<>Dear Colleagues, NCSDAE recently worked with Senator Reed’s office on a sign-on letter requesting increased funding for the Adult Education State Grant Program in FY17. Senators Reed and Blumenthal have circulated the text below electronically to members of the Senate. (A version on letterhead will be produced once they have obtained signatures.) We invite you to contact your Senators and ask them to sign on to the Reed/Blumenthal letter requesting funds for Fiscal Year 2017 for the Adult Education State Grant Program. Deadline is March 15th. Thanks! > March 17, 2016 > > The Honorable Roy Blunt The Honorable Patty Murray > Chairman Ranking Member > Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Subcommittee on Labor, Health and > Human Services, and Education Human Services, and Education > Senate Committee on Appropriations Senate Committee on Appropriations > Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510 > > > Dear Chairman Blunt and Ranking Member Murray: > > As your Subcommittee considers the Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations bill for the Department of Education, we urge you to adequately fund the Adult Education State Grant Program. Building on the increase in funding for Fiscal Year 2016, we ask that you continue to take steps to move the funding level closer to the authorized level of $635 million included in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2014. > > Adult education programs are a crucial component of ensuring our economic competitiveness. More and more, middle-class and family-sustaining jobs require education beyond high school. Yet, according to U.S. Census data, 14 percent of adults over the age of 25 have less than a high school diploma. The Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) reported that an estimated 36 million adults in the U.S. have low skills –nearly one in six have low literacy skills and one in three have low numeracy skills. Furthermore, U.S. adults today perform at the same or lower levels than they did in the 1990s. These basic skills are not only related to economic and employment outcomes, they are also correlated to better health and social well being. > > There has been a long-standing underinvestment in adult education, with severe consequences. Adult education programs struggle to meet the demand for services. There are waiting lists in virtually every state. At current funding levels, the system serves only 60 percent of the number served in 2001 and only five percent of the eligible students nationwide. Spending on federal adult education has declined by 25 percent in real terms since 2002. If we are to remain globally competitive, we must invest in our adult education system. > > The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act made important changes to the adult education programs, ensuring that adult education programs are aligned with job training and postsecondary education, supporting the professional development of adult educators, offering technical assistance for adult education providers, and strengthening the research and evaluation of best practices in adult education. > > A meaningful funding increase would help leverage needed resources for adult learners. We urge you to work towards increasing funding to the authorized level of $635 million for Fiscal Year 2017 for the Adult Education State Grant Program. > > Thank you for your consideration of this important request. > Jeff Carter — President, National Coalition for Literacy http://national-coalition-literacy.org General Contact Info — jcarter@literacypolicy.org or jeffcrtr@gmail.org Personal Twitter: @jeffcrtr | literacypolicy.org Cell: (202) 374-4387

Colleagues, Thanks to everyone who has reached out to their Senators and asked them to sign the Reed/Blumenthal letter on adult education funding. This follow-up message is a plea aimed at everyone else — especially if you don’t typically make these kinds of calls — to do the same. The deadline is March 15. In addition, those of you who are member organizations or associations, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could get the word out through your networks. Here is a link to the letter: http://www.ncsdae.org/category/advocacy-alerts/ Senate contacts: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Here is why I think this is so important, and why I’m hoping even those of you who don’t often make these calls will do so this time. First, this is the only letter I know if that is solely aimed at increasing adult education funding, not as part of a larger request. To generate attention for adult education, we need to show that members of the Senate care specifically about the adult education program. And make no mistake: these letters from Senators — and the number and diversity of signatures — are noticed by appropriations staff. Bruce Evans, the Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Appropriations, reiterated this point at a CEF meeting this past Friday. Secondly, it’s important to demonstrate to Sen. Reed and his staff that his efforts on our behalf are appreciate and that we can drum up support when asked. Sen. Reed has been a constant champion of us in the Senate — we need to make our best effort to show him that these efforts are important to us. Rallying other members on the Senate to sign on to this letter is an important way to do that. Let me know how I can help. Thanks, Jeff > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Jeff Carter <jcarter@literacypolicy.org> > Subject: [NCL Members] Reed Sign-on Letter > Date: March 3, 2016 at 12:12:13 PM EST > To: National Coalition for Literacy Members List <members@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org> > > <>Dear Colleagues, > > NCSDAE recently worked with Senator Reed’s office on a sign-on letter requesting increased funding for the Adult Education State Grant Program in FY17. Senators Reed and Blumenthal have circulated the text below electronically to members of the Senate. (A version on letterhead will be produced once they have obtained signatures.) > > We invite you to contact your Senators and ask them to sign on to the Reed/Blumenthal letter requesting funds for Fiscal Year 2017 for the Adult Education State Grant Program. Deadline is March 15th. > > Thanks! > > > > >> March 17, 2016 >> >> The Honorable Roy Blunt The Honorable Patty Murray >> Chairman Ranking Member >> Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Subcommittee on Labor, Health and >> Human Services, and Education Human Services, and Education >> Senate Committee on Appropriations Senate Committee on Appropriations >> Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20510 >> >> >> Dear Chairman Blunt and Ranking Member Murray: >> >> As your Subcommittee considers the Fiscal Year 2017 Appropriations bill for the Department of Education, we urge you to adequately fund the Adult Education State Grant Program. Building on the increase in funding for Fiscal Year 2016, we ask that you continue to take steps to move the funding level closer to the authorized level of $635 million included in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2014. >> >> Adult education programs are a crucial component of ensuring our economic competitiveness. More and more, middle-class and family-sustaining jobs require education beyond high school. Yet, according to U.S. Census data, 14 percent of adults over the age of 25 have less than a high school diploma. The Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) reported that an estimated 36 million adults in the U.S. have low skills –nearly one in six have low literacy skills and one in three have low numeracy skills. Furthermore, U.S. adults today perform at the same or lower levels than they did in the 1990s. These basic skills are not only related to economic and employment outcomes, they are also correlated to better health and social well being. >> >> There has been a long-standing underinvestment in adult education, with severe consequences. Adult education programs struggle to meet the demand for services. There are waiting lists in virtually every state. At current funding levels, the system serves only 60 percent of the number served in 2001 and only five percent of the eligible students nationwide. Spending on federal adult education has declined by 25 percent in real terms since 2002. If we are to remain globally competitive, we must invest in our adult education system. >> >> The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act made important changes to the adult education programs, ensuring that adult education programs are aligned with job training and postsecondary education, supporting the professional development of adult educators, offering technical assistance for adult education providers, and strengthening the research and evaluation of best practices in adult education. >> >> A meaningful funding increase would help leverage needed resources for adult learners. We urge you to work towards increasing funding to the authorized level of $635 million for Fiscal Year 2017 for the Adult Education State Grant Program. >> >> Thank you for your consideration of this important request. >> > > > Jeff Carter > > — > President, National Coalition for Literacy > http://national-coalition-literacy.org <http://national-coalition-literacy.org/> > > General Contact Info — > > jcarter@literacypolicy.org <mailto:jcarter@literacypolicy.org> or jeffcrtr@gmail.org <mailto:jeffcrtr@gmail.org> > Personal Twitter: @jeffcrtr | literacypolicy.org <http://literacypolicy.org/> > Cell: (202) 374-4387 > > _______________________________________________ > National Coalition for Literacy Members mailing list > Members@lists.national-coalition-literacy.org > To unsubscribe: http://lists.national-coalition-literacy.org/mailman/listinfo/members_lists.national-coalition-literacy.org