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Federal Legislative Update Archives February 25,
2000 02/25/00 News from Capitol Hill...
URGENT! – VOTE ON EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS LOOMS The full Senate is set to vote next Tuesday on the Education Savings Account scheme inserted by Senator Coverdell of Georgia into S.1134, the Affordable Education Act of 1999. The bill allows families that send their children to private and religious schools to pay for the tuition using federal tax subsidies. The bill is flawed. It diverts revenue away from public schools, helps only those families that can already afford private school tuition, and does nothing for the problems facing our public schools: overcrowding, difficulties in recruiting and retaining quality educators, and the lack of resources to meet high standards. Contact your Senators now before it is too late. Urge them to vote against invoking cloture on the bill and against passage. Send them the Message that:
THE GREAT ESEA DEBATE What “The Great Debate” is all about. - No single education bill has a broader impact on schools than ESEA. It not only includes the landmark Title I program, but also the Eisenhower Professional Development Program, class size reduction, reading initiatives, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and more – some 42 programs in all. These programs work together to support more effective schools. www.nea.org/lac/esea Money or Principle? - Every year, Congress decides whether to and at what level to fund each program. This year, Congress will also reauthorize ESEA – and decide whether ESEA programs will be continued, amended, abolished, or rolled into block grants. The policy and funding debates converge as ESEA is debated. ESEA in the Senate. – The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) is scheduled to take up the Senate ESEA bill beginning on March 1. The draft before the committee includes good provisions for programs such as Title I and bilingual education. However, it jeopardizes key programs that help students achieve high standards. The committee proposal eliminates the class size reduction program and guaranteed funding for Eisenhower Professional Development grants. These programs would be rolled into a block grant with no guarantee that any of the funds would be spent to reduce class size by hiring additional teachers or for professional development. The so-called "Straight A's" plan -- now included in the committee draft -- would allow Governors to block grant virtually all federal education programs in their states. The result: states could abandon targeting resources to high-need schools and, instead, direct federal funds to voucher programs. Through your U.S. Senators, urge the Senate HELP committee to:
MINIMUM WAGE The House expects a vote on a bill introduced by Reps. Lazio of New York and Shimkus of Illinois to increase the minimum wage by 33 cents a year for the next three years (H.R. 3081). The wage increase is offset by substantial tax cuts to small businesses. NEA supports a compromise bill to be offered by Rep. Bonior of Michigan that accelerates the increase to 50 cents a year for the next two years and targets the tax package to businesses affected by the wage increase. Please contact your members of Congress in support of the Bonior amendment via NEA’s Legislative Action Center at http://www.nea.org/lac GOVERNMENT PENSION OFFSET The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to complete action on the "Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act" (H.R. 5), a bill that would repeal the Social Security "earnings limit", whereby individuals age 65-69 would be allowed to work without receiving reduced Social Security benefits. Final committee action could occur by the end of February and the full House of Representatives may vote on the bill as early as March 2. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) is the author of a bill supported by NEA (H.R.1217) which would modify the existing Social Security "pension offset" (that offsets Social Security benefits by two-thirds of any government pension), and he is seeking support from the leadership to offer this bill as an amendment to H.R. 5. Again, we need your help. THIS MAY BE THE ONLY ACTIVE SOCIAL SECURITY BILL IN THIS CONGRESS, AND OUR ONLY CHANCE TO FIX THE PENSION OFFSET PROVISIONS. Please contact your representatives and ask them to urge the leadership to include Rep. Jefferson's bill as a favorable amendment to H.R. 5. 02/18/00 News from Capitol Hill...NO RECESS FOR ADVOCATES! The Senate observed a “Presidents’ Day Recess” this week and did not meet. The House recesses today for the coming week, the annual "Presidents’ Day District Work Period." Both the House and Senate are again in session the week of the 28th. For advocates, recesses are a reminder to get moving. This is an election year. Congress is hoping to adjourn by October 6 to go home to campaign. There are a number of recesses and District work periods scheduled through September. All of this means that Congress will be in session for a VERY LIMITED number of days this year, so we must move quickly on our legislative agenda. THE UNFINISHED AGENDA Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) - No single education bill has a broader impact on schools. The landmark Title I program is only one of some 42 ESEA programs, including professional development, class size reduction, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools. These programs work together to support more effective schools. Every five years, Congress determines whether ESEA programs are continued, amended, abolished, or rolled into block grants, and at what level they are funded. The process is called “reauthorization.” The House began action last year, reauthorizing Title I, the bilingual, rural, gifted and talented, migrant, and homeless student programs. In a controversial vote strongly opposed by NEA, the House combined professional development and class size reduction in a block grant. Last Wednesday, February 16, the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed two elements of ESEA, Impact Aid to schools impacted by federal activity in their area and the Even Start Family Literacy Program. The version of the Even Start program does include a new provision to allow religious entities to receive federal funds to provide family literacy services. NEA is studying the effects of this provision. Senate votes begin on March 1 in the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP)! While the HELP committee ESEA draft bill contains good provisions for many programs such as Title I and bilingual education, some proposals threaten the work underway to help students achieve high standards. These proposals include The draft bill would consolidate these programs into a block grant with no guarantee that any funds would be spent to hire additional teachers or for professional development. In fact, the draft bill would allow local school districts to spend virtually all their money under this program on signing bonuses or recruitment of teachers through alternative certification. The draft bill would not authorize funding for the President's proposed repair and renovation grants and loans to help high-need schools pay for urgent repairs. Abandoning needy students; funding vouchers. In addition to these harmful proposals in the draft bill, harmful amendments may be offered. For example, the so-called "Straight A's" plan would allow Governors to block grant virtually all federal education programs in their states. This would mean that states could abandon targeting resources to high-need schools and could direct federal education funds to voucher programs. Other amendments would create voucher programs. THE FIFTEEN MINUTE ACTIVIST -- ESEA If your Senator sits on the HELP Committee, contact him or her! If your Senators do not sit on the HELP Committee, please ask them to take your message to their colleagues on the HELP committee (see list below)!! Urge the HELP Committee to: Keeping our Eye on the Goal – The challenge is to keep our eye on the goal -- winning the tools that help students achieve high standards. Your stories about class size, the need for professional development, and your school building needs are powerful messages! HELP COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Jeffords (VT), Gregg (NH), Frist (TN), DeWine (OH), Enzi (WY), Hutchinson (AR), Collins (ME), Brownback (KS), Hagel (NE), Sessions (AL), Kennedy (MA), Dodd (CT), Harkin (IA), Mikulski (MD), Bingaman (NM), Wellstone (MN), Murray (WA), and Reed (RI). We must move aggressively. A new Congress will be elected in November. If this Congress fails to act on school modernization legislation, for example, we are back at the starting gate. In the next Congress, we will have to start all over again, getting a bill introduced, seeking co-sponsors and supporters, moving through the committee process in both the House and the Senate, etc. “I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And that which I can do, I will do.” Helen Keller 02/11/00 News from Capitol Hill...The Budget, Standards, Accountability "There is a right way and a wrong way to approach standards.
