Adult Basic Education (ABE) offers workforce instruction, literacy tutoring, English proficiency for speakers of other languages, citizenship training, work readiness, corrections education and adult education for homeless people. ABE participants must be over 16 years of age and currently not attending secondary or elementary education with the goal of earning a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. School districts may cooperate and form an ABE consortium, working with other districts and combining ABE aid. School boards and consortiums offering an ABE program may charge a sliding scale fee for students over 21 who are able to pay.
ABE aid has four components: basic population aid, contact hour aid, LEP aid and aid for adults over age 20 with no diploma. Basic population aid is equal to $1.73 times the greater of 3,844 or the actual population of the district. Once basic population aid is subtracted from the state appropriation for ABE, the balance is distributed as follows:
- 84 percent for contact hour aid, distributed to ABE providers based on the total number of contact hours provided during the prior program year. Money is distributed based on the estimated number of contact hours provided in the prior year multiplied by a variable dollar rate which is based on the total number of contact hours and the available funds.
Prior year contact hour aid growth cannot exceed the greater of 8 percent or $10,000.
- 8 percent for LEP aid, distributed based on the proportion of the state’s LEP student enrollment at the ABE program.
- 8 percent for adult diploma aid based on the school district population of adults over age 20 who do not have a high school diploma.
Adult Basic Education Fact Sheet, Minnesota Department of Education.
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