By TOM JOYCE
THE CENTER SQUARE
(The Center Square) – How can California improve its adult education funding model?
The California Legislature’s Legislative Analyst’s Office has some recommendations in a report it released on Tuesday.
The LAO’s office calls for a complete overhaul of the current funding system that it says would cost the same as the existing program.
For example, the LAO wants the state to set a uniform per-student rate for adult education providers rather than using different rates for adult schools and community college noncredit courses.
The state’s 300 adult schools currently receive about $525 million in state funding. However, California Adult Education Program’s funding is not based on the number of students involved in these programs. The schools are now receiving about $10,000 per student – significantly higher than what they received before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the 2018-2019 school year, adult enrollment at these schools was much higher (about 80,000 then compared to 50,000 now), so they received about $5,800 per student.
The LAO recommends that the state instead goes with the existing noncredit community college rate of $6,788 per student – similar to the 2018-2019 rate for adult schools when adjusting for inflation.
“A uniform base rate also would send clearer signals about the basic quality of programs that the state expects providers to offer,” the report says. “This, in turn, could help in establishing a consistent corresponding fee policy (discussed later in this section), treating providers and students more similarly across the state.”
The LAO also recommends that these schools eliminate fees associated with adult education. It notes that the state has a zero-fee policy for non-credit community college classes.
The LAO notes that while it thinks charging fees may result in students being more responsible because they’re making an investment in the course.
“Though some adult schools would lose fee revenue under this recommendation, the new uniform base rate per student described above would be designed to fully cover providers’ expected program costs,” the LAO wrote. “Moreover, the state would not necessarily face higher overall program costs. This is because current state funding rates per student are elevated due to recent enrollment drops not being accompanied by state funding reductions.”
Additionally, the LAO recommends that a specific amount, such as 10%, be directed to consortium-level activities at these schools.
Under the LAO’s vision, consortia would have flexibility in how the money gets spent. This includes funding for administrative and programmatic purposes, “with possible activities including regional planning, conducting student outreach, building partnerships with workforce organizations, and providing student transition services,” the report said.
“Under our recommendation, consortium members could choose to augment funding using their own CAEP allotments if they desired to undertake more of these types of activities,” it added.
