Pennsylvania
From LiteracyTentWiki
February 15, 2005
This is PA's plan of attack. The alert below has been e-mailed to all PAACE members. Last week was the PAACE Midwinter Conference. All in attendance were "fired up," and just waiting for guidance as to next steps.
JoAnn Weinberger
Legislative Chair, PAACE and President
Executive Director
Center for Literacy
LEGISLATIVE ALERT
PRESIDENT BUSH'S PROPOSED CUTS TO ADULT EDUCATION AND EVEN START
GET INVOLVED NOW!
As you may know by now, the President's proposed fiscal 2006 budget calls for a reduction of state grant funds for adult basic education and literacy from $501 million (Fiscal 2005 level) to $131 million. It calls for no reduction in the $68.5 million funding pool for English Literacy/Civics that is a subset of the state grant funds. If Congress meets its deadline for finalizing the 2006 budget of September 30, the budget will go into effect on July 1, 2006. The President's proposal also eliminates funding for Even Start, but level funds the National Institute for Literacy and National Leadership Activities.
For Pennsylvania, the funding cut would be 75.1%, from $19,212,919 to $4,785,399. This requires a massive, sustained response, one that articulates the growing outrage over the decision to attempt the destruction of the adult education system in this country. This campaign will start with 19 PAACE members who will become point persons for each of the 19 U.S. representatives. Would you like to become a point person? Please e-mail JoAnn Weinberger at weinberger@centerforliteracy.org . Your assistance is needed for this initiative. These "point persons" will work with the local programs to encourage that everyone participates.
To fight this recommendation and inform the Pennsylvania delegation that this should not be enacted, PAACE has formulated a multi-pronged approach. As you do these things, please e-mail JoAnn and tell her what you did and with whom you communicated.
1. Letters to Senator Santorum, Senator Specter, and Representatives . Every program is asked to send 35 letters to each of these three individuals. See a draft letter below. 2. Postcards. PAACE will be pre-printing postcards so thousands can be sent or hand-delivered to the local legislator's office. 3. Visits. Congresspersons will be in their home office February 22-25, and March 21-April 1. Call now to schedule a visit. Take a businessperson and a learner. 4. Invitations to be guest speakers. Do you have a recognition event or graduation this spring? Invite your legislator. 5. Telephone calls. 6. Student Writings. You may want to use the following prompt: "What would it mean if your class (or tutoring program) was cancelled?" Gather these writings together and send them to both senators and your representative. 7. Letters to the Editor-a draft will be forthcoming
Do you need information on who your representative is? Go to:
http://www.house.gov, type in your Zip+4 digit zip code (e.g., 01234-5555) and
click Go. If you do not know your Zip+4 digit zip code, go to
www.usps.com and click on Find A Zip Code.
Addresses for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senators:
Senator Rick Santorum
511 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-6324 (phone)
(202) 228-0604 (fax)
Go to the website: www.santorum.senate.gov and there is a link for e-mails
Senator Arlen Specter
711 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington DC 20510
(202) 224-4254 (phone)
(202) 228-1229<nr>
arlenspecter@specter.senate.gov
TELEPHONE CALL SCRIPT:
When you call, you will likely talk to either an aide or someone answering the telephone who is keeping a tally of the calls they receive on this issue. You may only have time to identify yourself and state your position against the cuts so be sure to do that first.
Give your name and address.
Say you are a constituent and a registered voter.
Say you are calling because you are against the President's proposed cuts for adult education and Even Start in the FY2006 budget, and you want the adult education funding to be maintained.
If you have time, say why adult education is important to you.
Student stories are very persuasive. They can talk about how adult education has made a difference in their lives, e.g., helped them get a job or a better job, become a taxpayer, obtain a high school credential, or obtain health insurance for themselves and their family.
Teachers can talk about individual student stories or their own commitment and passion for adult education and why it's important to the community, the state and the country.
Administrators can talk about how many individuals are served annually by their program, the goals that students achieve, how the federal funds leverage state and local support, and the importance of adult education.
