Federal Legislative Update
April 2005
April 29, 2005
April 22, 2005
April 15, 2005
April 8, 2005
4/29/05
News from Capitol Hill...
Budget Cuts Education for First Time in 10 Years
'No Child Left Behind' Comes Up Short Again
Congress adopted a budget resolution last night that cuts funding for public education for the first time in a decade, choosing to ignore teachers, education support professionals, parents and other voters who say that investing in public schools must be a national priority. The resolution uses President Bush's education funding total, resulting in a net cut of $130 million.
The budget resolution fails to acknowledge the increasing costs borne by states and local school districts to implement "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB). Taking into account the money that would go toward expanding NCLB testing to high schools, the overall increase for NCLB totals $65 million, or $1.3 million per state.
Among the items dropped in the resolution were two Senate amendments, one by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and the other by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), that would have added $5.9 billion to help low-income students enter and complete their college education and raised the maximum Pell Grant to $4,500 per year. Pell Grant recipients had a minor victory, as the budget agreement raises the maximum Pell Grant by $100 next year to $4,150.
The budget agreement is nonbinding, but it sets critical funding guidelines for taxes and programs.
Urge Your Senators To Oppose the 'Nuclear Option'
The Senate is expected to vote early next month on a proposal, the so-called "nuclear option," that would undermine the Constitution's system of checks and balances and give the majority party virtually unlimited power to impose its agenda. At stake is the independence of our federal courts from political pressure.
The proposed rule change sought by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) would prevent Senators from filibustering, or debating without limit, judicial nominees. This proposal is called the "nuclear option" because it would bring Senate business to a halt and override a more than 200-year-old Senate rule.
Action Needed
- Urge your Senators to oppose the nuclear option. Instead, the Senate should rely on bipartisan consultation and negotiation for appointing federal judges.
- Take a minute to tell others. Educate your friends, family and colleagues about the dangers of the "nuclear option" by E-mailing them this page.
Medicaid Scores a Win, But Loses in the End
Two days after the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a motion, 348-72, to instruct budget conferees not to cut Medicaid funding, the conferees adopted a budget resolution last night that eliminates $10 billion from the program
Medicaid is the primary source of health care for 58 million low-income children, parents, elderly and people with disabilities. The cuts will shift billions of dollars in health care costs to state and local governments, thereby jeopardizing funding for education and other priorities.
Justifying the cut by saying the costs for entitlement programs such as Medicaid are spiraling out of control and driving up the budget deficit, the conferees were able, nevertheless, to come up with $106 billion in new tax cuts.
Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill Signals Growing Discontent with NCLB
Senator George Allen (R-VA) and Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) introduced the Flexibility for Champion Schools Act this week, which would give states that meet certain criteria a waiver from NCLB's "adequate yearly progress" provisions.
The legislation further demonstrates the growing chorus of bipartisan concerns about NCLB that Members of Congress are hearing from parents, teachers and other educators about the problems with the law and the need for common-sense changes.
In a statement, Goodlatte said: "Without this flexibility, I believe the law is inefficient and duplicative for parents, teachers, students and state education officers."
President Begins New Push for Social Security Privatization
Desperate to revive his flagging plan to privatize Social Security, President Bush took to the national airwaves last night during a prime-time news conference. Signaling a new phase of the sales campaign, the President's congressional allies have announced they will introduce legislation by June in the House and July in the Senate.
Now, more than ever, we must let the President and our Members of Congress know that cutting guaranteed Social Security benefits and passing on trillions of dollars in debt to our children to create private stock market accounts is unacceptable.
Action Needed
- Join the more than 56,000 people who have sent petitions to the White House and Congress. Sign the petition today and ask your friends, colleagues and families to do the same.
- Tell your Senators and Representatives who have not yet done so to add their support to the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 147/S. 619), which would fully repeal both the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision.
4/22/05
[ return to top ]
News from Capitol Hill...
