Adult Education Can Be a Game-Changer for Families and Economy via NM Politics

Adult education can be a game-changer for families and economy

NM Politics: 6.07.2018 by Amy Lin

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#AdultEdu

Many things are a struggle in adult education — and not just from a student’s point of view. For state governments, the struggle is to fund adult education adequately and provide the necessary services, according to experts and advocates.

In New Mexico, the need is astronomical. An estimated 400,000 adults — roughly a third of the adult population — could benefit from adult education, according to the Higher Education Department (HED) and its Adult Education Division. People in this category don’t have a high school diploma, can’t speak English or have a fourth-grade skill level or below, the state says.

How many get the help they need? “We were only able to serve about 3 percent,” the HED says in its 2017 annual report.

The department’s roughly 27 adult education programs around the state served 12,755 adults between 16 and 64 years old, according to the 2017 report. It was the lowest number of people served in nearly a decade.

In 2009 and prior, before the Great Recession, nearly double that number — or more than 23,000 people — took basic education classes, studied civics or English as a second language, or studied for high school equivalency exams like the GED or the HiSet (High School Equivalency Test). Still, that was only about five percent of the people in need.

“We are dedicated to serving as many people as possible, but it is just as important that we serve them effectively,” Lida Alikhani, spokesperson for the Public Education Department, said in a written statement. The director of the Adult Education Division, Frances Bannowsky, declined to speak to Searchlight New Mexico, despite numerous requests for interviews.

State budget cuts are a continual obstacle, education experts say. And the lack of enthusiasm for adult educadtion, while particularly pronounced in New Mexico, is a problem around the country. Advocates like the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy, a nonprofit that supports community-based literacy programs statewide, have for years faced funding challenges.

Adult education just doesn’t make it on the public radar.

“We’re trying to get people to understand that investing in adult education isn’t just good for the individual — it’s good for the family, for the children, for the community and for the economy,” says Sharon Bonney, executive director of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education, a national advocacy group.  READ MORE >>