Volunteers can talk about why adult education is important to them, and why they donate their valuable time to teach someone else in their community.
Board members or businesspersons can talk about why the program is important.
LETTER WRITING SUGGESTIONS:
Follow the suggested telephone script outlined above.
Whenever possible, mail and fax your letter. The fax will get there immediately, and mailing your letter will increase the volume of letters that your Representative receives.
DRAFT LETTER:
Subject: Maintain funding for Adult Education and Even Start
Dear
I am writing to oppose the proposed cut to adult education and Even Start and want the funding to be restored to its current level.
As a __________(administrator, teacher, board member, volunteer, businessperson, learner), I know first hand of the importance of these programs.
[insert a couple sentences from personal experience].
Please do not destroy the adult education system. These programs are needed in my community.
Sincerely yours,
Name
Address
Do you have questions about this process? Please let me know.
JoAnn Weinberger
PAACE Legislative Chair and President
Executive Director
Center for Literacy
weinberger@centerforliteracy.org
February 23, 2005 3:32:50 PM EST
Classroom lessons are being built around funding issues. Senator’s Specter’s appropriations aide will be visiting a program tomorrow.
The following Letter to the Editor was submitted to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, and with minor changes in statistics to the newspapers in Delaware County, Pennsylvania and southern Jersey:
NO ONE LEFT BEHIND
The budget proposed by President Bush on February 7 is nothing short of a tragedy for millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Philadelphians.
Much has been said – pro and con - about the Administration’s “No Child Left Behind” initiative. At the Center for Literacy, while we applaud the apparent philosophy of that effort, we experience, every day, the many adults who have been and who are being “left behind.” These people – our friends, neighbors and coworkers - should not be discarded for the sake of budgetary expediency. The real irony of the proposed budget is that – for the educational piece – it is based on wrong data.
For 36 years the Center for Literacy has been providing adult education and family literacy services to the people of the Philadelphia area. We have served tens of thousands of adults by giving them the educational and job related tools they need to realize their dreams. In Philadelphia, 1 of every 3 citizens reads at or below the 8th grade level and nearly 10% of adults have less than a 9th grade education. This is not exclusively an urban problem. In Delaware County 13.5% of the population over age 25 has less than a high school diploma.
One of the Philadelphians who came to the Center for Literacy to get a GED has been quoted as saying, “Not having a formal education, I felt like I was in a closed room. Today, having a formal education is like being in a room where the windows of opportunity are open and the view is endless.” That window will be slammed shut unless our legislators fight for changes in the proposal. We know from experience that our legislators will only fight if we give them a reason to do so.
The proposed budget would cut more than 75% of the adult education funding available to Philadelphians who seek to improve their lives by getting a GED or high school diploma; who seek to learn the language and culture of their adopted country; who seek to get a job or a better job by acquiring the basic workplace skills they were never taught; or who seek the literacy skills to be better equipped to teach their children. There is an economic and a social price to be paid by leaving these thousands of men and women behind again.
The Even Start Program, a cornerstone of family literacy, that is eliminated in its entirety in the proposal, is a successful program that provides children under age 8 with the basic skills needed to achieve academic success and parents with the skills they need to be competent and effective teachers of their children.
The budget, as proposed, effectively kills the American Dream for thousands of men and women. It leaves in place the insurmountable barrier of low literacy for individuals and families struggling to achieve self sufficiency.
The decision to drastically cut the funding for adult education and eliminate Even Start Family literacy Program was based on incomplete data that inaccurately portrays the effectiveness of the programs.
Every politician at every level, every citizen, every employer should do everything in their capacity to see that the proposed budget is changed sufficiently to insure that no one is left behind.
JoAnn Weinberger
President
Center for Literacy
March 3, 2005
In Pennsylvania, the Governor's office has included literacy among the issues it is addressing with our DC congressional delegation. Also, state legislators have heard enough about the issue that they are requesting information on the impact of the proposed federal cuts on PA's adult education services.
Rose Brandt
