Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 116

Introduced by Senator Mendoza

March 1, 2016

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 116—Relative to adult education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 116, as introduced, Mendoza. Adult Education Week.

This bill would proclaim the week of April 3, 2016, to April 9, 2016, inclusive, as Adult Education Week, and would honor the teachers, administrators, classified staff, and students of adult education programs statewide for their efforts, persistence, and accomplishments.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The week of April 3, 2016, to April 9, 2016,
inclusive, is observed as “Adult Education Week,” recognizing
the unique accomplishments of California adult schools; and

WHEREAS, The Legislature acknowledges that adult schools
that are provided by K-12 school districts offer quality programs
to meet the ever-changing economic and workforce development
and lifelong learning needs of our diverse state; and

WHEREAS, The first recorded adult education class in
California was held in the basement of St. Mary’s Cathedral in
San Francisco in 1856. The class was authorized by the San
Francisco Board of Education to teach English to Irish, Italian,
and Chinese immigrants. John Swett, who was the first volunteer
teacher for the class, later became a Superintendent of Public
Instruction; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools, which work in collaboration with
community centers and libraries, are a primary community resource
for the teaching and instruction of adult literacy; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools provide a way for adults to complete
secondary-education studies and obtain a high school diploma or
its equivalent at their own pace and to prepare for and transition
to postsecondary education and career training; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools provide critical opportunities to
bring recent dropouts back to school; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools provide instruction to those in the
state who need English as a second language and citizenship
courses and play a key role in immigrant integration and the path
to United States citizenship, which is important for our diverse
community during this time of immigration reform; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools, which recognize that we must focus
on educating parents in order to break the cycle of illiteracy and
to support educational equity for all our children, provide programs
in family literacy at elementary schools in conjunction with
community-based organizations; and

WHEREAS, Historically, adult schools have been called on to
assist the state as it dealt with significant social, political, and
economic issues, such as providing job training programs during
the Great Depression and training for skilled and underskilled
workers during World War II; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools provide short-term career and
technical training for adults seeking changes or enhancements in
their career pathways; and

WHEREAS, Adult schools offer varied, market-based education
programs to enhance the lifelong learning opportunities in the
state; and

WHEREAS, In 2015, the Legislature and Governor Edmund
G. Brown Jr. saved California adult schools from the brink of
closure by establishing the Adult Education Block Grant program
that is helping to restore access and programming for adult learners
with planning and collaboration on a regional scale; now, therefore,
be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims the week of
April 3, 2016, to April 9, 2016, inclusive, as Adult Education
Week, and that teachers, administrators, classified staff, and
students of adult education programs statewide be honored for
their efforts, persistence, and accomplishments; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.