Fewer than one in every ten California inmates are enrolled in an educational program, despite a pledge by state officials to enhance rehabilitation efforts in order to cut recidivism and relieve prison overcrowding.

An estimated 14,360 inmates were taking part in a variety of academic classes out of a total adult inmate population of 162,608, according to a report [PDF] released last week by the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board. 

As part of its biannual report on the prison system, the board calculated enrollment in academic classes at 35.9 percent of existing capacity. That means that two-thirds of the classroom slots available for adult inmates in California were empty as of last June, when the data was compiled...

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation appears to be following the "last in, first out" rule, putting rehabilitation and education programs on the chopping block as it strives to trim $1.2 billion from its overall budget.

That's a bit over a 10 percent cut. Yet the decision to slash $250 million from rehabilitation and education services will reduce those programs by more than one-third.

These are the programs the state beefed up two years ago, after a decade of studies showed that dealing with things like low literacy levels and substance abuse would save money in the long run by reducing recidivism rates…

Dawn Davison wanted to do more for "her ladies" than the cash-strapped state could provide. So the warden for the California Institution for Women turned to Chaffey College, her alma mater, to help bring college classes to the prison.

"We are reaching out into community and forming partnerships to help offset the cuts," Davison said. Now, $1.2 billion in the hole, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is following her lead.

In an attempt to offset the first wave of budget cuts, CDCR has sent out layoff notices to teachers and is looking to community volunteers to help educate and train more than 170,000 prisoners…

Students in the Palmetto Unified School District in South Carolina have no Internet access, no PTA, no Friday night football. Their school is in a prison.

Still, they have performed well enough to earn their school district behind bars an "excellent" rating on the South Carolina Annual School Report Card the past five years.

Prisons across the nation are using education programs to reduce the rate of recidivism and to give inmates hope for their future…

State and local education leaders this week, getting their first glimpse of the new state budget proposal, blasted the tentative spending plan as an "accounting gimmick" that leaves students out in the cold.

The plan — approved by the Legislature more than 80 days late and which was still awaiting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature Friday — allots $58.1 billion for education, an increase of almost $300 million over last year. That amounts to a cost-of-living increase of 0.7 percent, much less than the 5.66 percent increase school districts hoped to get, or about $3 billion less than educators would like to see, according to Jennifer Kuhn, analyst at the state Legislative Analyst's Office.

Education leaders this week echoed each other in criticizing the plan, saying it doesn't do enough to help local school districts pay for the rising costs of just about everything. State Superintendent of Instruction Jack O'Connell called the plan a "gimmick," while California Teachers Association President David Sanchez and California PTA President Pam Brady each urged Schwarzenegger to use his veto power to leverage a more education-friendly budget…

Recent media accounts have reported on the rising rates of school suspensions in California. Clearly, the problem is statewide, but is worse in neighborhoods already stressed by high rates of violence and poverty. We seem to be staring directly down the "school to jail pipeline"—meaning that youth that have behavior issues walk a fine line between school and the corrections system. Before we fall back on the hackneyed and disproven solution of more police (especially officers untrained to handle teens) or more punitive responses, we owe it to our youth to think carefully.

We have a right to ask a great deal of our schools; they must be safe, respond to the current realities of the families they serve, and strive for high student achievement. However, they need the tools and resources to do all we ask of them. School budgets are in dire straits. We have cut everything from music, sports, and after-school programs, to counselors and mental health services. Teachers lack training in handling difficult student behavior. They have less freedom to respond to the varied learning styles of their students and more pressure to conform to standardized tests. We must not resign ourselves to an increasingly harsh school culture…

"You cannot cut your way out of a $16-billion deficit," said Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto. "It has to be a combination of cuts and increased revenue." Carter - who said she vehemently opposes any cuts to education - would like to see more increases in fees, citing a recently defeated bill that would have closed a loophole enabling people who buy yachts outside of the state to not pay sales tax.

Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa, said he is generally opposed to raising taxes but has no doubt a tax battle is looming. Cook is also opposed to the early release of California inmates. "Not on my watch," he said…