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Save Adult Education

by on Jan. 27, 2010, under Education, Life, Politics

Email alert from Literacy Volunteers of Tucson:

Literacy Volunteers logo

Literacy Volunteers logo


“Governor Jan Brewer has recommended complete elimination of state adult education funding effective retroactively to January 1, 2010. Her proposal will effectively end all future adult education state programs in Arizona.

State-funded adult education programs serve thousands of students each year who are trying to improve their skills, learn English, and earn GED diplomas. Eliminating adult education would terminate all adult education classes and GED testing in Arizona.

Facts to Know and Share:

* 795,970 adults in AZ are without a high school credential, which makes it nearly impossible to get a job or go on to further training.
* 18% of all high school diplomas issued in AZ in 2008 were GED diplomas–nearly 1/5 of Arizona’s high school graduates!
* GED instruction and testing costs an average of only $186 per student
* GED graduates earn $5,000 more per year on average, resulting in approximately $70 million additional tax dollars
* The economic impact of NOT educating the 800,000 Arizonans who do not have a high school diploma is enormous! 80% of adult education students are under 45–the backbone of Arizona’s workforce!!!
* AZ has one of the highest drop out rates in the nation. With the elimination of GED testing, AZ would likely be the only state in the country without this service.

Please Help!

* SPREAD THE WORD!! TODAY! Tell everyone you know about what’s happening.
* Call the following legislators and express your support of full funding for adult education!
— STATE HOUSE
+ Vic Williams (District 26, R) vwilliams@azleg.gov, 602-926-5839, Appropriations Committee
+ John Kavanagh (District 8, R) jkavanagh@azleg.gov, 602-926-5170, Appropriations Chairman
+ David Gowan (District 30, R) dgowan@azleg.gov, 602-926-3312
+ Frank Antenori (District 30, R) fantenori@azleg.gov, 602-926-5683
— STATE SENATE
+ Al Melvin (District 26, R) amelvin@azleg.gov, 602-926-4326, Appropriations Vice-Chair
+ Jonathon Paton (District 30, R) jpaton@azleg.gov, 602-926-3235

* Call your friends in Phoenix and Tucson. Ask them to contact their legislators about this.
* Call or write to Governor Brewer 1(800) 253-0883, or click here to contact her via her website

Can we afford NOT to invest in our state and our workforce? This is crucial for Arizona. It affects everyone.”

Note: I just called the Governor’s office toll free and you can do it anonymously as well. Those of us who are literate usually take for granted how easy and enjoyable it is to read. Literacy is fundamental to getting a good job and advancing economically in America.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Education, Life, Politics. Tags for this post: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Ferraribubba

    So Carolyn: How much deniro does the Gov. plan on saving by eliminating adult education?
    And if not adult education, what specific services can she cut what will save the taxpayers the same amount, not only in 2010, but in the long term like the elimination of adult education will do for the state?
    I’m all ears.
    Or do you have any magic bullets to solve the current budget shortfall? Arizona is already $2.4 Billion Dollars in the red . . . and it’s growing like a malignant cancer.
    Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba

  • fortbuckley

    Can we afford NOT to invest in our state and our workforce?

    Carolyn, I doubt there’s anyone in the state government who does not value adult education.  The problem is—we are about to enter a no-fooling funding crisis.  Worthwhile things will have to be cut.
    If I had to choose between adult education and funding juvenile mental health facilities, or adult education and secondary education, or adult education and aid for the indigent, I’d cut adult education.
    What would you cut in its place?

  • http://www.circleoffood.com/blog Karyn Zoldan

    Carolyn
    Thanks for posting that crucial request.
    I feel that anything worth anything is being taken away from the people who need it most.
    Education across the board is being cut from kindergarten to higher education to people who need basic skills just to survive and provide for their families.

    Fort Buckley, what to cut? Well, what about not giving hardship tax credits to Tucson Greyhound Park? Or what about taxing their simulcast earnings? Their simulcast and live racing has not been taxed since 1995. What about not rewarding greyhound breeders with $223,113 for 612 winning greyhounds in 2009? What about not funding the AZ Dept. of Racing with money from the General Fund because ADOR cannot support itself?

