Systems & Organizations

 

There are many systems and organizations that deal with Adult Ed.  Here are some along with brief descriptions.

 

AB86 - This is the shorthand for the legislation - Assembly Bill 86 - which set the rules for the new Regional Consortia system. 

The AB86 website is a bit clunky to navigate but if you persevere you can get a lot of info. 

AB86 really did change the game and at minimum, you should read and understand the

information to the right.  Looking at that info, you can see that what will be funded through

the new Regional Consortia system is very different than what was and technically still

is defined as Adult Education by the California Department of Education.  (For more on that,

check the next category - CDE.)   AB86 has two "groups" that manage this big change and

run-up to the new system.  Both groups contain folks from both the CDE and the CCCO side.

The AB86 Cabinet "guides and oversees" the AB86 Workgroup.   The AB86  Workgroup does

the nitty gritty work of managing the funding applications,  providing information to

applicants, running Technical Assistance Webinars, and many  other things. The webinars -

and a whole lot else - is archived and available through the AB86 website, including this nice list of all the Regional Consortia and their members.  Do not assume that every locality in California is part of a Regional Consortium.  Santa Maria, for example, is not.

And for the record, "consortium" is the singular and "consortia" is the plural.  

 

 

CDE - California Department of Education.  The CDE is in charge of K12 Adult Schools. 

An elected Superintendent - Tom Torlakson - is the boss of the CDE. 

The Adult Ed page on the CDE website has many links and much info. 

California is divided into regions and each region has a consultant. 

The Adult Ed Office Staff Directory has the names and contact info of each consultant.

 

CCCO - California Community College Chancellors Office.

 

 

CCAE - California Council of Adult Education.  CCAE is the only organization which includes everyone - admin, teachers, students, staff, community.  Membership fees vary accordingly.  CCAE strongly advocated against the push to submerge all Adult Education inside the Community College system and is currently strongly advocating for secure funding for K12 Adult Schools.  The Legislative page of the CCAE website contains a record of this advocacy as well as the latest updates, strategy recommendations and the Call to Action Webinar.  CCAE Legislative Analyst Dawn Koepke attends all hearings pertaining to Adult Education, leads the annual Leg Day, and advocates for K12 Adult Schools.

 

Teachers Unions  Not all Adult Education teachers are unionized but some are.  There are 2 main teachers unions in California:  CFT - California Federation of Teachers and CTA - California Teachers Association.  CFT is the daughter of AFT - American Federation of teachers.  CTA is the daughter of NEA - National Education Association.  CFT has a range of teachers and staff- Early Childhood Ed, K12, Classified, Community College, K12 Adult School, etc.  CTA also has a wide range of teachers and staff.  Adult Ed Teachers in Los Angeles - the biggest Adult School in the State - belong to UTLA.  UTLA is associated with both CTA and CFT.  UTLA Teachers can beong to one or both of the larger unions.  Both unions operate democratically.  Locals have elected officers and there are elected officers on the state and national levels, as well. 

 

The president of CFT, Josh Peschault, and the president of CTA, Dean Vogel, sent the Superintendent of CDE, Tom Torlakson, a letter urging him to push for more teacher inclusion in the formation of the new Regional Consortia system. 

 

CFT - California Federation of Teachers   CFT has teachers who work both at K12 Adult Schools and in non-credit Adult Education programs at community colleges.  CCSF in San Francisco is a good example of the latter.  Both K12 Adult School and Community College Non-Credit teachers are on the Adult Ed Commission, which is the main vehicle for addressing Adult Ed issues in the union.   The AE Commission meets 3 times a year.  The next meeting is in Sept of 2014.   Any CFT Adult Ed member can attend but only AE Commission Reps can vote.  Locals send reps and through the reps, can send resolutions which are voted on by the AE Commission and can then move forward to be voted on by delegates at the state convention.   CFT has pushed for teacher inclusion in the Regional Consortia process and for keeping the mission full - maintaining state funding for the ten programs listed by CDE as Adult Education.   CFT Legislative Analysts have attended hearings on SB 173 and Jeff Freitas, Secretary Treasuer of CFT, spoke at the Oversight Hearing on Adult Education in January, 2014.   The CFT webpage includes a brief on recap on what happened to Adult Ed in California and a link to it was featured on the main webpage.

 

CTA - California Teachers Association

 

Note about both CFT/AFT and CTA/NEA:   Many changes are taking place in both CFT and CTA from the ground up.  You can learn more about this from the Network for Public Education or by doing an Internet search for "Chicago Teachers Union" or "Common Core and the Unions" or "Change from the Ground up in Teachers Unions" or anything similar.  At the same time, there are many changes going in the larger world in which teachers unions operate, including strong anti-union sentiment and efforts to break unions of all kinds, the Vergara Decision and the anti-tenure movement, not to mention arguments over Charter Schools, Common Core, and how much to fund (or not to fund) education.  Huge pressures - both inside and outside unions - are catalyzing fast and deep change.

 

CATESOL - California Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.  ESL - English as a Second Language - is a large part of Adult Education.  This organization is focused on how to do that as well as possible.  With the devastation to Adult Ed in California, conferences now generally include information about this situation and how to respond to it.