By VICKI URBANIK

The Porter County Adult Education program, on the brink of dismantling, might stay afloat with help from county government.

Porter County Commissioner President Robert Harper this morning proposed committing $125,000 to $150,000 in county funds each year over the next four or five years to keep the adult ed program open.

He issued his proposal in the wake of the decision Monday by the Portage Township School Board, which passed a resolution, as expected, withdrawing the school system as the financial backer of the program. Portage Schools have been the administrative agent of adult education, which serves students from a six-county region.

Portage Township Superintendent Michael Berta recently said his school system no longer can afford to pick up the costs of non-Portage Township students in adult education. The Portage School system bills other schools for their adult students in the program; however, there is no requirement that other schools pay. As a result, some school systems pay, while others do not or not in full. Most recently, the added cost to the Portage Schools for picking up the adult education program’s deficit totaled $110,473.

Adult education officials have warned in recent weeks that without another funding source, the entire program, including the Chesterton Adult Learning Center, is doomed.

Harper said it appears to him the most logical place for the county to get the funding to help Adult Ed would be from its share of the County Economic Development Income Tax. The commissioners currently have about $1.7 million available in unallocated CEDIT funds.

Harper said he believes that the county government could help out the program in the short-term and that there is an “excellent chance” some other state agency will be willing to take over the program and fund it later.

“This is an educational institution in this county that serves over 2,000 students in this and surrounding counties. Once these students obtain their degrees, many of them are able to receive good employment, which does nothing but help the economic development in this area,” Harper said in a statement.

“Although the role of education is not directly the responsibility of county government, I feel that we must as county officials try to help out this program, at least for the short term, to give them time to find other funding and to ensure that this program does not go away,” he said.

Harper’s statement notes that Portage Adult Education has had a jail program, in which inmates can obtain their GED while in jail, “which gives them a better chance to work when they are out.”

Harper said he intends to bring up his proposal to his fellow county commissioners at the next meeting, set for Dec. 4, and will email the Porter County Council members for their support. The council must give approval in order for the commissioners to amend their CEDIT plan. Harper said some council members have expressed their concern over the future of the adult ed program.

“Portage Township Schools have shown great leadership in backing this program in the past. They have simply come to a point where it is exhausting their resources and they need help. I think we must help them,” Harper said in his statement.

Posted 11/27/2007