Chapter 7: Workforce
Consolidate Responsibility
for Adult Basic Education
Summary
Basic adult literacy is critical to the improvement of Texas’
workforce. Adults without basic skills cannot take advantage of more advanced
training provided by government or businesses. Texas should optimize its
literacy resources by linking its literacy programs to the Texas Workforce
Commission’s (TWC’s) workforce development system. All adult basic
education programs should be housed at TWC to ensure their full integration with
local workforce development boards.
Background
State law defines “adult basic education” essentially as high
school-level classes taught to people above 16 years old, the age at which the
state no longer can require a person to attend school. One Texas Education
Agency (TEA) administrator has described the purpose of adult education as the
teaching of basic reading, writing, and arithmetic, and contrasted this with
workforce training, which is geared toward specific jobs or
industries.[1] This highlights the difference
between the philosophies of TEA and the Texas Workforce Commission
(TWC)—should adult education teach only basic skills or should it include
specific job skills?
At present, both TEA and TWC administer adult literacy programs, or adult
basic education (ABE). ABE programs at TEA focus mostly on academic literacy,
while those at TWC focus on vocational or workforce literacy. Both
agencies focus on a number of distinct, individual programs, each of which
targets a specialized facet of adult education.
TWC’s strategic plan for implementing the federal Workforce Investment
Act notes that the state’s historically fragmented approach to service
delivery resulted in duplicated services, wasted resources, and a lack of clear
accountability standards. This statement resulted in legislative efforts in 1993
and 1995 that created the Human Resource Investment Council and the Texas
Council on Workforce and Economic
Competitiveness.[2] Efforts to reduce waste in
the system have begun, but overlap and other problems persist—including a
lack of fundamental agreement on the goals of adult education programs.
While TWC views all of its programs as addressing the needs of the
state’s workforce and employers, TEA continues to insist that adult
education programs should not be held accountable for workforce
outcomes.[3]
Literacy and Wages
In 1998, more than half of Texas’ welfare recipients and almost half of
its food stamps recipients lacked a high school
diploma.[4] According to a 1993 Texas Adult
Literacy Survey conducted by the Educational Testing Service, between 27 and 28
percent of Texas adults—about 3.5 million—fall into the lowest level
of literacy, as determined by the following definition: “being able to use
printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s
goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.” Furthermore,
just under 50 percent of the poor or near-poor adults in Texas rank in the
lowest level of literacy.[5]
In 1979, the average college graduate earned 38 percent more than the average
high-school graduate. Today, the differential is 71 percent. Less-educated
workers of all racial groups—particularly men—are falling behind in
earnings. Real wages for men without post-secondary education have declined
significantly over the past 20 years. Men with only a high-school degree have
seen their real wages fall by nearly 20 percent since 1979 (from $679 per week
to $559), while the wages of men without a high-school diploma have fallen by
almost 35 percent (from $555 per week to
$383).[6]
And the number of job applicants who lack the basic skills for the job they
seek is increasing, according to the American Management Association’s
most recent annual survey on workplace testing. More than 38 percent of job
applicants tested for basic skills by US corporations in 1999 lacked the
necessary reading, writing, and math skills to perform the jobs they sought. The
share of applicants lacking basic skills has risen from 22.8 percent in 1997.
However, these results were interpreted to mean not that the workforce has
become less skilled, but that employers’ expectations are rising. Only 5
percent of companies that test applicants hire workers with literacy problems
and then offer some form of remedial
training.[7]
Another survey by the National Association of Manufacturers and Grant
Thornton LLP concluded that 30 percent of the companies responding to the survey
found applicants lacking in adequate, writing, and reading comprehension
skills.[8] According to a Coopers and Lybrand
study, 69 percent of US employers in 1999 reported that skill shortages were a
barrier to growth, compared to just 27 percent in
1993.[9]
Forty years ago, 60 percent of the national workforce was unskilled; by 1997,
less than 20 percent were working at unskilled jobs, while more than 60 percent
were skilled workers. The fastest employment growth will be in those jobs that
require some post-secondary education.[10] By
2006, nearly one in three jobs in Texas will require some college training.
