Currently, 237 of California's 383 unified and high school districts and 66 of its 71 community college districts are authorized to offer adult and noncredit education. Each year, 7 percent of Californians enroll in adult or noncredit courses. They are the most diverse of any students in the state. In 1981, the Legislature established 10 categories of instruction that would be eligible for adult school and community apportionment: elementary and secondary basic skills, English as a second language (ESL), citizenship, substantially handicapped, parent education, programs for older adults, short-term vocational education, home economics, health and safety, and apprenticeship. The problems of enrollment restrictions, inadequate cooperation, lack of accountability, and inequitable funding have led the California Postsecondary Education Commission to offer six recommendations: permit funding for ESL and basic skills to be on an on-demand basis, request the establishment of a task force to prepare and submit a 5-year plan for California adult education, equalize funding for adult and noncredit education, remove the prohibition against the offering of adult education by communities that did not have programs in place before Proposition 13, require the development of a plan for a comprehensive and comparable adult and noncredit education information system, and continue the current categories of funding. Ten statistical displays are provided; appendixes consist of a brief legislative history of adult education in California and background on the Commission's study. (YLB)