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March 25, 2018

Congress finally passes

funding bill: many

education wins, but

Dreamers remain in limbo

budgetAfter years of austerity, Congress passed an FY2018 budget bill that includes long overdue increases in education funding, especially for programs serving the students most in need like Title I, IDEA, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Career and Technical Education (CTE), and Impact Aid. Pell grants and the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, both of which help make college affordable, got a much-needed boost. The Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program, which expired two years ago, was reauthorized.

The budget bill also strengthens the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), finally allows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct research on gun violence prevention, and prohibits using federal funds earmarked for school safety programs to buy firearms or train educators to use them. These steps are welcome and a good start. But they fall far short of what is needed – for example, 97 percent of Americans support universal background checks, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll.

“Overall, the bill is a step in the right direction, particularly its focus on investments in education,” said NEA presidentLily Eskelsen García.

Congress rejected education secretary Betsy DeVos’ request to eliminate important programs like Title II, which provides professional development for educators and helps reduce class size. It also rejected the worst of the Trump administration’s requests on immigration: building a concrete wall on our southern border, defunding sanctuary cities, and hiring more deportation agents. However, the budget bill does not include a permanent solution for Dreamers or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

Educators talk to Congress

about gun violence

prevention

gun safetyEducators and members of Congress continue to meet and explore ways to end the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our nation. On March 20, FEA member Stacey Lippel, a language arts teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., gave Democrats on the House Education and the Workforce Committee a stirring, firsthand account of the Valentine’s Day massacre that claimed the lives of 17 students and educators in her school. “I have 219 students on my current roster,” she said. “Since Feb. 14, an average of 10 percent of my students are absent because they aren’t coping well with their experiences. They don’t feel safe in school.”

NEA vice president Becky Pringle was one of seven gun violence prevention advocates who spoke with Senate Democrats during their steering committee meeting on March 21 – the only educator in the group. She stressed educators’ strong opposition to being armed and having more guns in schools, called for common-sense measures to prevent gun violence like universal background checks, and urged Congress not to allow school safety measures to become an excuse for returning to zero-tolerance policies that harm students of color and those with disabilities.take action

Students, parents, and educators all across America joined the worldwide March 24 March for Our Lives, which was organized by students and included more than 800 events in our nation’s capital and other venues. NEA opened its Washington, DC headquarters to participants.

April 20, 2018 – the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre – will be a national day of action against gun violence. For information on events in your area, go to http://protectourschoolscom. And click on the take action button to urge members of Congress to take common-sense steps to prevent gun violence – now!

Tell Congress not to cut or

change the Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance

Program

snapHouse and Senate committees are preparing to take up the Farm Bill that provides funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), our nation’s largesttake action anti-hunger program. Beneficiaries include 1 in 5 U.S. children. Formerly known as food stamps, SNAP faces threats of significant cuts and additional work requirements for adult recipients. Click on the take action button and tell Congress not to cut or change this vitally important program.

Cheers and Jeers

thumbsupRepresentatives Ryan Costello (R-PA) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Sens.  Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for their successful efforts to expand the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program to protect additional borrowers as part of the budget bill
thumbsupRepresentative Tom Cole (R-OK)  for supporting Impact Aid and criticizing cuts proposed by education secretary Betsy DeVos at a hearing this week

thumbsupRepresentative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) for challenging Betsy DeVos for her lack of support for public education and supporting the idea of arming educators

 

thumbsupRepresentative Nita Lowey (D-NY) for chiding Betsy DeVos for her failure to support IDEA

 

thumbsupRepresentative Barbara Lee (D-CA) for objecting to Betsy DeVos’ plan to rescind discipline guidance and failure to acknowledge the reality of disproportionate discipline rates for students of color

 

thumbsupRepresentative Katherine Clark (D-MA) for addressing disproportionate school discipline, private school vouchers, and civil rights protections at the DeVos hearing

thumbsupRepresentative Marc Pocan (D-WI) for urging Betsy DeVos to look at all schools, not just those in the charter/voucher space; why  some schools are not succeeding; and ways to help schools improve

thumbsupRepresentative Bobby Scott (D-VA) for organizing the March 20 forum, “Preventing School Shootings: A Comprehensive Approach,” and members of Congress who participated in the event: Representatives Susan Davis (D-CA), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Jared Polis (D-CO), Mark Takano (D-CA), Gregorio Sablan (D-MP), Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Brenda Lawrence (D-MI), and Frederica Wilson (D-FL)
thumbsupRepresentative Jared Polis (D-CO) and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) for introducing the Student Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 5374/S. 2584)

 

thumbsdownEducation secretary Betsy DeVos for her testimony and policy views on multiple issues at a House appropriations subcommittee hearing this week – gun violence prevention, federal civil rights laws, racial bias and discrimination, and federal funding for education.

