As the largest funder of adult basic education (ABE) in the nation, providing over $600 million through its Basic Grants to States (U.S. Department of Education, 2019), the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) drives ABE policies and practices. In a review of the announcement on Title II, the phrase "transition to" is repeated 46 times throughout the document and is clarified with language that brings the importance of transitions to the forefront. Basic skills learners attend classes not as an end, but rather as a point that takes them forward to something else. While WIOA-funded ABE can support parenting development, civic engagement, and other ancillary outcomes, transitions for economic impact provides a significant focus. Basic skills have become primarily about "transitioning" to benefit learners' career and economic needs, and the nation has come to a point where "transitioning" forms a basis for how it offers basic skills for adult learners. The authors ask if a focus on transition out of basic skills is wrong. After all, in expending the relatively few dollars that federal and state budgets provide for adult education, should the nation not seek to look at the most impact for those dollars? Moreover, is economic impact a serious enough need to focus those resources? The compelling arguments suggested by these questions are considered in this article.