We need to make sure that children and teachers are getting the support
they need to reach for high standards and that is why the investments in
this budget are so important. …This is a good news budget for parents
and teachers, a budget that is investing in the future of this nation."
THE PRESIDENT'S BUDGET REQUEST -- OPPORTUNITY WITH RESPONSIBILITY The President this week proposed an historic $40.095 billion for Department of Education programs, an increase of $4.5 billion or 12.6 percent, the largest ever. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2001 budget would affect the 2000-2001 school year. The President's education plan gives a high priority to wiring classrooms for the Internet, hiring more teachers, fixing crumbling schoolhouses, and making college more affordable. How does $40 billion look? We may not be able to visualize $40 billion, but we see what these dollars, at work in our schools, could do every day -- improving Title I, reducing class size, supporting teacher professional development, modernizing schools, increasing after-school opportunities, expanding access to college…and more. Why the President's Priorities are Important. Budget authority rests with Congress. The President, however, holds veto power over the budget approved by Congress, and so the President’s priorities play a key role in budget negotiations. For example, the President has raised the stakes in the school modernization fight by making the issue a top priority in his budget message. www.nea.org/lac/funding. MAKING THE SENSE OF THE WEEKS AHEAD The budget process begins when the President submits his budget requests to Congress. The action then moves to Capitol Hill. "The Budget Resolution." Congress first adopts a spending plan, the Budget Resolution. The Budget Resolution serves as a blueprint and establishes limits within which spending must fit. That's why it sets off heated debate. This year's debate will likely revolve around Social Security and "the Caps." i.e., spending caps set in the 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement. Every subsequent budget has been achieved only after artfully circumventing them. Approving the actual funding for programs comes later. THE UNFINISHED AGENDA The pressure to adjourn early and hit the campaign trail is greater than ever this year, and Congress has scheduled only 70 working days before the November elections. Congress must enact a budget. But it also has a weighty unfinished agenda.
Note! House Speaker Dennis Hastert (IL) announced early on that passage of Education Savings Accounts (the so-called Coverdell bill) is a top Leadership priority. NEA opposes this proposal that would provide over $2 billion in federal subsidies for private and religious schools. Watch for ongoing efforts to amend voucher and/or tuition-tax-credit language into bills, no matter the subject of the bill. The Senate-passed Bankruptcy Bill, for example, includes the so-called "Safe Schools" amendment (Hatch-UT) that would provide vouchers for private and religious school tuition to victims of school violence. The House bill does not include voucher language. THE 15-MINUTE ACTIVIST Keeping our Eye on the Goal –
02/4/00 News from Capitol Hill...
should invest more than ever in our schools." President Clinton, State of the Union Address Measuring the Nation's Commitment - Education
Funding THE FY2001 BUDGET AND YOUR CLASSROOM Next week, the reckoning begins! On February 7, the president will release his budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2001, affecting classrooms in the 2000-2001 school year. Reportedly, the president will request a $4.5 billion increase in education funding, the largest increase ever. www.nea.org/lac/funding Quality Extended Learning Programs, not a "Field of
Dreams" Entering School Ready to Learn, a "Head Start" for 950,000
Children "Every School a Quality School," Responsibility with
Opportunity Recruiting, Training, and Rewarding Good Teachers The new Quality Counts report found that teachers make, on average, about $20,000 a year less than other professionals with comparable education. The more experience and the more education a teacher has, the greater the salary gap. "…ultimately, it is students who are harmed when we treat teachers as second-class citizens," NEA President Bob Chase said. Smaller Classes in the Early Grades Smaller classes enable teachers to spend more time on instruction and less time on discipline and to give each student greater individual attention. Research shows what teachers and parents have long known: students in smaller classes in the early grades make more rapid progress. Safe, Healthy, Modern Classrooms - Local/State/Federal
Partnership Under the president's proposal, if a local community or a state approved a bond for school repair or construction, the federal government would pay the interest. A smaller interest-free loan and grant program would help school districts with urgent repair needs, such as bringing buildings up to safety codes. Research shows that well-maintained surroundings, acoustics, and lighting affect student learning. Imagine, if you paid no interest on your mortgage or your remodeling loan, how much farther those dollars would go! THE 15-MINUTE ACTIVIST Goal: Build support for legislation that supports children and
public education. Be informed. | |||||
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