Bill Text: CA SCR116 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Adult Education Week.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 51-22-1)
Status: (Passed) 2016-05-10 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 35, Statutes of 2016. [SCR116 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SCR116-Chaptered.html
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.