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PAACE member, adult and continuing education staff, student, and partner support is needed to ensure quality education programs continue and grow. Click on the links below to learn more about the issues and how you can be involved. Appropriations - Your action is needed now! Advocacy Resources
To combat the Governor’s recommendation of a $500,000 cut in the state appropriation for adult and family literacy, each organization received postcards to send to their legislators. In addition to this, each organization is urged to invite their legislators to visit their program or speak at a recognition or graduation event. On March 25 and 26, the Senate Education Committee held a hearing on appropriations (which includes ABLE). In addition to my being there as legislative chair, Jeff Woodyard (Tri-County OIC) and Dr. Lori Fair (HACC) both from chairman’s Senator Piccola’s district attended the hearing. A question regarding the Governor’s recommendation to cut ABLE funding was asked of Secretary Zahorchak. The response was that the program is valuable; however, it is a difficult budget year. How you can help:
Pennsylvania Tuition Relief Act Under the Pennsylvania Tuition Relief Act announced as part of the Governor’s 2009-10 budget proposal, all incoming students who qualify and seek to attend state-owned or community colleges would pay what they can afford in accordance with established financial aid practices. Every family will pay at least $1,000 a year for each child in college. Tuition relief would start this fall for incoming freshmen and reach nearly $550 million by the time the program is fully in place. It would be funded through revenues collected from the legalization and regulation of video poker, which is already widespread in bars and clubs across
PAACE is urging the Pennsylvania state legislators to ensure that the Pennsylvania Tuition Relief Act passes to make college tuition more affordable for every Pennsylvania family earning under $100,000 a year. It will help more than 170,000 students once in place, while putting a college degree within reach of 10,000 students who otherwise would be unable to afford tuition. PAACE has created an online petition and is urging you to sign the petition and ask your students, volunteers and community partners to also get involved. How you can help:
Federal appropriations update:
Therefore, a major push is occurring with Senator Specter (since he is on the Appropriations Committee) and all Congresspersons to increase appropriations to $750 million for FY 10-11. Senator Specter is already an advocate for the hold harmless and has co-signed a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education expressing his concern. Please email or write letters and fax them to your Congresspersons urging the increase in the federal appropriation. To date, Pennsylvania Representatives Brady and Fattah from Philadelphia have signed a Dear Colleague letter using this increase. How you can help:
Thanks to your efforts, PAACE has been successful in advocating for support of adult and continuing education issues. Do you have an advocacy success story? Email PAACE Legislative Chair JoAnn Weinberger at weinberger@centerforliteracy.org
PAACE Legislative Committee Documents
Find your Elected Officials Below are links to help you identify your elected officials: State (PA) Elected Officials Federal (US) Elected officials Pennsylvania Appropriations and Leadership Committee Lists PAACE Western Region Representative Alex Down has compiled a list of Pennsylvania Appropriation Committee members and Leadership Committee members. Elected officials on this list are often critical to our advocacy efforts. Check this list to see if your local elected official is on this list. If he or she is not, it is still important for you to educate him or her on the importance of adult and continuing education services. If you notice any errors, please email: adow@gplc.org.
To view and print PDF documents, you will need the FREE Adobe Reader. National Coalition for Literacy Launches Online Advocacy Toolkit
Containing dozens of resources, facts and reports provided by member organizations of the NCL, the Advocacy Clearinghouse and Toolkit is a “one-stop shop” for all advocates interested in improving adult education. This project has been generously supported by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, which invests millions of dollars each year in literacy programs that help individuals reach their full potential. The NCL is a national adult education leadership organization comprised of member organizations and adult education professionals, committed to promoting adult education and literacy, family literacy and English language development in the US. For more information about the Toolkit, contact Jennifer Maloney, NCL Director, at: jennifer.maloney@ncldc.net or Jackie Taylor, website developer at Jackie@jataylor.net. This page was last updated on April 5, 2009 |
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