NEA Files 'No Child Left Behind' Lawsuit
Legal Action Seeks Funds Promised for Children, Schools
"Today we're standing up for children, whose parents are saying, 'No more' to costly federal regulations that drain money from classrooms and spend it on paperwork, bureaucracy and big testing companies." -- NEA President Reg Weaver
After three disappointing years of urging the federal government to live up to its commitment to fund the "No Child Left Behind" Act, NEA said enough is enough and filed a lawsuit in federal court on April 20 to force the federal government to pay for its own rules and regulations. In the legal challenge, NEA, joined by the school districts of Pontiac, Michigan; and Laredo, Texas; and seven districts in Vermont, uses funding and research data to show that school districts have been forced to drop or dramatically reduce critical education reform efforts to pay for the law's costly and ever-growing requirements.
At the center of the suit is section 9527(a) of the law, which states: "Nothing in this Act shall . . . mandate a State or any subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs not paid for under this Act." Since the law's enactment in 2002, the federal government has fallen $27 billion short of providing the funding it authorized to help schools comply with the law's regulations.
Among the growing expressions of support from key Members of Congress are those of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), George Miller (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee and one of the primary architects of the law, and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), a member of the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Learn more , including hearing from some of the parents involved.
Action Needed
- Let President Bush, your Senators and Representative know you expect them to honor their promise to children and public schools. Sign NEA's petition today and help schools receive the funds they so desperately need to enable all children to succeed to the best of their God-given abilities.
- Share this e-mail with others who believe we must value our children, and urge them to sign the petition.
Bill Seeks Common-Sense Improvements to 'No Child Left Behind'
Congressman Jeb Bradley (R-NH) introduced a bill this week that would amend a central provision of the No Child Left Behind Act with common-sense improvements.
The legislation, H.R. 1722, seeks to change the 'adequate yearly progress' requirement in three ways:
- It incorporates into the law the new 3 percent limit on students with disabilities taking tests based on different standards. NEA, states and school districts have expressed concern that the Department of Education might apply the new limit arbitrarily,
- It lowers from 10 percent per year to 7 percent per year the growth in the number of students in any given subgroup who must achieve proficiency in math and reading, and
- It extends the exemption from testing for newly arrived immigrant Limited English Proficient students from one to two years.
Action Needed
- Urge your Representative to support H.R. 1722
Social Security Privatization: All Eyes Focus on 4/26 Hearing
The Bush Administration, its allies in Congress and in the financial services industry are looking with a sense of desperation to a Senate Finance Committee hearing on April 26 to reinvigorate their flagging campaign to take money from Social Security and put it into private stock market accounts.
In an effort to counteract the renewed push, Americans United to Protect Social Security, a coalition of groups that includes NEA, will stage rallies and news conferences in more than 30 states the day of the Senate hearing. The National Day of Action to Protect Social Security is an opportunity for you, your family, and friends to speak out.
Support for the President's proposal among Americans continues to dropping as more facts come to light, such as the projected 42 percent reduction in Social Security benefits for today's workers, the trillions of dollars in debt that will be passed on to our children to fund the costs of the private accounts, and the inherent risks involved in the stock market. Those risks were underscored last week, when stocks registered their biggest one-day drop since May 2003 and the market suffered three consecutive days of triple-digit losses.
On a positive note this week for supporters of fully repealing Social Security's Windfall Elimination Provision, Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) introduced his Public Servant Retirement Protection Act, H.R. 1714. The bill would provide a partial fix of WEP. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is expected to introduce a companion bill in the Senate shortly.
Action Needed
- Stop the privatization of Social Security by joining the tens of thousands of people who have sent more than 53,000 petitions to the White House and Congress. We cannot afford to let up; the other side has nearly unlimited power and money, and isn't afraid to use them. Sign the petition today and ask your friends, colleagues and families to do the same.
- Tell your Senators and Representatives who have not yet done so to add their support to the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 147/S. 619), which would fully repeal both the GPO and WEP.
4/15/05
[ return to top ]
News from Capitol Hill...
National Activation Seeks Budget Support for Higher Ed
Tell Congress on April 19 & 20 To Keep Higher Ed a Priority
NEA and the American Federation of Teachers, in an unprecedented joint effort, are asking individuals who believe all families should have access to a college education to urge their Senators and Representatives to ensure higher education remains a priority in the Congressional budget resolution.
Action Needed
Call 1-866-327-8670 or send an e-mail to ask your Senators and Representative to keep the Kennedy higher ed amendment in the final Budget Resolution. The toll-free number will connect you to the Capitol switchboard. Simply ask to speak to your Senators or Representative and you will be connected to their office.