 

Published weekly by the National Education Association. To subscribe: http://edadvocacy.nea.org/home.

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March 18, 2018

Students demand action to prevent gun violence

enough rallyOn March 14, thousands of students all across America staged a 17-minute walkout – one minute for every victim of the Valentine’s Day massacre in Marjory Stoneman take actionDouglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The same day, the House passed the narrowly focused STOP School Violence Act of 2018 (H.R. 4909). NEA urged Congress to take additional common-sense steps to end the uniquely American epidemic of gun violenceand keep dangerous weapons out of dangerous hands.  

Educators overwhelmingly reject proposals to arm teachers and other school personnel, according to a nationwide survey commissioned by NEA that was released this week. “The idea of arming teachers is ill-conceived, preposterous, and dangerous. This new national survey of educators confirms that. Arming teachers and other school personnel does nothing to prevent gun violence. In fact, quite the contrary, educators would feel less safe if school personnel were armed,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.

April 20, 2018 – the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre – will be a national day of action against gun violence. For information on events in your area, go to http://protectourschoolscom. And click on the take action button to urge members of Congress to take common-sense steps to prevent gun violence – now!

Urge Congress to increase education funding

budgetOnce again, it’s down to the wire. To keep the government running, Congress must complete work on the FY2018 budget by this Friday or pass yet another continuing take actionresolution. We need to keep advocating for more education dollars, including significant increases in Title I, Title II, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and other programs that target the students most in need. Click on the take action button and urge Congress to invest in education. 

Tell your senators and representative to co-sponsor and support the IDEA Full Funding Act

Greta Smith, Spec ed teacherThe Senate version of the IDEA Full Funding Act (S. 2542) was introduced this week. This bill would increase the federal contribution for the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA) gradually over take actionten years from 15 to 40 percent, the level of support Congress promised when it passed the original IDEA. It would also demonstrate that Congress is serious about meeting its commitment to helping school districts support all students. Click on the take action button and tell your senators and representative to co-sponsor and support the IDEA Full Funding Act.

Cheers and Jeers

thumbsup

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for quoting NEA in a floor speech on gun violence prevention: “Our students need more books, art and music, nurses and school counselors; they do not need more guns in their classrooms.”
 

thumbsupRep. David McKinley (R-WV) for his floor speech praising teachers during Public Schools Week

 

thumbsupSens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Jon Tester (D-MT) for introducing the Senate version of the IDEA Full Funding Act (S.2542) 

 

Published weekly by the National Education Association. To subscribe: http://edadvocacy.nea.org/home.

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Next Members Meeting

There will be a General Membership Meeting on April 12th at 4:45 pm. Location has yet to be determined. We will send out an update as soon as we decide. At that time we’ll also send out the agenda. We will be sending out the gist of the meeting afterwards for those unable to attend.

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From IEA President Griffin

SPRINGFIELD – Today President Donald Trump continued his calls for teachers to carry guns, going so far as to suggest armed teachers be given bonuses. The following is a statement from the Illinois Education Association (IEA) President Kathi Griffin:

“We need to stop repeating history and tackle the school shooting epidemic head on, but arming our teachers is not the answer. Our teachers and support staff members did not sign up to carry guns! They are not law enforcement. They became teachers and support staff because they wanted to help students learn and succeed.

Our teachers should be focusing on the students in their classrooms and providing them with the quality education they deserve. No child should have to go to school worried about whether or not they’ll be able to go home after school. Studies show when a student is scared or has anxiety, that child’s performance and ability to learn is diminished. We want safe schools. We want our kids to be safe in all the right ways.

IEA has been fighting for safe schools for years. It’s built in to our legislative platform. After Sandy Hook, we adopted language that would create a plan for districts to follow to do a number of things, including: identify potential shooters; get them help, the mental health help they need; assess and address threats; prepare themselves and parents in case of a tragedy; and, directs them how to work with law enforcement.

We have a lesson plan on our website called Know Me Know My Name that schools can use, free of charge, to help identify the students who fly under the radar, the disenfranchised, that end up committing these senseless acts of violence. It’s never the kids who are star students. It’s the kids on the fringe.

We have been working to spread the word and implement trauma-informed practicesthroughout the state for more than three years now to try to prevent this from ever happening in Illinois. Our members don’t need to be carrying guns. We need to identify these kids who need help and connect them with the services they need to get them the help they need.”