Soon after the Santa Maria high school district’s adult education program was dropped because of budget cuts, employees at the Lucia Mar district’s program started receiving calls from would-be students south of the county line.
Now, about 20 people are on a waiting list to take classes through the South County school district, said Charlissa Boaz-Skinner, principal of adult education for Lucia Mar.
“We will add them in as we can,” Boaz-Skinner wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune. “We want to make sure that we have space for our own students first.”
The program won’t receive any additional money from the state, so Boaz-Skinner can’t add staff to accommodate more students.
As of May, Lucia Mar Unified School District’s adult education program served 2,615 students, she said.
The Santa Maria Joint Union High School District board began the process in May 2009 to close its adult education program, which was based primarily at Delta High School, Assistant Superintendent Kathy Frazier said.
Doing so allowed the adult students to complete their courses.
The program served 951 students last year; 322 students graduated this year. Of those, 58 have a chance to take the high school exit exam this month, which they need to pass in order to receive their diplomas, she said.
The district’s $150,000 budget for the adult education program was swept into the general fund.
“It’s a tough decision, but when you have less money you have to prioritize,” Frazier said. “But we didn’t want to leave the adult community without options.”
Santa Maria adult-education students could also try the Lompoc Adult School, Allan Hancock College or take courses online, she noted.
Reach Cynthia Lambert at 781-7929.
SanLuisObispo.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. See our full terms of service here.
Here are some rules of the road:
You should also know that The Tribune does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "report abuse" button to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the username of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them, but you may ask our staff to retract one of your comments by sending an email to webmaster@thetribunenews.com. Again, make sure you note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us your profile name.
Be the first to know what's going on in San Luis Obispo County. Just tell us how you want to find out — we'll take care of the rest.
Sign up for breaking news alerts from SanLuisObispo.com and get the latest news sent to your cell phone via text message.
By signing up for alerts from this site, you are signing up for a program that may include up to 5 SMS text alert(s) per alert category per day. There is no service fee charged per month but your carrier's standard text messaging and other charges may apply. You may stop this subscription service at any time by sending the text message "STOP" to 72737. You must be at least thirteen (13) years of age to use our alert services. If you are between 13 and 17 years old, you agree that you have received parental permission both to complete the registration process and to receive SMS content on your cell phone. For help, send the text message "HELP" to 72737. This service will work with ATT, Verizon, Sprint, Nextel, Alltell, US Cellular, Cincinnati Bell, Boost, Virgin Mobile USA, Celluar South, Telos, Centennial, East Kentucky Network, Cellcom, Immix and Rural Celluar.
E-mail »
Twitter »
Facebook »
iTribune »
Subscribe »
RSS »
About comments
Reader comments on SanLuisObispo.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Tribune. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "report abuse" button below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.