BILL NUMBER: SCR 116	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER  35
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  MAY 10, 2016
	ADOPTED IN SENATE  MAY 5, 2016
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 28, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 28, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Mendoza
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen,
Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh,
Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Patterson, Quirk,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, and
Wood)

                        MARCH 1, 2016

   Relative to adult education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SCR 116, 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.




   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.