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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.

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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 K12 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. Marys 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.