Loading ...Reactions to the President’s Proposed FY 2011 Budget
Date: February 1, 2010
Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants, National Leadership, EL / Civics, and Even Start
By Jackie Taylor, NCL Policy Co-Chair
On February 1, 2010, the President released his budget proposal for FY2011. Below is the proposed budget for Adult Basice and Literacy Education State Grants, National Leadership, EL / Civics, and Even Start, as found in the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Summary, retrieved from the Department of Education website .
Please post your comments or questions in the Comments box below.
- What are your reactions to the proposed budget?
- From your perspective, what are the implications for adult learners?
- What could this mean for adult education and literacy programs?
- What do you look forward to see happening?
- What are your concerns?
We will continue to update this Blog article as we learn more.
Thank you,
Jackie Taylor
Adult Education (Adult Basic and Literacy Education)[i]
(B.A. in millions)
2009 2010 2011Request Adult Basic and Literacy EducationState Grants $554.1
$628.2
$612.3
National Leadership Activities 6.9
11.3
41.3
National Institute for Literacy 6.5
—
—
Total
567.5
639.6
653.7
“Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants assist adults without a high school diploma or equivalent to become literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for postsecondary education, employment, and self-sufficiency. The request is $15.9 million below the 2010 level, but actually reflects an increase of $30 million in program support because the 2010 level included a one-time increase of $45.9 million to compensate certain States for errors in calculating formula grant awards between fiscal years 2003 and 2008. The forthcoming reauthorization of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), Title II of WIA, provides the Department with the opportunity to better align the Adult Education program with Federal job training programs and the postsecondary education system. The Department is preparing legislative options for reauthorization involving innovative programs that include technology, career pathways models, and high school completion models with multiple pathways.
The request for State Grants includes $75.0 million for the English Literacy/Civics Education set-aside, equal to the 2010 level, to help States and communities provide English learner adults with expanded access to high-quality English literacy programs linked to civics education. The request for National Leadership Activities includes a $30 million increase to support a Workforce Innovation Fund. These funds, along with an identical amount in Vocational Rehabilitation, would be part of a Partnership for Workforce Innovation, which encompasses $321 million of innovation funding in the Departments of Education and Labor. The Departments will coordinate to award competitive grants that would encourage innovation and identify and validate effective strategies for improving the delivery of services and outcomes for beneficiaries under programs authorized by the Workforce Investment Act. This investment would create strong incentives for change that, if scaled up, could improve the effectiveness of the workforce system. Other National Activities funds would continue support for activities intended to increase the literacy and workforce skills of our Nation’s native-born adult population, as well as the growing need to meet the English language acquisition, literacy, and workforce skills gaps of the immigrant population. The Department also would use National Activities funds to support priorities previously carried out by the National Institute for Literacy, which was eliminated in the 2010 appropriation.”
Even StartThe President has proposed to consolidate 38 ESEA programs, including Even Start, into 11 new programs as a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization proposal. Of the 38 programs, the President proposes to consolidate the following six programs into an “Effective Teaching and Learning: Literacy” unified program:
- Even Start
- Literacy through School Libraries
- National Writing Project
- Reading is Fundamental
- Ready-to-Learn Television
- Striving Readers
According to the Office of Management and Budget[ii]:
“This program, which supports projects to improve educational opportunities for children and their parents in low-income areas by integrating early childhood education, adult education, and parenting education into “family literacy” programs, would be consolidated into the proposed Effective Teaching and Learning: Literacy authority, in part due to evaluation findings that children and adults participating in Even Start generally make no greater literacy gains than non-participants.”
To see how the 38 consolidated programs crosswalk over to the 11 new programs, visit the ESEA Consolidation Crosswalk .
[i] Retrieved February 1, 2010, from the Department of Education website. Career, Technical, and Adult Education Proposed Budget Summary
[ii] Retrieved on February 1, 2010 from Terminations, Reductions, and Savings document.
