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Public Policy and Advocacy Update, July 2010

Date: July 19, 2010

By Marsha Tait and Jackie Taylor

National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week—Thank You Congressman Polis!

June and early July have been deceptively busy in the public policy arena!

For the second consecutive year, Congressman Jared Polis has led the U.S. House of Representatives in passing bipartisan legislation (H Res. 1472) supporting the designation of the week of September 13, 2010 as National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. The resolution, authored by Congressman Jared Polis, recognizes the importance of adult education and family literacy programs to the success and well-being of those who strive to improve their and their children’s education. This National celebration coincides with the NCL Literacy Leadership Award event in Washington DC.  Congressman Polis has also requested a Presidential Proclamation that week.

NCL will issue ideas and suggestions to help you to plan your public awareness activities during National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week.  Please share any ideas that you have now on the NCL Advocacy Blog to help others begin planning their activities.

Thank you to Congressman Polis for leading the effort, and to the twenty co-sponsors of this legislation:

Rep. Gary Ackerman [D-NY]	Rep. Dan Maffei [D-NY]	Rep. John Sarbanes [D-MD];
Rep. Judy Chu [D-CA]	Rep. Mike McIntyre [D-NC]	Rep. Bobby Scott [D-VA]
Rep. Raul Grijalva [D-AZ]	Rep. Michael H. Michaud [D-ME]	Rep. Joe Sestak [D-PA]
Rep. Ruben Hinojosa [D-TX]	Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton [D-DC]	Rep. Vic Snyder [D-AR]
Rep. Michael Honda [D-CA]	Rep. Collin C. Peterson [D-MN]	Rep. Zach Wamp [R-TN]
Rep. Dale Kildee [D–MI]	Rep. Chellie Pingree [D-ME]	Rep. John Yarmuth [D-KY]
Rep. John Lewis [D - GA]	Rep. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan [D-CNMI]

Thank you also to the 369 House Members who voted 369-0 to pass the resolution.

See the House floor debate on designating National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. Advance the view screen below to 7:40 on the clock. Congressman Loebsack [D-IA] speaks at 8:30 and Congressman Guthrie speaks at 11:34.

Appropriations

Senate:

On July 29, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved without change the Labor-HHS-ED Subcommitte mark for FY 2011 spending. Adult education state grants are at $653,661,000, up $14M from 2010. We confirmed from a reliable source that Even Start was zeroed out in the Senate, as it has done in the last several years.

House:

On July 15, the House subcommittee marked up its version of the Labor H spending bill. The complete program-by-program table was not made available.  We’ve also been informed that neither the complete table, draft bill nor the committee report will be released until after full committee markup.  The full committee markup has not been scheduled. The summary table that was released did not indicate amounts for adult education, but we have heard on good authority that the amount is the same as the President’s budget proposal. We have also heard that Even Start is included in House subcommittee mark for $66M.

Thus far it appears that both the House and Senate are at the President’s proposed levels for adult education, which is $14M over the 2010 appropriations, including the WIA innovation fund. But for adult education state grants, this would be $16M less than 2010 as 2010 included a one time amount to correct for a funding calculation error from 2003-2008. We will keep you posted as appropriations moves forward.

WIA Reauthorization

We are hearing that reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act is not likely to happen until after the Congressional election in November, and most likely not until next year.  However, Congressional Committee staff have been at work on drafting bills, and many members of the Coalition report providing information, data, and ideas to inform this effort.

Earlier this year, members of NCL issued a list of priorities for WIA reauthorization. What are your thoughts on WIA reauthorization priorities?  As of today, you can participate in an on-line discussion of the NCL’s priorities on the NCL Advocacy Blog.  National adult education experts have written articles on the various priorities and have agreed to be “guest bloggers” for this three-week discussion.  Ask your questions and exchange ideas with the experts by visiting the blog.  And while you are there, you can participate in a poll and rank the NCL priorities according to your point of view.  You will see the results of your participation, and others’, immediately!

Grassroots Advocacy Networks

The NCL Advocacy Toolkit and Blog are constantly updated with new information and resources to support your advocacy work at the federal, state, and local levels. Case studies of effective advocacy networks are under way and will be added this summer.  If you feel your advocacy network has been effective at mobilizing the field and changing public policies, please contact Jackie Taylor at jackie@ jataylor.net and she will coordinate with you about featuring your network in the NCL Advocacy Clearinghouse and Toolkit.

NRS Reform

Coming soon:  Earlier this month, NCL convened a task force to vet a short list of recommendations for revision of the National Reporting System.  The NCL Public Policy Committee has reviewed and deliberated the recommendations, which will go out to the Voting Membership for approval shortly.  Assuming approval and adoption by the NCL Board of Directors, these recommendations will be shared with the Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education and Congress.  Look for the recommendations on the NCL Advocacy Blog.