Help Schools Save Technology Funding
NEA, the National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators, the Software & Information Industry Association, and the State Education Technology Directors Association are among the many education and technology groups that have joined to save from elimination the Enhancing Education Through Technology program.
Designed to give states technology equipment, services and professional development, the EETT program is the sole or primary source of education technology funding for 75 percent of states. Twelve states (AR, AZ, DE, MD, MI, MN, MO, ND, NH, OR, VT, and WI) rely on EETT as their only source of technology funding. Combined with the federal E-Rate program for internet connectivity in schools, EETT provides a critical pathway for students' educational success and workforce preparedness.
Action Needed
Send an e-mail to your Members of Congress and ask them to retain an appropriations priority for EETT at the FY ’04 level of $700 million.
Bill Would Silence Ordinary Americans' Political Voice
The Senate Rules and Administration Committee will consider a bill on Wednesday, April 20, that, if adopted, would restrict the ability of ordinary Americans to have their voices heard in the political debate. The "527 Reform Act of 2005" (S. 271) would impose restrictions on the ability of state and local political action committees, including ones operated by NEA state affiliates, to give working Americans the opportunity to pool their resources voluntarily and participate in the political process.
NEA opposes S. 271 because it would "federalize" state and local PACs and hinder their ability to help level the political playing field for Americans of ordinary means, such as teachers and education support professionals.
Action Needed
Estate Tax Repeal Means Less Money for Education
The House voted overwhelming, 272-162, April 13 to make permanent the repeal of the estate tax, limiting the ability of the federal government to make critical investments in children and public education or shore up Social Security or strengthen Medicare. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, extending repeal of the estate tax beyond 2010 would reduce revenues by $290 billion through 2015. The revenue losses from 2012 through 2021 are estimated to be a staggering $745 billion.
NEA opposes repealing the estate tax and will urge Senate negotiators to vote against the repeal. Stay tuned.
April 26 Senate Hearing To Take Up Social Security Privatization
April 26 looms large as the date the Senate Finance Committee will hold its first hearing this year on Social Security, and chief among the topics will be the President Bush’s proposal to divert money from Social Security to create private stock market accounts. The financial services industry and other well-heeled groups backing privatization are using the hearing as an opportunity to generate attention to their cause. Likewise, NEA and others who oppose privatization are not letting up.
Many who are against privatization are holding up California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s embarrassing defeat in his attempt to privatize public employee pensions as an example of what can be accomplished by coordinated and dogged opposition. Schwarzenegger withdrew his proposal last week as a result of the fight led by the California Teachers Association, firefighters and police officers.
Action Needed
- Join the growing ranks of teachers, education support professionals and others to stop the privatization of Social Security and to strengthen it for future generations. Thanks to you, more than 49,000 petitions have been sent to the White House and Congress. Keep the pressure on. Sign the petition today and share it with your network of friends, colleagues, neighbors and family.
- Find out if your Representative is one of 239 who have signed on to H.R. 147 or one of 14 who are cosponsoring S. 619, both of which would fully repeal the unfair Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP). If not, ask him/her to become a cosponsor.
4/8/05
[ return to top ]
News from Capitol Hill...
Senate, House Budget Negotiations Set To Start
Mark Your Calendars: April 12 Is National Budget Call-In Day!
With a little luck and a lot of coordination, thousands of people from all over the country will flood Congressional phone lines Tuesday, April 12, to ask their Senators and Representatives to adopt a budget resolution that sets the right priorities by watching out for children, the elderly and the most vulnerable members of our communities.
It's easy. It's fast. And your participation is vital. Call 1-800-247-2971. Let your Members of Congress know you teach and are entrusted with America's most precious resource: children. As one of America's most trusted messengers, teachers and other education professionals have a compelling story based on experience and dedication. Let your elected officials know what's at stake. Remind them that schools are the best ticket to success for our students, our communities and our nation.
Action Needed
- Call1-800-247-2971 or send an e-mail on April 12 and remind your Senators and Representative to pass a budget resolution that reflects the right priorities and protects children, the elderly, people with disabilities and families. If the line is busy, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, or find your Senators' direct line at www.senate.gov.
