What Block Grants Mean for Literacy Programs

National Institute for Literacy

Policy Update

REPORT FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.

Congress Reconvenes in September to Debate Welfare and Adult Education

September 7, 1995

This will be a critical month for adult education and training policy as the Senate considers several pieces of legislation -- including workforce development, welfare, and education funding for next year -- that have already passed the House of Representatives.

Adult Education Legislation

Senator Nancy Kassebaum's Workforce Development Act, which consolidates 88 existing job training and education programs into a block grant to the states, has been folded into the Senate welfare legislation. Like almost all welfare proposals -- House and Senate, Democratic and Republican -- it has stringent work requirements and time limits for welfare recipients. The bill specifically continues the National Institute for Literacy and State Literacy Resource Centers from 1997-2002, and allows states to use block grant funds to continue other National Literacy Act programs.

Because the need among adults on public assistance for education and training far exceeds the available resources, the legislation could potentially reduce opportunities for adults who are not on public assistance to pursue such activities. Employed adults, who comprise about half the total number of adults participating in education and training activities, could be displaced by welfare recipients, given the pressures created by the welfare bill's requirements.

Sixty-three percent of recipients who remain on welfare for more than five years have not completed high school, while 62 percent of recipients on welfare for less than two years have a high school diploma or GED.

In the House, the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee passed Rep. Bill Goodling's CAREERS bill, but objections by conservative special interest groups have prevented it from being considered by the full House. It remains uncertain as to when the full House will consider the bill.

Welfare Legislation

On September 6, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 1040, introduced by Senators Bob Dole (R-Kansas) and Bob Packwood (R- Oregon), which would take effect on October 1, 1995. Like its House counterpart, it emphasizes a fundamental shift of welfare functions back to the states as a block grant. It includes the following provisions:

States must provide welfare-to work services through a state workforce development system.
Recipients can collect no more than five years of benefits over their lifetime.
Recipients must find work after receiving benefits for two years.
States would not be required to continue the current guarantee of child care for adults who have left welfare for work or who are involved in welfare-to-work activities.
States must maintain 75 percent of their 1994 level of AFDC spending for two years.
Education and training activities (except for "vocational educational training," which has not been defined) do not count towards the work requirement.

This provision is of particular concern because 1) inclusion of education and training activities could make some of the welfare funding available to adult education programs, and 2) there is a strong inverse correlation between educational attainment and the length of time a person stays on welfare.

Education Needs of Welfare Recipients

Two-thirds of AFDC recipients enrolled in the JOBS program need basic skills upgrades before they are prepared to move into the workforce as compared to the nearly 20 percent of recipients who are considered "job ready" and have at least two years' of work experience in the past five years.

The average reading level of all adults on welfare is the eighth grade level, but the average reading level among recipients ages 17-21 is below the sixth grade level.

Many long-term welfare recipients suffer from conditions -- including learning disabilities, poor physical health, depression, and substance abuse -- that pose severe barriers to success in education and training programs.

Senate Democrats have introduced an alternative welfare plan that replaces AFDC and JOBS with guaranteed temporary support for poor families. Additional funding for child care would be provided, and states would be prohibited from reducing benefits to below their 1988 level.

While there are many similarities between the Republican and Democratic bills with regard to work requirements and time limits, the most fundamental difference is that the Republican bill would end the federal guarantee of cash benefits for all eligible poor children and their mothers, while the Democratic bill would continue this guarantee.

Majority Leader Dole has given the Senate a deadline of September 13 for passing the welfare legislation.

If the Senate fails to meet this deadline, it is likely that welfare will be added to the budget reconciliation bill, which will make it more difficult for other senators to revise it. Amendments that could improve the bill, such as allowing education and training activities to count towards the work requirement, might not be allowed. Under this scenario, the Workforce Development Act could be dropped from the bill and considered separately later this year or early next year.

In March, the House passed the Personal Responsibility Act, which would eliminate the guarantee of benefits (entitlements) to all eligible Americans and replaces 44 welfare-related programs with six block grants.

FY 96 Appropriations

The House of Representatives has already passed a bill that cuts federal education spending by a total of 18 percent. Literacy fared relatively well and was cut by a total of 11 percent, but five specific literacy programs were eliminated, as follows:

Library literacy
Literacy for homeless adults
State Literacy Resource Centers
Vista Literacy Corps
Workplace literacy partnerships

These -- and other education programs cut by the House -- can be restored in the Senate. In order to ensure their continued federal funding, it is vital that the Senate provide at least some funding for all of the programs that the House cut. It is also important for the Senate to allocate funding for the literacy programs that the House did fund. The following chart lists adult education programs for which the House did designate funding for next year.

Program FY96 Funding as Proposed by the House (in millions)

    
     Basic Grants to the States              $250
     Even Start Family Literacy Program      $102
     National Institute for Literacy         $  5
     Literacy for Prisoners                  $  4

The Senate subcommittee that funds education programs, chaired by Senator Arlen Specter, is likely to report its version of the bill on September 13. The Senate has allocated $1.6 billion more for education than the House. Because the Senate is under intense pressure from many of the 170 programs that were eliminated by the House to restore their funding, it is not clear whether or not specific literacy items will be restored.

After the Senate has made its decisions, the House and Senate subcommittees will meet to work out differences in the bill. They will submit the final bill to President Clinton. He has stated that he would veto the House bill because of too many education and training cuts.