National Coalition for Literacy

By Marsha Tait and Jackie Taylor

Many irons in the fire, but will Congress get it all done before November? Updates this month include appropriations, WIA, ESEA, and TANF reauthorization, immigration reform, House resolution for dedicating Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2010, advocacy for Even Start and for including adult education in the National Education Technology Plan.

Appropriations:

Despite the fact that adult education serves approximately two and a half million of the ninety-three million adults in need each year, adult education has been nearly flat funded for almost a decade, seeing only a $7M increase from 2001 – 2009.[1]

—NCL Written Testimony to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, April 2010

In April 2010, NCL submitted written testimony to both the House and Senate appropriations committees, asking to increase adult education funding to at least $750 million for FY11. To read the testimonies, visit the NCL website’s Policy and Legislation section where they are posted online.

According to some Hill sources, a final budget is not expected until after Congress returns from their Memorial Day Work Period. As of May 15, appropriators were officially able to move forward in the absence of a budget. Appropriations committees typically start from the previous year’s appropriations amounts as a base in this situation. While we don’t know the date that the House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee will consider its spending bill, anticipate that the formal process will begin very soon. Adult literacy advocates should prepare their networks to respond to action alerts now through the summer.

WIA Reauthorization: The Senate is making progress on draft WIA reauthorization legislation. Some Hill sources report that we may see a Senate draft sometime around the Memorial Day recess. However, WIA reauthorization appears less likely to happen this Congress because of the few legislative work days left before elections. Should WIA not be reauthorized this year, Coalition Members are hopeful that the progress made thus far will give us a strong start for the 112th Congress. We should continue to push for WIA reauthorization and what we want to see in reauthorized legislation. The Coalition will hold a guest blog discussion on WIA reauthorization and more information will be announced soon.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act: It is unlikely that we will see ESEA reauthorization this year. However, staffs have been holding hearings and have invested a lot of time to advance ESEA reauthorization. The Coalition’s ESEA Task Force will resume with plans to complete a position paper soon.

Even Start: Tony Peyton issued an action alert on May 17, 2010 on behalf of the Goodling Institute and the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL). The alert requests that family literacy advocates write their Members of Congress to support Even Start as they begin deliberations on a spending bill. Organizations like NCFL, the Goodling Institute, the National Council of LaRaza (NCLR), First Focus, and others, are asking for $100 million in FY2011 for Even Start. See the full text of the alert to learn how you can help.

National Education Technology Plan: The Department of Education’s NETP does not sufficiently address adult education. Thus, Heidi Silver-Pacuilla led a Task Force of NCL Members and nonmembers [John Fleischman, Steve Reder, Tim Ponder, David Rosen (Individual Member), Marian Thacher (AALPD), Marian Fedele, and Jackie Taylor (NCL public policy committee co-chair)] to offer an adult education response to the NETP. The Task Force submitted the response to the Department of Education on April 30 as individuals (not on behalf of NCL). Heidi brought the response to the Public Policy Committee on Monday, May 3, and it was discussed on May 6 as to whether NCL should adopt the document as our own position; the Public Policy Committee reached consensus to adopt it. If Voting Members approve the document, it will then go to the NCL Board for adoption and subsequent posting on NCL websites as NCL’s position on the Ed Tech Plan, followed by outreach where appropriate.

Immigration Reform: Who would have guessed? In a surprising announcement on April 28, Senate Democrats began work on a contingency plan for pushing a Democratic-only immigration reform bill if they are unable to convince Republicans to join the effort this year, Roll Call announced. In response to this effort, the National Coalition for Literacy contacted the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV), Charles Schumer (NY), and Bob Menendez (NJ), who floated the bill to immigration groups, and to Durbin (IL) and Feinstein (CA), who would sponsor the bill under the Democrat’s plan. The Coalition also contacted possible Republican supporters of an immigration overhaul, including Sens. Scott Brown (MA), George LeMieux (FL), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Judd Gregg (NH) and Dick Lugar (IN). The NCL’s English Language Learning Policy Principles, which were sent to these offices, are posted in the NCL Advocacy Clearinghouse and Toolkit in the Current Policy Positions section. The Coalition will follow up if or as immigration reform discussions continue this year.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): 

Today, due in part to the recession, welfare rolls are rising for the first time since 1996, and the national poverty rate is at its highest level since 1997.

—Center for Law and Social Policy, February 2010

 TANF legislation expires this September, 2010. According to Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, Senior Policy Analyst with the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), the President requested in his budget that Congress extend TANF for one year, rather than reauthorize this year. This request was primarily made in light of the tough financial situation of states and a hope of rethinking some of the goals of the program in a slightly improved economic environment.

Much of the discussions have been around exploring a move toward more outcome measures than progress measures in TANF. Ms. Duke-Benfield reports that such a move would open up access to education and training because outcomes are better for recipients who increase their skills. She notes that many states are interested in this approach. For a helpful overview of many of these discussions, see CLASP’s TANF Policy Brief.

 Another big push in the TANF world is to fund the TANF Emergency Fund for another year.

Created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the emergency fund provided $5 billion in FY09 and FY10 to create summer jobs for youth, extend unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term unemployed, and more. There has been a big push by supporters this week to extend it. See Crucial Job Creation Legislation Now Before Congress, by Elizabeth Lower-Basch, for details.

Thank you to Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield for the above information on TANF. For background, see “What Is TANF?” for details.  

Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2010: The National Coalition for Literacy is working with Congressman Polis’ office requesting that Congress approve a resolution to dedicate a week as Adult Education and Family Literacy Week 2010. We learned much through last year’s process and we will need your help moving the resolution forward. Stay tuned for more details in June.

For a slice of the excitement and activities from 2009, visit the Adult Education and Family Literacy Week section of the NCL Advocacy Blog.

[1] US Department of Education Budget History