Costly Cuts: $7 million cut from adult literacy programs

STATE: $7 million cut from adult literacy programs
Press Enterprise: 12.16.2011 by Kevin Pearson

Library directors across the region are worried about the future of adult literacy programs in the wake of sweeping budget cuts the state announced this week.

If the programs don’t survive, people like Beaumont’s Larry Washington may never learn to read.

Washington, 57, is one of hundreds of adults in Riverside County who are enrolled in those state-funded programs that teach adults how to read and write.

Among almost $1 billion in total budget cuts, roughly $16 million will be slashed from libraries, including about $7 million designated to fund literacy programs.

Eight libraries in the Inland area have literacy programs, which are for native English speakers. The amount of state money they had been receiving was based on population.

“This is devastating to California libraries,” said Hemet Library Director Wayne Disher, who serves as president of the California Library Association. “It’s really sad. You try and be as positive as you can, but how do you do that when someone has taken everything you have?

“I think we will see a good portion of them, at least half of the literacy programs, will be forced to close.”

COSTLY CUTS

But how much longer those services will remain is in doubt. In Hemet, Disher is hoping the library’s financial backers can help secure the $15,000 needed to keep the 90-person adult literacy program afloat through the end of the fiscal year June 30, but he is worried what might happen if the money runs out.

A number of Inland libraries had already begun to brace for budget cuts, which extend beyond the adult literacy programs, but others were hopeful that the governor would keep some of the funding intact. But with all the funds cut, libraries are now pondering their next move. READ MORE !