By Kimberly K. Fu
Vallejo Times Herald
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sweeping state budget cuts are slated to take a chunk out of prison educational programs next year through teacher layoffs.
Educators at California State Prison, Solano, say the move will hurt inmates and, in turn, the community.
Prison officials, meanwhile, describe the new teaching model as more efficient, with inmates getting what they need even with less.
Officials acknowledge that the situation is undesirable, but not insurmountable.
“We’ll lose some teachers, sure,” said Mike Valdez, supervisor of vocational instruction at the prison. “But with the model they’re (the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) suggesting, we might be able to service more inmates.”
The CDCR is expected to slash $250 million from its budget for rehabilitation services, 2 percent of which goes toward education. Nearly 1,500 layoff notices were mailed in September.
At CSP, Solano, that percentage includes about 40 teachers responsible for preparing hundreds of inmates for parole. It is unclear how many teachers could be cut.
Veteran educators said they are set to be replaced by less-experienced, and less expensive, teachers, and in-demand vocational offerings are being shut down. Within the next two years, an estimated 2,000 inmates are expected to parole into Solano County, and they may be under prepared to secure anything but low-paying jobs and thus more likely to re-offend, teachers said.
“We get the people in prison that have failed,” said Mark Eiswirth, a welding teacher. “These are the people we teach.”
Prison officials countered that the newer teaching methods will streamline the teaching process and will get more help to inmates, as well. Their learning, said Pam Ditto, principal of the prison’s Vaca Valley Adult School, will not be impacted, even as inmates are tapped to teach other inmates.
On a recent visit to the Vacaville prison, inmates packed various classrooms. In one, substance abuse program members participated in a community meeting, discussing current events and other issues. In another, inmates worked on their masonry skills.
In yet another room, inmates pored through books and engaged in hands-on learning -- methods that will remain even after layoffs, officials said.
As for inmates teaching assistants, that’s an alternative that’s already been tapped and is in use around the state, Valdez said. A bonus, he pointed out, is that learning can continue outside the classroom. Inmates needing extra help can contact these teaching assistants on the yard and elsewhere to ask for aid, he said.
Teachers remain unconvinced.
“The CDCR’s plan is a design for failure,” said Mike Jossel, another teacher at CSP, Solano.
Copyright 2009 The Times-Herald