    I rather support GED and literacy and education, the foundation of our society than give the dog track a hardship tax credit. If you don’t believe me go to http://www.azracing.gov and look at the audit report or better yet look at the new proposed budget. I forgot to mention county fair racing is also heavily funded even though days have been cut as well as venues – http://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/11book1/rac.pdf

    Yep, these are the places I would start cutting not education.

    • Ferraribubba

      Hey Karyn: That’s a good start. Now we need Carolyn to climb down off her soap box and provide us with some cold, hard figures to go along with her blazing retoric.
      For instance Carolyn, how much does Adult Education cost the taxpayers of Arizona each year?
      And you, Karyn: What would the combined per year savings be if the Gov. implemented your proposed closing of the Greyhound Racing State Tax loopholes?
      I hate to say it, but with the powerful Greyhound Racing Lobby providing our faithul state legislators all these wonderful perks, gifts, and such, I can’t see them killing the goose that lays the preverbial Golden Egg. Do you?
      Whether they be democrat or republican, they’ve all got their grubby little hands out.
      It’s for the same reason that Obamacare at last report, is failing, or has failed to pass.
      All the little private, dirty deals that were made to buy YES votes from the political whores who had signs hanging around their necks that read, ‘THIS VOTE FOR SALE’
      Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba 
       

      • http://greyhoundinjuryfund,wordpress.com Karyn Zoldan

        Here’s an article that describes TGP’s long standing tax haven.
        http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/tax-haven/Content?oid=1197700
        I don’t have the figures but this is a special interest group that gets perks. Unfortunately, there’s no GED and literacy lobbyists or they would get perks too.

        • Ferraribubba

          Hey, thanks Karyn. I sure do miss the Tucson Weekly.  –  Bubba

      • Carolyn Classen

        Response from Literacy Volunteers: “Probably the best response to this question is that the adult ed line item is $4.5 million and that would be the savings.  However, the federal government matches the State money with $11 million.  If AZ eliminates the $4.5 the feds will send nothing!!!!  So, this cut is actually a net loss of $6.5 million.”
        Betty Stauffer, LSW Executive Director, Literacy Volunteers of Tucson 2850 E Speedway Blvd.Tucson, AZ 85716phone: (520) 882-8006fax: (520) 882-4986http://www.lovetoread.org

        • leftfield

          I would imagine though, that the $11 million from the federal government is money that can only be used in the Adult Ed. program, not money that can be added to the general fund or used to reduce the budget shortfall.  True?

    • fortbuckley

      OK, Karyn—sold. Will that cover the costs for adult education?

  • leftfield

    As always, the burden of the economic downcycle will be borne by working people.  Their will be lip service paid to how we all need to pitch in, but if you look at things, the investor class is actually doing quite well right now.  The welfare of the capitalist class will be assured by their government in Phoenix which will talk about how we will “make AZ business-friendly”.  At the end of this downcycle, the working class will be a little worse off than they were before this began and capital will continue to migrate upward.  Then the cycle will repeat itself as it has again and again in our history. 

