National Coalition for Literacy

By Jackie Taylor with Ellen Fern and Heidi Silver-Pacuilla

Advocacy Groups Meet Deadline to Comment on the Senate’s Discussion Draft of the Workforce Investment Act of 2011

Last week, the National Coalition for Literacy met the Senate’s June 17 deadline to submit feedback on the Senate Discussion Draft of the Workforce Investment Act of 2011. The Coalition’s feedback, as well as feedback submitted by several Coalition Member organizations, is available here on the NCL Advocacy Blog. …

By Washington Partners and Jackie Taylor

Advocacy Updates

WIA Reauthorization

On Thursday, June 9, the Senate released a discussion draft of Title I of the proposed Workforce Investment Act reauthorization for stakeholder comment. Titles II – VI are being released separately over the next several days. The National Coalition for Literacy is analyzing the draft and preparing recommendations to submit to the HELP Committee staff by this Friday, June 17. To ensure you receive a copy of NCL’s recommendations, subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed or follow us on…

By Jackie Taylor and Ellen Fern

On Thursday, June 9, the Senate released a discussion draft of Title I of the proposed Workforce Investment Act reauthorization for stakeholder comment. Titles II – VI will be released separately over the next several days.

The National Coalition for Literacy is scheduling calls to organize a strong response from NCL Members and to prioritize our top recommendations. We believe the draft bill will be introduced next Wednesday, June 15, and the deadline for comments back to staff is Friday, June 17. While the Senate HELP Committee has…

Adult Education’s Latest on the Hill

By Washington Partners and Jackie Taylor

FY2012 Appropriations

On May 20, the House reached its deadline to submit its programmatic funding priorities to Chairman Rehberg (R-MT), as reported in NCL’s May 22 Update. This was a quick turnaround for signatures, and advocates did well in calling attention to this opportunity to their House Members. Final Copy of Roe-Hinojosa Letter

Several of you received commitments from your House Member to sign on, but given the time constraints…

—Education Advocates Stay Vigilant, Engaged

By Washington Partners and Jackie Taylor

ESEA Reauthorization

With the House of Representatives in recess, Capitol Hill was relatively quiet last week. Before leaving town for a district work period, House Education and the Workforce Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chair Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced the first installment for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which would make good on one of the first Republican promises regarding reform of this law—making it smaller and less costly. The bill repeals the authorizations…

—Budget and Appropriations Update and Action Alert

By Ellin Nolan and Jackie Taylor

Friday the 13th. It always has an ominous ring and, for education advocates, given last week’s events, this day was no exception. On Wednesday, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) announced…

By Washington Partners

Six and a half months into the new fiscal year, the President received from the Congress the FY2011 budget. After months of partisan wrangling and the passage of no fewer than 7 continuing resolutions (CR), the House and Senate adopted a budget plan this week that cuts spending by $37.6 billion below FY2010. The majority of those cuts for the Department of Education (ED) came from small programs that direct funds to specific entities which are now considered earmarks. An across the board cut of 0.2 percent, however, means that even the Individuals…

—A Budget, Appropriations, and Advocacy Update

By Jackie Taylor and Ellen Fern

FY2011 Appropriations

Congressional leaders agreed late Friday to a compromise that will keep the federal government funded for the remainder of the fiscal year—averting a government shutdown less than an hour before it was set to start. They also passed a short-term resolution that would fund the federal government through Friday, April 15.

By passing  a new, one-week extension, both chambers were given the time to work out the legislative language for a final agreement to cut an…

By Jackie Taylor and Ellen Fern

FY2011 Appropriations Update—Is it Over Yet?

The 6th short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) will expire on April 8th.  Early reports indicated that talks between the House and Senate were not going well and that a government shutdown was more likely. However, today’s new development reveals a tentative agreement on a package that cuts an additional $23 billion compared to current funding, $33 billion compared to FY2010, or a total of $73 billion compared to President Obama’s FY2011 budget proposal.

