National Coalition for Literacy

—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…

—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…

Even Start’s funding was eliminated as part of the CR that ended last Friday, March 18, 2011. Even Start has often been widely misunderstood and inaccurately reported as ineffective. Below is a letter from Barbara Van Horn, Reading Co-Director of the  Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and Board Member with the National Coalition for Literacy, who sets the facts straight about Even Start Family Literacy.

Action Request: To add Even Start back to the full year FY2011 Continuing Resolution, a congressional champion must advocate and negotiate for it as part of the FY2011 long-term CR negotiations. [ Read More → ]

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

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 Heidi Silver-Pacuilla

Dear All,

I want to start by saying how disheartened I am about the tragedy in Tucson, my former home base. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Congresswoman Giffords, her family and staff, and all those touched by the tragedy. Congresswoman Giffords is a dedicated supporter of adult and family literacy, visiting southern Arizona programs often and speaking out about the power of literacy for informed citizenship.

I had the honor of participating in the digital stories project at Pima College Adult Ed to which Giffords contributed, ( [ Read More → ]

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

Friends and colleagues,

We are up against a tough Congress that has strong momentum for cutting spending. Additionally, NCL heard that WIA reauthorization is likely to be one of the first items to be considered in the new Congress. Does your Member of Congress have the most recent information on adult education in your community? It’s time to update the 112^th Congress about the importance of adult education before they are faced with difficult decisions that will impact it.

Action Request:

Who: Program

…

—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…

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,…

The National Coalition for Literacy has been asked by Hill staff, “Of the NCL WIA Reauthorization Priorities, which are most important?” The answer to that question is that they are all important.

From July 19 – August 6, the National Coalition for Literacy held a guest blog discussion on Reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act—What is a priority for you? During this period, guest bloggers from the Coalition wrote about why each NCL WIA reauthorization priority is important and invited comments from the field.

Substantive discussions resulted over multiple weeks about why these are priorities for the…

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…

Update: January 2011: The National Coalition is updating its WIA Reauthorization Priorities for 2011. Check back here and on the main website in early February for updates.

During July 19 – August 5, 2010, guest bloggers from the National Coalition for Literacy have shared their thoughts with you as to why each of the NCL WIA Reauthorization priorities are important. Many readers have posted timely, relevant, and thought provoking comments in response. But are all of your priorities for WIA reauthorization on the Coalition’s list?

For easy reference, here are links to all articles on…

. . . along with a hold harmless provision so that no state sees any reduction in its current funding level as a result of this change.

—An NCL WIA Reauthorization Priority

Article by John Segota

The demand for adult ESL programs has been growing dramatically in the U.S. for many years, however the funds distributed under WIA Title II – the largest federal funding program for adult ESL – are calculated based on the number of adults without a high school diploma. Although all adult English learners are eligible for WIA Title II programs, according to the following…

—An NCL WIA Reauthorization Priority

Article by Art Ellison,  Policy Committee Chair,  National Council of State Directors of Adult Education

An annual federal appropriation of at least $1 billion for adult education would represent the lowest possible figure that would indicate a serious commitment to the needs of undereducated adults in this country. The state grant appropriation level of $614 for FY11 contained in the budget submitted to Congress by the Obama administration would need to be increased by Congress to $386 million in order to reach the $1 billion level for next year.

A [ Read More → ]

Join Members of the National Coalition for Literacy for an online discussion of reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act, July 19 – August 6, 2010. Using the NCL Priorities for WIA Reauthorization as a springboard for discussion, comment on the priorities that are important to you and why, discuss the issues with guest bloggers, add your own priorities for WIA reauthorization, and vote on issues most important to you. During National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, NCL will share your comments and questions with legislative staffs over WIA reauthorization.

To participate: Visit the [ Read More → ]

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…

The National Coalition for Literacy requests immediate action now on Appropriations for Adult Education and Family Literacy:

Action: Please call, email, or fax your two Senators with this message:

“Please increase funding for adult education to at least $750 million to provide services to potential students placed on waiting list for services.”

Talk about the need and demand for services in your area. Share the 2009-2010 NCSDAE Adult Student Waiting List Survey and discuss the waiting list numbers in your program or

…

Did you go to Conference? Share what you learned on public policy and advocacy so other adult literacy advocates can benefit from your ideas. Advocacy is a team effort! Tell your colleagues who stayed home to bookmark this space and watch for updates.

If you did not go to Conference, this Blog offers a way you can benefit from the conference afterwards. Session handouts you can download are now available! Just click on the title of the session that interests you and you will find the handouts linked there. Share your comments/questions for any of the…

Popularly known as the “Policy Panel” that has drawn over 400 participants each conference, this preconference provides you an exclusive opportunity to interact with panelists for an in-depth look at the federal legislative issues. National adult education leaders will update you on federal legislative developments in adult education and related areas. Then join roundtable discussions led by panelists, examine how policy affects practice, and target policy change in areas that concern you most. Create a plan; bring it home.

Monday, March 15, 8:30 – 11:30 am

Boulevard C

Panelists:

• Jeff Carter, Policy and Government Affairs Director, ProLiteracy
• Art Ellison,

…