Dayton schools lose literacy, GED funds

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By Anthony Gottschlich, Staff Writer 9:48 PM Thursday, July 2, 2009

Thirteen Dayton Public Schools staffers lost their jobs this week after the state informed the school district it will no longer fund its adult literacy and GED preparatory program, district officials said Thursday, July 2.

Losing $729,000 in funding for the district’s Adult Basic and Literacy Education program also means the roughly 400 Dayton residents who use the program each year will have to look elsewhere for the services, said Linnae Clinton, the district’s director of career technical and adult education.

“As a district, we are going to work with other providers in the area as much as possible to mitigate the impact of this loss of funding,” Clinton said.

Clinton said she wasn’t sure why the district lost its funding, though it might have been victim to a first-time competitive grant process through the Ohio Board of Regents, which took over administering the ABLE program this year from the state education department.

Diane Brogan-Adams, executive director for Project READ, a literacy coalition serving Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties, agreed.

“It’s a change; I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s a bad thing,” Brogan-Adams said. “The other programs we have here are pretty strong and they have a good collaborative nature. I don’t think the students are going to notice a difference.”

Brogan-Adams said agencies and schools offering similar programs include Sinclair Community College, Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Miami Valley Literacy Council and Kettering schools.

The regents could not immediately provide the 2009-10 funding levels for each of those agencies, nor could officials explain why Dayton’s program was cut.

According to the regents’ Web site, the state had 116 ABLE programs in 2008 that trained people in life, family and job-readiness skills, as well as in computer literacy, GED preparation, English as a second language and other areas.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or  agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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To you folks that are glad the funding is gone - as a taxpayer, you can support these folks thru the welfare and foodstamp programs and possibly in our prison system, or you can support the adult literacy & GED programs that can lead folks to being able to better support their own selves - and w/ the goal of NOT needing welfare and foodstamps & staying out of prison. <a href="http://www.google.com">google</a>

Limit
6:10 AM, 9/22/2009

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Grandma Sue, Let just hang the sex pervs and be done with them. No repeat offenders.

Tinner
5:32 AM, 7/4/2009

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Brenda I just attended a high level meeting with NASA. They agree that if Ohio had more GED’ers they would relocate to Ohio. The state DOES NOT continue to take away funding for the very things that educate people. The State funds early education programs, High Schools, colleges, gifted programs everything that a person needs IF they want to work for a living. You believe in second chances after they blow the first chance. Second chances do not EVER work as you liberals think they are going to.

your lost brenda
6:35 PM, 7/3/2009

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Dayton public schools are a joke,I am a white female and was harassed daily by gangs of (fill in the blank) I never could learn anything since I was always worrying about my safety,and when id try to get help from the staff (teachers) they wouldnt do anything because they was (fill in the blank) also. Reverse racism needs to stop in Dayton.

Mindy
6:31 PM, 7/3/2009

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I totally agree with Ricardo. Please read his common sense suggestion. I would add that contributers not hide behind ficticious names, but use their real names. Only cowards hide behind fake names.

Tim Clarke
5:47 PM, 7/3/2009

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