Latest Budget Victim: Adult Education - Jennifer Gollan, Bay Citizen

“We have a great need in California for adult education,” said Mike Wada, president of California Council for Adult Education, an advocacy organization that represents nearly 3,000 adult educators statewide, with offices in Huntington Beach. “This, in essence, dooms people to a life of poverty because they won’t have things like basic math and English skills.” For many, adult-education courses offer an inroad to a better job, earning power and social mobility. The result is a skilled, fluent population that boosts the state’s broader economy and cuts down on crime. But state budget cuts have created a new imperative — one that resonates with a philosophy long invoked by educators across the state: getting back to basics.