At no time in the past decade has the future of adult basic education in Massachusetts been in greater jeopardy than during the recent state budget crisis. Whether through unwitting error, political miscalculation, or personal State House gamesmanship, the budget for FY02, crafted largely by Senate President Tom Birmingham and House Speaker Tom Finneran and initially passed by the state legislature on November 21, left the adult basic education system in Massachusetts literally fighting for its life. The 44% cut to the ABE line item in the Department of Education budget (they had apparently intended to cut it by 50% but were, it seems, working with incorrect figures), coming almost half way through the fiscal year, would have caused the state's entire ABE system to shut down sometime in January, giving Massachusetts the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country without an adult basic education system.
Faced with the near-total elimination of classes and services, adult basic education students, staff, advocates, and allies mobilized like never before and worked tirelessly to convince state legislators and the governor to restore funding. Thousands of phone calls and letters, along with dozens of visits by classes and groups of students to state representatives and state senators resulted in, according to many legislators, one of the largest advocacy efforts the State House has ever seen and succeeded in convincing our state's elected officials of the importance of the state's system of adult basic education programs.
In December Acting Governor Jane Swift filed a supplemental budget request that called for restoration of almost all ABE funding for this fiscal year. Later that month, acting in informal session, the legislature restored $12.5 million of the $13 million they had cut. Our success in getting most of the funding restored represents a tremendous victory for the ABE field in Massachusetts. The state's ABE system survived and programs will be able to continue on through the remainder of this fiscal year with their work in literacy, basic education, ESOL, GED, and EDP/ADP. And this much we can certainly celebrate.
Unfortunately, however, the struggle seems far from over. The state's budgetary situation is likely to get worse before it gets better, as the effects of the economic recession and the voter-approved (and governor-defended) tax cut are felt even more heavily, and legislative leaders are predicting that quite sizeable additional cuts in the state budget will need to be made in the budget for FY03, unless the economic situation improves and/or the tax cut is deferred or reduced. Given the state's recent history, no one can predict when a budget for FY03 might actually be passed, but the Acting Governor is required to file her budget proposal this month and the House and Senate each usually begin thinking about their own budget plans shortly thereafter. Will the state's adult basic education system wind up on the chopping block again? We can hope that the most recent advocacy efforts have made a strong and lasting impression upon state legislators, but it is also unfortunately true that the field cannot afford to rest for long, but must continue this educational and advocacy work for the foreseeable future.
All of us will be sorely tempted to just get back to our "regular work." And of course to some extent we must. But one way out of this bind is to begin to see this sort of civics education as, in fact, part of our regular work. Teachers can make it a part of their curriculum in all their classes, so that helping students learn about how laws and budgets get made, visiting the State House and talking with legislators and their aides, encouraging students to write and speak about the importance of adult basic education in their lives--so that all this becomes a normal and on-going part of students' education. Program administrators can see this sort of public education and advocacy as an integral part of their job description, along with applying for grants and supporting staff and all the other things that they normally do to keep their programs running. They need to work with their students, with their allies in the community, and with local media to increase public understanding of the importance of adult basic education to their students, to their children and families, and to the political and economic well-being of the community. They need to make sure that all of their local state representatives and senators have the opportunity to visit the program and to see for themselves the value of adult basic education, its impact upon the lives of students, and how crucial it is for Massachusetts to continue, and in fact increase, its support for ABE.
This recent crisis has exposed our vulnerability. We must use it as motivation for an on-going campaign to convince our legislators and the public that education should be a right of all, regardless of age, and that neither the state's adult basic education system nor its students are expendable.
Steve Reuys is Staff Development Coordinator at the A.L.R.I.