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SCHENECTADY
Loss of aid forces cut in adult education
BY MICHAEL GOOT Gazette Reporter

    A reduction in financial aid is forcing the Washington Irving Adult Education Center to lay off two teachers and drop its computer program.
    Sheila Tebbano, the school district’s director of adult and continuing education, said the center will no longer offer a computer training class and a Microsoft Office certification course unless it obtains other money. It is also not offering GED programs at the Family Investment Center at Steinmetz Homes and Yates Village, but will continue to offer these courses at the Washington Irving Center.
    The program receives funding from the state through an Employment Preparation Education (EPE) grant that supports programs for students at least age 21. Schools receive a per-hour payment based on the number of students.
    “The governor made a huge cut in EPE funding this year,” Tebbano said.
    Last year, the district was approved for more than $1 million in adult education aid. However, this year, it will receive no more than $572,000, depending on enrollment.
    She said fewer than six people were attending these programs at Steinmetz and Yates, so they were cut. The GED classes average about 10 to 15 students. The maximum size is 20, per the teacher contract. The district seeks to keep its enrollment at a certain level.
    “We need to have at least 10 students in a class all the time in order for it to be cost effective and for us to be able to continue,” she said.
    Another problem is the district did not receive a federal Workforce Investment Act grant. Tebbano said the computer teacher was mostly funded out of that money.
    “You can’t cut $240,000 from a program without touching salary and people. There wasn’t that much supply money or conference money or anything like that. We’ve had to scale back our offerings,” she said.
    Another person reduced her hours to part-time to leave the center with eight full-time and five part-time positions.
    The district is also continuing its English as a foreign language classes at the Schenectady Job Training Agency and the night classes at the Schenectady County Public Library. Also, the GED program at the Schenectady County jail will stay in place.
    Tebbano said they will try to maintain business as usual at the center, which serves about 700 students annually, not including the program at the jail, which accounts for another 200.
    “I don’t want folks to think were shutting down because there are other programs that are out there. These are free to everyone,” she said.
    Tebbano said she did not anticipate the center would have to put people interested in participating in the GED program on a waiting list. The center has always had open enrollment. It will continue to monitor how many students are using the program to determine whether the district will receive enough aid.
    She said she was told that the reason why the center did not receive the workforce grant was because Washington Irving is a program “in need of improvement,” under federal guidelines. If at least 50 percent of the students in each of the categories do not make progress, it affects the program’s report card.
    The center is working with the state Education Department to improve its program. It is going to give new GED students a multi-hour orientation program, including mandatory testing. It will also review their learning styles and give them a heads up on exercises they will be doing in class, as well as work to practice at home.
    Superintendent Eric Ely said it was unfortunate that cuts had to be made. He hoped that the district could supplement it with other grants. “We’ve done the best we can in terms of shifting money,” he said.