Why is California cutting Adult Education in the middle of a recession/jobless recovery?

It’s sad, but it’s possible that the most important thing I took away from today’s job fair was a news story. The Bassett Adult School rep – incredibly knowledgeable and competent, especially compared to a lot of other reps – informed me that California adult education programs are being cut across the state. Orders aren’t coming from Sacramento – instead, K-12 districts are making the choice.

Previously, adult education was a “categorical program” – a program funded separately from a district’s general fund. This system made sense, especially if some of that money came from the Feds with specific provisions.

Cue the 2009 budget. This budget gave local districts the power to exercise varying degrees of categorical flexibility, depending on the program. In other words, they would be allowed to reallocate money.

Here’s a Word doc from the Folsom Cordova Unified School District that has a summary of the flexibility rules on page 3. According to this, it seems general higher ed programs (excluding apprenticeship programs) fall under Tier 3, subject to an immediate 15% cut, additional 15% cuts over the next four years, and no restrictions on reallocating any funds previously categorized as “adult education”. (The apprenticeship programs are still subject to a 15% cut, but their funds remain intact.)

It’s politically savvy – most voters don’t hate kids directly. (Voters hate them indirectly by complaining about and fighting against property taxes, which often fund the lion’s share of a school district’s budget.) Adult Education teachers make up a very small part of the union membership of these districts, assuming they're even part of the same union.

But it’s horrible economic policy. Adult Education classes are a key component of the retraining of the US workforce. Why the hell would you cut a program that helps train new electricians and medical assistants in the middle of a recession, at a time when California’s official unemployment rate hit 12.6% in March? (For those who don't know, this does NOT include people who’ve given up looking for a job and people who are not working as many hours as they’d like. )

To be fair, I haven’t looked up the figures indicating the return on investment for adult education. My gut says it’s pretty good, and probably a lot better than, say, solar panels or LEED certified buildings. (Those are important too, but I believe job training is a higher priority right now.)

I broke the promise about short posts, but I will try to solicit discussion. What do you think? Did you hear about this story in Feb 2009 when it first came up? Have you been affected? Are other states trying this?