    • Ferraribubba

      Hey Lefty: In my lifetime, I’ve discovered that there are two different types of  ‘working people.’
      Those who invest part of their earnings in planning for the future, and those who live for the now, hoping that FedGovCo will provde for them in their old age.
      Take the Little Lady for instance. After taking 2 out of every 3 dollars we (I) had been able to earn and save in the first 40 years of my life, including our house, the condo on Maui, our savings accounts, and the rental house, it took her and her new husband less than a year to go throgh everything and end up living in a single-wide, living on food stamps and borrowing $20 dollars from me at my son’s funeral, which I paid for in full.
      Me? I just kept plugging along, working my 6 to 7 day weeks. 12 hours a day, doing the best that I could to gain back what I had lost, saving every nickel that I could, looking towards the future.
      And when TEP had it’s BIG financial troubles, and it’s stock went down to less than $2.00 a share, what did Ferrari Bubba do?
      Yea, yer right, I bought every damn share that I could get my grubby little hands on, while the ‘Live for the now’ people went out and bought a new car, boat or motorcycle and had a ball.
      About 6 months ago Gannett, the pirates who own the Tucson Citizen was trading for less than $3.00 a share on the NYSE.
      After working for those frugal, (no, cheap) bastards for a decade, I knew that the stock was way undervalued at that price.
      So again, I bought a few thousand shares, and yesterday it closed at $16.15 a share. Hold or sell?
      A much better decision than the Little lady is making on whether it’s going to be the tuna  hamburger helper tonight or the mac and cheese to go along with her thrift store day-old bread.
      Get it?
      So it’s the working stiff’s choice. Be responsible for your own life . . . or let FedGovCo do it.
      Big Brother is looking out for Big Brother and those who feed him. Not you and me, the Little People who just pay taxes.
      Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba

  • Ferraribubba

    Last Add: How our system REALLY works . . .
    Say I’m a representative in Congress, and the Goat-herders contribuite to my re-election kitty, but the Sheep-herders don’t. 
    Naturally, I’m going to work hard for my benifactors, the Goat-herders, to get them all the tax breaks that I can.
    The Sheep-herders? Who?
    It’s just that simple, folks. One hand washes the other. Get it?
    That’s how our system really works in 2010. Any retorts out there?
    Yer pal, Ferrari Bubba

    • radmax

      This is shocking news FB. I’m gonna get on the horn to my senator right now and see if he can change this sorry state of affairs to something we can all believe in…damn goat-herders.

    • leftfield

      So you prefer goats to sheep, FB? 

  • concerned educator

    At current funding rates, the state supplies about $4.6 million a year for adult education services which is then matched by $11 million by the feds. Even with the huge deficit, $4.6 million is a drop in the proverbial bucket and it would deny almost 3 times that much to come into the state. Seems penny wise and pound foolish to me.

    • leftfield

      It only seems foolish if you come from the point of view that the ruling class prizes an educated population.  The budget crisis must seem like a golden opportunity for anti-working class elements to advance their agenda a little faster and a little further than otherwise would be possible. 

  • AZ teacher

    Cutting adult ed will only deepen our deficit. It will cost us more in the long run if we eliminate the GED.  It is the only entry point into immediate employment and job training.  80% of jobs require at least a GED.  70% of welfare recipients and 65% of the state prison population don’t have a high school diploma.

  • james

    if you don’t want these cuts, where then? everyone’s pet project can’t be saved.

  • http://www.lovetoread.org Betty Stauffer

    A teacher from Pima College Adult Education visited AZ Rep. Vic Williams (Dist. 26) last week, who gave her a lecture on how GED is a “want” not a “need” in our state. That maybe those drop-outs need to “dig ditches and clean bathrooms for a while.” Vic is a GED grad himself. What do you think about that? vwilliams@azleg.gov 602-926-5839.

  • Carolyn Classen

    Thank you Betty for informing us that state House Rep. Vic Williams of LD 26 is a GED recipient.  Then he is definitely someone that needs to hear from constituents about the value of a GED degree and Adult Education as well. His website has no personal background data:
    http://www.azleg.gov/MembersPage.asp?Member_ID=26&Legislature=49#bio

  • Carolyn Classen

    Open house today (3 to 6 p.m.) of Literacy Volunteers of Tucson, 2850 E. Speedway (west of Country Club), phone 882-8006. If you want more information about this agency and adult education, please drop by. 

    300 people rallied yesterday at El Rio Learning Center in support of continued funding for Adult Ed and GEDs.  Read the Star article: http://www.azstarnet.com/news/local/education/college/article_6a916c6f-76e4-5cb3-b8e3-c1f37538bcf8.html

  • http://assistedadultliving.net/ Assisted Adult Living

    Joy and sorrowfulness are mixed in the same manner, good proverb are used in this blog. Give more pictures related to this topic.Best of luck

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