While a large number of jobs require only short-term, on-the-job training, the
number of those jobs is not growing nearly as fast as higher-skill
jobs.[11]
Therefore, it is important that Texas create and maintain an adult basic
education program teaching literacy skills that pertain to job opportunities and
workforce needs. This would ensure that limited funds are used to reach the
highest number of potential workers and give them the skills needed to succeed
in the workplace.
New accountability systems required by the federal Workforce Investment Act
must be implemented or the state may lose revenue; yet the uncoordinated nature
of Texas’ current programs makes it difficult if not impossible to
establish uniform administration and accountability. TWC is the logical agency
to coordinate adult education programs and monitor the connection between
literacy and job success. The agency already contracts with 28 local workforce
development boards appointed by local elected officials to administer most of
the state’s workforce development programs.
Recommendation
State law should be amended to move adult basic
education programs from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to the Texas Workforce
Commission (TWC).
This would provide a sharper connection between literacy training and
employment and increase the ability of local workforce development boards to
meet the needs of participants with basic skill deficiencies. Other types of
literacy programs, such as English as a Second Language and high school
graduation equivalency certificates, should remain within TEA.
Fiscal Impact
This recommendation seeks neither to cut programs nor staffing, only to move
them to a more appropriate jurisdiction. It should require little or no
additional state expenditure.
The following funds should be transferred from TEA to TWC for the
administration of adult basic education programs:
- TEA was appropriated $40,021,086 in each year of
the 2000-01 biennium for Strategy B.2.5, “Adult Education.”
- Additionally, Rider 39 of TEA’s
appropriation directed that a minimum of $2 million be spent to provide services
to welfare recipients in each year of the biennium, and that $6.1 million in
fiscal 2000 and $6.5 million in fiscal 2001 be directed to adults who receive
federal cash assistance.
[1 ] Interview with Paul
Lindsey, coordinator for Continuing Education, Texas Education Agency, Austin,
Texas, July 5, 2000.
[2 ] Texas Workforce
Commission, Strategic Five-Year State Workforce Investment Plan for Title I
of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and the Wagner-Peyser Act As Authorized
by USDOL, State of Texas for the period of July 1, 1999-June 30 2004
(Austin, Texas, April 12, 1999), p. 16.
[3 ] Interview with Paul
Lindsey.
[4 ] Texas Education Agency,
Texas State Plan for Adult Education and Family Literacy, July 1, 1999
through June 30, 2004 (Austin, Texas, April 12, 1999), p. 10.
[5] Texas Education Agency,
Texas State Plan for Adult Education and Family Literacy, July 1, 1999
through June 30, 2004, pp. 6, 9.
[6 ] US Department of Labor,
Futurework: Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century
(Washington, DC, September 6, 1999), executive summary
(http://www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/futurework/execsum.htm).
(Internet document.)
[7 ] American Management
Association, “US Corporations Find Prospective Employees Lack Basic
Skills,” New York, New York, May 26, 2000.
(http://www.amanet.org/research/specials/lackskl.htm).
(Internet document.)
[8 ] National Association of
Manufacturers, “The NAM Annual Labor Day Report – The State of
Today’s American Workforce and Keys to Prosperity Tomorrow,”
(http://www.nam.org/hrp/ldRept899.htm). (Internet document.)
[9 ] Robert I. Lerman and
Felicity Skidmore, Helping Low-Wage Workers: Policies for the Future
(Urban Institute, Washington, DC, August 1999), p. 6
(http://www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/futurework/conference/low-wage.htm).
(Internet document.)
[10 ] US Department of
Commerce, US Department of Education, US Department of Labor, and the National
Institute of Literacy and the Small Business Association, 21st
Century Skills for 21st Century Jobs (January 1999), pp. 1, 4
(http://www.vpskillsummit.org/bestprct.asp). (Internet document.)
[11] Texas Workforce
Commission, Strategic Five-Year State Workforce Investment Plan for Title I
of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and the Wagner-Peyser Act As
Authorized by USDOL, State of Texas for the period of July 1, 1999-June 30 2004,
pp. 14-15.
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