drop out

Incentive to Replace with Credit

Credit

Noncredit CDCP

Regular Noncredit

$4,564.83

$3,232.07

$2,744.96

Funding Rate Per FTE Student

California Should Be Expanding, Not Defunding, Adult Education

• At least 80-90% of NEED is unmet, per CDE estimates and Census data.

• At least ten million Californians need adult education.

• One million now served; that number is falling rapidly.

• For every student now enrolled, nine others in the community could benefit by enrolling.

Demand is Suppressed• With slashed budgets, adult ed programs are not

advertising and recruiting in the normal way

• Schools are not funded for increasing the number of students

• Summers, sites, schedule choices are reduced, making classes less convenient

1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 20240%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

Noncredit StudentsA Decreasing Percent of

All Community College Students

Actual

Projected

Unemployment rate nearly 11%

NEED SHOULD BE OBVIOUS ─CA’s Need for Job Training

CA’s Need for Immigrant Education

1 in 5 speaks English “less than very well”1 in 7 residents is a non-citizen

CA’s Need for Basic Education

Only about 1/2 of Latino and African American students graduate high school

1 in 5 adults lacks a high school diploma

Other Adult Education Needs

Older Adults

Parenting

Disabled

Home Ec/Nutrition

Health and Safety

Budget Cuts →Political Opportunism

• Opponents of public education were waiting to

pounce

• A global movement by multinational

corporations to steer education towards

corporate goals

Budget Cuts →Political Opportunism

• Corporate influence on education is now pervasive, strategic, well-funded, global

• A focus on ages 18-24, no lifelong learning • “Produce” BAs in an assembly-line model of

education• “High productivity”=state wants to pay less

per graduate• No “excess” learning beyond work needs

Adult Ed Mirrors Student Needs

• Classic noncredit model historically resilient

• Features effectiveness, efficiency and equity

• Open-ended, human, non-linear, iterative, organic

• With full funding, could be used to address social,

economic and educational problems

• Retaining community control is essential

Pushing back is critical!• Pushing back has made many changes in

Student Success Task Force Plan implementation

• Pushing back will be effective in getting Los Angeles (LACCD) to fund at least SOME adult schools

• Push back in your community!• Voice your support and inform others about

adult education/noncredit!