Something new called Regional Consortia.
What is that?
To understand, let's start at the beginning.
In the past, there were two providers for Adult Education:
K12 Adult Schools like ours and Community Colleges.
Mostly, Adult Education was provided by K12 Adult Schools.
In some places, like San Francisco and San Diego, Community Colleges provided it.
Then, in 2008, we had a big Budget Crisis because of problems on Wall Street (Banks and Financial Markets).
The government cut many things.
They cut money to education. They cut money for K12 Schools.
And then they told the K12 Schools, "If you need money, use the Adult Education money."
And so the K12 Schools did.
All K12 Adult Schools got smaller. Many Adult Schools closed.
Last year in November of 2012, the people of California votes yes on Prop 30.
Prop 30 was a new tax for education.
With the money from Prop 30 and with a stronger economy, there was more money.
So the Governor and the Legislature could make new plans.
In January of this year, Governor Brown said, "Let's put all Adult Education inside the Community Colleges and close the K12 Adult Schools."We worked very hard to tell the Governor and the Legislature:
Don't do this! Keep K12 Adult Schools open!
Adult Education Matters! Rebuild Adult Education!
They said, "We hear you. Adult Education matters.
We will keep K12 Adult Schools open.
But we want you to follow a new plan."
This new plan is called the Regional Consortia plan.
What is it?
First, let's look at the words:
"Regional" means for a region, an area, a place.
"Consortia" means groups working together.
So a Regional Consortia is groups working together in a certain area.
What are these groups?
These groups are
* K12 Adult Schools like our school
* Community Colleges like the College of San Mateo
* and other providers of Adult Education like Jails and Prisons and Library Literacy Programs
These groups will work together to decide
* What classes to teach
* Where to teach the classes
* Who will teach the classes.
The new Regional Consortia program will start in 2015.
This is a BIG CHANGE.
There will be many meetings and lots of planning.
What do YOU want for Adult Education in the future?
We need to know.
You can give your opinion about what you want here and here.
You can also talk to your teacher and your classmates about what you want.
Right now, Adult Education is like the catarpillar inside the cocoon.Everything is changing.
This is a good time to think about what you want for the future of Adult Education.
It is a good time to ask your classmates, friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers what they want.
We all need to think and work together.
What do we want for the future of Adult Education?
Now is the time to think about this.
(More information is coming about the money for K12 Adult Education. That is important, too!)
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