Let's take a look at the need for adult education in California and see what it tells us about priorities. According to the 2000 US Census, 2.5 million adult Californians have educational levels below 9th grade, and another 2.5 million have educational levels less than high school, making a total of 5 million people (23% of our adult population) who need adult education for literacy classes alone.
When we look at California residents' need to learn English, we see an even greater need for services. Between 1990 and 2000, 3.2 million immigrants entered California. Forty percent of Californians (12 million), speak languages other than English in the home, and 20 percent of us (6.2 million) speak English "less than very well." Clearly the need for adult basic education, adult secondary education and ESL (including ESL citizenship) is far greater than any one system is able to serve today.
With these staggering numbers, it should be clear to all of us that we need a full continuum of services for adults with low literacy levels — from FBOs and CBOs to library programs, volunteer centers, adult schools and community colleges. Our students are ADULTS. They are not mandated to go to school, and they must be able to learn at a time and place that meets their individual lifestyles and needs. Forcing a single-system governance on these servers would limit, rather than enhance, the need for a diverse continuum of literacy services, and would be a disservice to our adult residents.
We also know that issues of low literacy are intergenerational. The literacy of the parent is a predictor of the child's success in school. Adults (and their families) with low literacy are more likely to live in poverty, and are more to have health problems caused by inability to read prescriptions or follow medical instructions, or to recognize signs and symptoms of illness or injury. All of these are compelling arguments for significant investment of resources in adult education, including literacy and vocational programs, and parent education or family literacy programs.
Posted as a reply to:
SB 823 - Adult Education by Charles Ratliff 
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