Cutbacks May Spell End of Literacy Course

Ron Farley would not have dared try reading a book two years ago.

The 37-year-old Ventura resident said high school teachers in Colorado Springs, Colo., overlooked his reading problems and pushed him through the system. Farley left high school nearly two decades ago with a diploma but without the ability to read more than basic sentences.

But now, after 18 months of tutoring in the county’s Adult Literacy Program, the former security guard said he breezes through Louis L’Amour novels and tomes on agriculture. Farley hopes to attend Ventura College and eventually become a firefighter.

That’s why the news that Ventura County’s Library Services Agency may scrap its literacy program due to the ongoing budget crisis hit Farley hard.

“It would be a tragedy,” Farley said. “It would eliminate, in my opinion, chances for anybody like me to become successful in life.”

Facing about $20 million in budget cutbacks, the Board of Supervisors has told the library agency not to count on the nearly $1-million bailout the board provided last year.

If the agency does not receive help from the county, Director Dixie Adeniran said it will have to cut the annual $130,000 it gives to the literacy program, which has been serving residents for a dozen years.

Although the program rounds out its $300,000 yearly budget with public and private grants, the absence of the county money would cause those outside revenue sources to dry up, said Patricia Flanigan, manager of the literacy effort.

“If we don’t get the money, we can’t run the program,” said Flanigan. The budget pays for volunteer training, materials, administration and other costs, she said. “We can’t have a fund-raiser to pay for the administration.”

Based on national figures, Flanigan estimates that about 20% of Ventura County residents have problems with literacy. Since 1984, up to 400 volunteers every year have tutored more than 1,000 residents--some native English-speakers, others not--in reading and writing.

Barbara Wagner, a five-year tutor, said the county will lose more than just a weapon to fight illiteracy if the program disappears after June 31. The loss could mean a decrease in county tax revenues, because improved literacy skills help residents find higher-paying jobs, Wagner said.

The retired insurance administrator said the county could also lose potential voters if the program gets the ax.

“A lot of our students who didn’t vote now vote,” said Wagner, a Camarillo resident. “Because they read more, they understand the issues better and participate.”

County Supervisor Frank Schillo said it is all but certain that the county will not provide the library agency with the bailout money, which would represent a large fraction of the agency’s $5.8-million budget. This could spell the end of the literacy program and the closure of up to six small library branches.

But as Schillo works to transfer control of library branches from the county to cities under a library federation plan, the federation could opt to pay for an adult literacy program.

“I think that is the kind of thing that will have to be discussed once we get organized,” Schillo said.

A few private, nonprofit groups--including Oxnard-based Laubach Literacy of Ventura County--offer tutoring, but Flanigan said the county’s program is the largest.

Bertha Zaragoza, a 36-year-old Moorpark College student, said her road from high school night classes to college would have been significantly longer without the adult literacy program.

Two years ago, the Camarillo mother of a teenage daughter was struggling to earn her high school diploma in continuation school. Now she’s finished her first year at Moorpark College, where she earned straight A’s.

“I think I could have gotten to college without [the literacy program],” said Zaragoza, who hopes to become a psychotherapist. “But it was a lot easier for me knowing I had the support there.”