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Related Posts

» In Case You Missed It: The Education Week in Review
» You Did It! Elevating Adult Education & Family Literacy During SOTU
» National Coalition for Literacy Reports Live from the White House During SOTU
» State of the Union Address—Official Kickoff of the Budget and Appropriations Season
» Going Against Common Sense: Denying Undereducated Workers UI Benefits

Tags: Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, advocacy, AEFL Week, Grassroots Advocacy, News, NRS reform, office of vocational and adult education, public policy, reauthorization, WIA

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• 

  Jackie Taylor

  in August 8th, 2010 @ 22:37

  The following update is from Jeff Carter re: Senate Appropriations Committee Mark Up:

  Here is the relevant report language from the Committee re: adult education/OVAE:

  “The Committee recommends $653,661,000, the same as the request, for adult education. The comparable fiscal year 2010 funding level is $639,567,000.

  Adult Education State Programs.—For adult education State programs, the Committee recommends $612,315,000, the same as the requested level. The comparable fiscal year 2010 funding level is $628,221,000. These funds are used by States for programs to enable adults to acquire basic literacy skills, to enable those who so desire to complete a secondary education, and to make available to adults the means to become more employable, productive, and responsible citizens.

  The fiscal year 2010 appropriation for this program included $45,906,000 to distribute to States that did not receive their full allocations in fiscal years 2003 through 2008 due to an administrative error. Not counting that, the Committee recommendation is $30,000,000 above the base fiscal year 2010 level.

  The Committee recommendation continues the English literacy and civics education State grants set-aside within the adult education State grants appropriation. Within the total, $75,000,000 is available to help States or localities affected significantly by immigration and large limited-English populations to implement programs that help immigrants acquire English literacy skills, gain knowledge about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and develop skills that will enable them to navigate key institutions of American life. This set-aside was proposed in the budget request.

  National Leadership Activities.—The Committee recommends $41,346,000, the same amount as the budget request, for national leadership activities. The comparable funding level for fiscal year 2010 is $11,346,000.

  As requested by the administration, the Committee recommends designating a portion of the appropriations for adult education to create a workforce innovation fund to make competitive awards for workforce innovation activities under the program’s national leadership activities authority. These activities are intended to test innovative strategies or replicate proven practices including strategies or practices that support systemic reform of the workforce investment system to substantially improve education and employment outcomes for participants. The Committee recommendation includes bill language designating $30,000,000, the same as the request level, for this new fund.

  To support alignment at the Federal level, the Committee expects that Secretary to make such awards in cooperation with the Secretary of Labor. Priority should be given to applicants that demonstrate significant alignment across education, workforce development, and supportive services at the State, regional, or local level, and that support economic development goals and improved education and employment outcomes for participants. Awards should also prioritize applicants that demonstrate comprehensive strategic planning and coordination at the State, regional, or local level. The Committee directs that the Department provide a briefing to the Committee not less than 30 days prior to the release of a solicitation of grant applications for this program.

  Under national leadership activities, the Department supports applied research, development, dissemination, evaluation and program improvement activities to assist States in their efforts to improve the quality of adult education programs. The Committee strongly encourages the Department to identify and disseminate successful strategies and best practices that will assist community-based organizations that utilize adult literacy volunteers to support the Department’s career pathways initiatives. This further encourages the Department to implement strategies to increase participation by community-based organizations that utilize trained volunteers in State and national training and technical assistance programs. The Committee requests a report on the success of those strategies by April 1, 2012.”

  In addition to the above, there was language in the section related to the Department of Labor that mentioned adult literacy specifically:

  “The Committee remains concerned about the low level of literacy and numeracy skills among adult workers, as one in seven adults do not have basic literacy skills to succeed in tomorrow’s industries and jobs. The Committee encourages the Department to continue to examine and publish successful strategies and best practices that can help adults with low literacy levels improve their overall skills and employment opportunities.

  The Committee recognizes the importance of building stronger linkages between title I job training programs and title II adult education and literacy programs in the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 in order to create career pathways that enhance participants’ long-term economic success. The Committee strongly urges the Department to expand funding to community-based programs that have successfully implemented strategies for delivering basic literacy instruction together with employment training so that they may document and disseminate best practices related to the integration of title I job training programs with title II adult literacy programs.”

  For what it’s worth, I also noticed that the Senate appropriation for the Workforce Innovation Funding of $242 million is $80 million below the President’s request — but not at the expense of adult education, where they included the $30 million dollars that was requested.

  Jeff

  [Reply]

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