A power struggle pitting the General Assembly on one side and the governor and Economic Policy Council on the other needs to be resolved so that the focus of Rhode Island’s Samuel Slater Technology fund can remain on economic development – and away from politics.
Rep. Eileen Naughton, a Warwick Democrat, is pushing for legislation that would transfer the management of the Slater Fund’s $3 million budget from the Economic Policy Council to the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation.
Naughton has become concerned that over the past six months, the Slater Fund has undergone significant personnel changes and has seen the six centers consolidated into four.
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Kip Bergstrom, executive director of the state’s Economic Policy Council, argues that the consolidation of the centers was done to utilize the funding the entire program receives from the state.
Bergstrom told Providence Business News last Wednesday (May 15) that some centers were outperforming others and that it made sense to combine them to produce the strongest possible return on investment.
"We would have been negligent had we not made the change," he said.
Naughton also seemed perturbed that the decision to merge the centers was made by Bergstrom and the Economic Policy Council’s two chairpersons, Gov. Lincoln Almond and Paul Choquette, of Gilbane Building Company – and not by the boards of the Slater centers involved in the consolidation.
But Bergstrom counters that suggestion. He tells us that while the decision to merge the centers was in fact made by him and the chairpersons of the EPC, briefs explaining the moves were sent to EPC members.
We need more information before offering an opinion as to whether the EPC or EDC should manage the Slater Fund budget. But we do know that the legislature has every right to demand accountability.
Somewhere, a lack of communication has led to suggestions of backroom politics.
That’s not a good perception, whether it has merit or not. Bergstrom, Naughton
and any other players need to sit down and talk this out – and then get on with
the business of economic development.
Investing in adult
literacy
Nearly 20 percent of Rhode Island adults over age 25 lack a high school diploma or equivalent certificate. That represents 134,000 people. The current adult education programming capacity in Rhode Island serves 8,000 adults, or less than 5 percent of adults functioning at less than a high school literacy standard.
Rhode Island now invests $450,000 in adult education programs – a level that has not changed much over the last six years.
How do our neighbors compare?
In Maine, state government invests $5 million for similar programs. Vermont contributes more than $2 million. Massachusetts spends more than $4 million and Connecticut spends more than $9 million. New Hampshire has nearly doubled its commitment to adult education in recent years, from $400,000 to $750,000.
With a budget deficit looming, this is a difficult year to ask the General Assembly to significantly increase spending on existing state programs. But that is just what Sen. Mary Parella and Rep. Elizabeth Dennigan are trying to do. The lawmakers are sponsoring legislation to increase funding for adult literacy programs – with an ultimate goal of investing $3 million annually.
We strongly support a more significant investment on the part of the state for adult literacy programs.
The Rhode Island Adult Education Commission, which is chaired by Senator Parella, points out that thousands of Rhode Islanders lack sufficient literacy skills to access job training programs …and that the literacy issue is in fact a safety issue for companies, as many Rhode Islanders do not have the skills to read safety manuals or evacuation plans.
Support for adult literacy funding – in the form of testimony at several legislative hearings — has not surprisingly come from social agencies, such as Dorcas Place, the Rhode Island Poverty Institute, Washington County Adult Learning, and the Cranston Adult Learning Center.
But testimony in support of adult literacy funding has also come from leaders of the business community.
The message is simple. Too many Rhode Islanders can’t read. And if they can not read, they aren’t going to add a whole lot to our workforce.
