Funding Cut for Adult Literacy

ProLiteracy Worldwide pledges resources, staff to protect adult reading, math, and ESL programs

Syracuse, NY
December 18, 2007

The president of the world’s largest organization of adult basic education and literacy programs today stated that a nearly $10 million reduction in federal funds for adult literacy is “unacceptable.”

David C. Harvey, president and CEO of ProLiteracy Worldwide, said the $9.8 million cutback in state grants for adult basic and literacy education included in the Omnibus spending package Congress is set to finalize today is particularly devastating since the House and Senate conference committees had agreed to increase spending for adult literacy for the first time in seven years.

ProLiteracy originally supported an increase of $25 million for adult education and literacy programs the House included in its version of the spending plan for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Department. The House and Senate compromised on half that amount in committee and both sides passed the appropriations bill that included the $12 million increase. President Bush followed through on a promise to veto spending bills that were not within his requested spending levels and Congress failed to override his veto.

“I don’t understand how it is possible to go from a $12 million increase in spending to a cutback of almost $10 million,“ Harvey said. “It’s devastating for the thousands of adults who are on lists waiting to get into programs who were hoping that 2008 might be the year they finally get help. Policy makers are saying that, while they won’t leave children behind, they are willing to leave the parents of those children behind.”

The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy estimated that 30 million people over age 16 in the U.S. read so poorly they cannot understand a newspaper story written at the eighth grade level, complete a job application, or fill out a bank deposit slip. Last year’s $563 million budget funded service to less than 3 million people. The Omnibus spending package includes just $554 million for FY 2008.

Harvey said the news is particularly heartbreaking because representatives from ProLiteracy and its member programs were on Capitol Hill in early November to visit with legislators and to ask for funding support. “Many of those on Capitol Hill were adult students who talked about how much better their lives are now that they’ve learned to read, to write, to do math, or to speak English as a second language,” he said. “They came away feeling that telling their stories would make a difference.”

Harvey said the continued disregard for adult learners is the reason behind ProLiteracy’s plans to open an office in Washington, DC this month.

“I am pledging that ProLiteracy will devote the staff and resources needed to turn this situation around,” he said. “We are going to pull together our members, adult learners, and others in the adult literacy field to create a unified voice for adult literacy that cannot be ignored,” Harvey said.

ProLiteracy also is disappointed by the more than $15 million decrease in spending for Even Start, which Harvey said helps “the nation’s poorest and most at-risk families improve their reading and math abilities.”