Speaker Boehner had directed the Appropriations staff to…

—Week in Review on Budget and Appropriations

By Washington Partners

Events in Japan and Libya, a presidential trip to Latin America and a congressional recess period took the Fiscal Year 2011 budget debate out of the headlines this week. Regardless, it was not far from the minds of nervous education advocates who fear deep cuts in spending for the Department of Education in a final FY 2011 budget agreement. The 6th continuing resolution (CR) is now in effect and will expire on April 8th. Finding common ground between the Republican-led House of Representatives, the…

By Washington Partners

It was Groundhog Day once again in the Nation’s capital this week. First the House of Representatives and then the Senate passed a 6th Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep funds flowing to all government agencies. This CR will expire on April 8th. On the one hand, it prevents a government shutdown while negotiations continue. On the other hand, running the richest country in the world on a budget that changes every week seems a bit reckless. CR number six cuts another $2 billion per week from the total that the government would…

By Washington Partners

A headline in Friday’s POLITICO was enough to give even the wonkiest of education advocates a headache: “Tired of Budget Debate? It Has Only Just Begun.” Say it isn’t so! After 6 months of non-stop wrangling, this week the Senate finally took two budget votes that leadership had hoped would help “reset” the FY 2011 budget debate.

First, the Senate rejected the House-passed HR 1, a bill that would slash education spending by 15% and come in at $61 billion less than the spending plan submitted by the President a year ago February.…

By Washington Partners

Bad budget news for education funding just kept on coming this week on Capitol Hill. Unable to agree on a budget for the remaining months of FY 2011 and in order to avert a government shutdown, the Congress opted for a two week extension—with a catch. The House-drafted bill cut $4 billion in spending—the prorated share of the $60 billion cut that they had approved the week before—and insisted the Senate take their medicine. With no debate and only a handful of Democratic objections, the continuing resolution (CR)…

By Jackie Taylor and Washington Partners

Advocacy

The following alerts are live; act now on them:

• Save Even Start
• Congressional Visit Campaign

If the 2-week stop-gap continuing resolution (CR) is passed without changes to Even Start, then Even Start will be eliminated. In addition to calling your legislators to save Even Start, it is critical that we get all Members of Congress to visit adult education and family literacy programs while they are back home. Congress has scheduled Constituent Work Weeks each month for legislators to travel back…

By Jackie Taylor

I have a few more policy advocacy updates for you this week:

• House Adult Literacy Caucus
• COABE Meets With Key Staff on the Hill
• Next Steps

House Adult Literacy Caucus

On Wednesday, February 9, Congressman Hinojosa (D-TX) joined Congressman Phil Roe (R-TN) to co-chair the bipartisan House Adult Literacy Caucus. National Coalition for Literacy Members were in DC to welcome Congressman Hinojosa to the Caucus and hear the Caucus co-chairs’ plans for moving forward. The Congressmen set a goal of having 100 House Members to join the Caucus this year; they plan to have…

By Jackie Taylor

President’s Budget Proposal

On Monday, February 14, the President released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2012. “Within a constrained fiscal environment and a five-year freeze on discretionary spending, the budget proposes a $7.5 billion, 10.7% increase in overall discretionary spending for programs in the Department of Education ($2 billion (+4.3 percent) excluding Pell grants),” according to the Committee on Education Funding. While there are also many program reductions and eliminations in the budget, the Adult Education State Grants are funded at…

By Della Cronin, Washington Partners

As the March 4th expiration date for the continuing resolution (CR) approaches, Members of Congress are finally getting down to the business of writing a budget for FY 2011. Though the Senate remains in a “wait and see” mode, Republican leaders in the House announced that overall spending for the fiscal year that began on October 1, 2010 will be reduced by $43 billion– 9.3% below the previous year. The new allocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education budget is slightly better—a cut of 7.3% below the amount…

By Jackie Taylor with Washington Partners Ellen Fern and Ellin Nolan

I am pleased to welcome Washington Partners Ellen Fern and Ellin Nolan as public policy consultants with the National Coalition for Literacy. Not only will they bring much needed information and strategic recommendations to the Coalition for advancing adult education, they are also well-known and respected in education circles on the Hill.