- Speak from your heart about what you know best: the urgent needs of America's children and public schools.
- Share this message with your colleagues, church mates, families and friends. Your calls are urgently needed!
Bill To Fix 'No Child Left Behind' Introduced in Senate, House
A bill introduced in the Senate and House this week would provide the common-sense flexibility necessary to achieve the goals of "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB). The No Child Left Behind Reform Act, S. 724 and H.R. 1506, would allow the use of multiple measures of student achievement, not just tests, and would establish grants to help states and districts develop and maintain data systems needed to implement models that measure student growth over time.
Sponsored by Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) in the Senate and Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), John Larson (D-CT), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI), Rob Simmons (R-CT), Chris Shays (R-CT) and Robert Wexler (D-FL) in the House, the bills target choice and supplemental services to students in groups that fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, and address logistical problems associated with current law. Additionally, they would increase flexibility in meeting NCLB's "highly qualified" teacher requirements, particularly for middle school teachers teaching multiple subjects.
Action Needed
- Urge your Senators and Representative to cosponsor S. 724 and H.R. 1506.
Stand Up for Department of Defense Teachers
Congress will hold two hearings next week — April 12 and April 14 — on the Department of Defense's effort to strip civilian workers, including teachers who work in schools on military bases, of their rights and protections. The effort would abolish long-standing collective bargaining rights, such as the right to binding arbitration, and would expose employees to arbitrary personnel decisions. The National Security Personnel System would also allow the Department of Defense to overturn the terms of a collective bargaining agreement at any time.
Action Needed
- Please visit www.nea.org/lac/union for more information and to contact your Representatives in Washington. Tell them to stand up for workers' rights by opposing the National Security Personnel System. Please do it today!
Education Department Issues 'No Child Left Behind' Rule Change
The U.S. Department of Education announced yesterday an improvement to the "No Child Left Behind" Act by giving additional flexibility for testing students with cognitive disabilities, among other things. The changes, while still well short of what needs to be done to achieve the goals of the law, represent a step forward.
Said NEA President Reg Weaver: "We applaud the Department's efforts to make common sense improvements in the law that will make it somewhat more flexible. NEA, its state affiliates and educators across the country have been tirelessly advocating for major changes to the law. We are glad to see many of the changes that we recommended announced today."
States that show they are raising student achievement will have more flexibility in implementing the law. For example, more of their special education students will be allowed to take alternative assessments, instead of the standard statewide test. Of particular note is that the Department is allowing a more reasonable 3 percent of all students to take appropriate assessments and still have their scores count for Adequate Yearly Progress purposes. As a result, more students with disabilities will have their progress measured more appropriately.
Read NEA's news release on the changes.
President Heightens Sales Pitch To Privatize Social Security
President Bush and his Administration are ramping up their efforts to sell the idea of Social Security privatization to the American people. The latest marketing tool involved a first-ever 12-hour radio-thon April 6 during which Cabinet secretaries and senior White House officials participated in interviews on 30 national and local radio programs. This came on the heels of hundreds of back-home events during the just-ended spring recess by Congressional backers of the privatization proposal.
Despite the growing number of people who disapprove of the idea of diverting money from the Social Security Trust Fund into private stock market accounts, the Senate is expected to hold a hearing before the end of the month. The House is expected to do likewise.
NEA supports Social Security reforms that will leave the program intact, and we oppose privatization. The more than 47 million children, women and men who rely on Social Security should not have to trade a guaranteed benefit for a roll of the dice in the stock market. Teachers and education support professionals are especially vulnerable. Their pension plans are under increasing attack and their salaries are comparatively low.
Action Needed
- Join the growing national groundswell to stop the privatization of Social Security and to strengthen it for future generations. Legislative Update readers like you have sent more than 45,000 petitions to the White House and Congress. This week we want to break the 50,000 mark. Keeping the pressure on is crucial as the Administration and its allies use every tool and all the power at their disposal. Sign the petition today and share it with your network of friends, colleagues and families.
- Find out if your Representative is one of 238 who have signed on to H.R. 147, which would fully repeal the unfair Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP). If not, ask him/her to become a cosponsor.
|
Printer friendly
E-mail
Subscribe
