Adult-education spending pays long-lasting dividends

There is an old adage that you must spend money to make money.
Amid the economic difficulties facing federal, state and local government budget makers, spending more for anything these days may seem counterintuitive.
However, a new report, “ROI of Adult Education,” by the McGraw-Hill Research Foundation, demonstrates that public support for adult education and training programs can actually boost our economy.
“The current sharp focus on deficit reduction in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals around the country obscures the very real economic benefits U.S. society derives from its public investment in adult education and work force development programs,” wrote the report’s authors, Lennox McLendon, executive director, National Council of State Directors of Adult Education Professional Development Consortium; Debra Jones, California director, Adult Education Chair, NAEPDC Research Workgroup; and Mitch Rosin, editorial director, McGraw-Hill School Education Group.
“It is important to keep in mind – especially during tough economic times – that a pre-emptive focus on adult education actually saves government money by reducing societal health care, public assistance and incarceration costs,” they wrote. “Adult education also improves and expands the nation’s available pool of human capital by helping motivated but under-educated people achieve gainful employment in today’s increasingly high-tech and
job market, and at a far lower cost per learner when compared to either K-12 or higher education.”
The report cited the work of The Alliance for Excellent Education, which used sophisticated economic-modeling techniques to determine how local economies in the nation’s 45 largest metropolitan areas would have fared had only half of the dropouts from the high school class of 2008 managed to graduate. They found that they would have contributed the following additional combined economic benefits to their communities in an average year:
• $4.1 billion in additional earnings, compared to their likely earnings without a diploma.
• An additional $2.8 billion in spending and $1.1 billion in investments.
• They would have bought homes worth $10.5 billion more in mid-career that they would have been able to buy as dropouts, and they would have spent another $340 million on motor vehicles each year. • Their additional spending and investments would likely have generated 30,000 new jobs, increasing the gross regional products of their areas by $5.3 billion at around the time they reached the midpoint of their careers.
• State and local tax revenue in each of the areas would have grown as a result of this increased economic activity – an additional $536 million in an average year.
The McGraw-Hill report cites Rhode Island as one of 10 states that have “made a concerted effort over the past few decades to demonstrate the economic value received from the public’s investment in work force and adult-education programs in their states.”
Specifically, the report cited a study, by The Information Group of the Providence Plan that said, “GED passers earn an additional $393 in each quarter in the third year” after passing required GED tests and that this represents a “22 percent earnings gain for male GED passers relative to males who failed the GED exams.” The increase, it was said, moves a family of three above the poverty line.
When budget priorities are being examined by state and local leaders, adult education and training deserves the same careful consideration and support as K-12 and higher education. The McGraw-Hill report clearly spells out the financial advantage to be enjoyed by the state and its cities and towns by proper support for adult education and training. According to the U.S. Census American Community Survey of 2007, more than 150,000 Rhode Islanders need adult-education services. Given the financial benefits of adult education cited by the McGraw-Hill report, just imagine how the state and its communities would benefit financially were all of those Rhode Islanders to actually receive those services.
As the McGraw-Hill report concluded, “our adult learners’ fiscal contributions to national, state and local government will more than offset the cost of paying for the buildup of America’s new adult-education and work force skills system.” •


Carol Holmquist is president and CEO of Dorcas Place Adult and Family Learning Center in Providence.

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