Washington Partners has provided the budget and appropriations update below. Read it carefully. Several key factors are coalescing in Congress that will critically…

By Jackie Taylor

We have the important task ahead of us for 2011 in educating a new Congress, protecting adult education and family literacy funding at the federal level, and advocating for the priorities we want to see included in a new WIA reauthorization bill.

Here are 11 ways you can recommit to adult education advocacy for 2011. Take our poll in the right column (scroll down) to select your top three:

1. 5 Minutes, 5 Alerts: Commit to responding to 5 alerts on adult education issues in 2011. The

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—A Public Policy Update on Adult Education and Literacy, Part III

By Jackie Taylor With Heidi Silver-Pacuilla and John Segota

The DREAM Act was passed last week in the House and the Senate is expected to vote on it, with amendments, before the 111th Congress ends. The Migration Policy Institute has just released revised total and state-level estimates of the unauthorized youth and young adults who might be eligible for conditional legal status. Grassroots groups, like the National Council of LaRaza, the [ Read More → ]

—A Public Policy Update on Adult Education and Literacy, Part II

By Jackie Taylor

For those of us who work in adult education and literacy, it’s no surprise that many of our programs have waiting lists of adults who want to improve their basic skills or learn English. In a recent Washington Post article, community colleges now also face similar demands: Adults want new skills but…

—A Public Policy Update on Adult Education and Literacy

By Jackie Taylor

Adult education and literacy impacts a host of critical issues that face our nation: jobs and the economy, health care, immigration, poverty, families and children’s education, to name just a few. We can help change these issues for the better by advocating for more effective public policies that support adult education and literacy.

As the lame duck session nears a close, I’ll share public policy advocacy updates in parts.

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Part I of V: Jobs and

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—A Public Policy Update on Adult Education and Literacy, Part IV

By Jackie Taylor

December 13, 2010 Update: Congressman Roe is the sole chair of the House Adult Literacy Caucus. He will be continuing on the Education and Labor Committee and reports that he is happy to continue sponsoring the caucus. His staff have asked NCL for recommendations for a co-chair and we are currently working now to secure a co-chair. We hope to have positive news to report soon.

November 23, 2010 Update: Congressman Dan Maffei formally conceded on Tuesday, November 23 to Republican Ann Marie Buerkle,…

By Jackie Taylor

Vote! Key Legislators and Midterm Elections

Several key legislators who support adult education are up for re-election. See Midterm Elections: what are they? What is at stake?. On page 10, Art Ellison, NH State Director and NCL Executive Board Member, discusses what adult education advocates should know for the coming election. He also lists key House and Senate Members running for re-election.

If you haven’t yet, see Project Vote Smart’s “Vote Easy” website. Vote Smart is a non profit, non-partisan organization helps you sort…

By Jackie Taylor

Appropriations

Members of the Senate voted 69-30 on Tuesday evening, September 28, to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep government operating until Dec. 3.

The House passed a CR  on Wednesday and Congress is on recess until after the November 2 elections. They are expected to be back the week of November 15, then on recess for the week of November 22, and return the week of November 29 until the 111^th Congress is done.

Congress passes a CR when appropriations bills are not passed by October 1,…

By Jackie Taylor

Appropriations

The Senate Appropriations Committee (Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies) markup for FY11 (S. 3686, Senate Report 111-243) is now available and reflects the President’s budget request for adult education. The full House committee markup is not yet available and contacts on the Hill have indicated that we may not see an appropriations bill until after December or January.

WIA Reauthorization

A Senate bipartisan team is finalizing a draft WIA reauthorization bill and anticipates that it will…

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…

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,

…

By Marsha L. Tait and Jackie Taylor, Public Policy Committee Co-Chairs

It’s been a busy spring for the National Coalition for Literacy! Congress was on recess for two weeks but resumed session April 12. Following is a report of NCL’s latest public policy activities.

Appropriations

The House and Senate appropriations sub-committees have been accepting outside witness testimonies; the National Coalition for Literacy submitted testimony to both. Copies of the NCL testimonies are now online. Additionally, Senators were to submit their appropriations requests for FY11 to Appropriations Chair Inouye…

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

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