Federal Legislative Update
May 2008

May 2, 2008

05/02/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

Tell candidates for President what YOU think!

NEA's "EducationVotes" Web site is up and running. All three remaining candidates for President are U.S. Senators. Check out their:

• Voting records in Congress.
• Grades on NEA's congressional report card.
• Positions on education and other important issues.

Check out all three candidates at www.nea.org/educationvotes/index.html

Tell Congress: include rural schools in supplemental appropriations bill!

If the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act is allowed to expire:

• More than 4,400 rural schools in 800 forest counties in 42 states will face severe budget shortfalls.
• Many rural schools in forest counties will cut back or eliminate essential educational services - some may even be forced to shut down.
• Tens of thousands of county and school employees will lose their jobs, straining the already fragile economies of these rural areas to the breaking point.

Urge your elected representative to include funding for rural schools in the supplemental appropriations bill now moving through Congress.

Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!

Tell Congress that access to great public schools is a basic right for rural kids, just as it is for city kids.

Federal Legislative Update
April 2008

April 25, 2008
April 18, 2008
April 10, 2008

04/25/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

Tell Congress: America's economy needs a $100 billion jump-start

More than half the states will soon be in the red. Unlike the federal government, states must balance their budgets. Due to today's deteriorating economic conditions:

• Hundreds of thousands of teachers and other public employees are facing layoffs - 20,000 educators in California alone.
• States are contemplating cuts in education programs of all kinds - everything from Head Start to K-12 to higher education.
• New Medicaid and SCHIP regulations will leave low-income children and children with disabilities without health care and further strain state budgets.

Tell your representatives the economy needs a jump start.

Contact Congress TODAY!

Tell Congress a second economic stimulus package is needed to preserve education, health care, and other essential state services.

Tell Congress: the so-called "Academic Bill of Rights" is NOT needed

A conference committee is crafting a final reauthorization bill for the Higher Education Act. The Senate bill includes an "Academic Bill of Rights," which NEA strongly opposes. The House bill does not include this provision.

Like the wolf clad in sheep's clothing, the so-called "Academic Bill of Rights" is NOT what it claims to be. Under the guise of protecting students from purported faculty bias, it would encourage ideologically-driven intervention in course content and teaching.

Contact Congress TODAY!

Tell your representatives NOT to support the "Academic Bill of Rights."

Tell Congress: Pass the Education for All Act (H.R. 2092, S. 1259).

In 2000, the United States and 180 other nations resolved to work together to achieve universal basic education by 2015. The Education for All Act would:

• Make universal basic education a focus of U.S. foreign policy.
• Provide $10 billion over five years to help poor nations create and execute plans to educate all of their children.
• Help carry out a key recommendation of the 9-11 Commission.

Urge your representatives to cosponsor the Education for All Act

Contact Congress TODAY!

Tell your representatives to fulfill the U.S. commitment to basic universal education and cosponsor the Education for All Act.

04/18/08

News From Capitol Hill ...

Tell Congress not to cut corners on children's health care!

More than a million children have been born without health insurance since the start of the 110th Congress - and the number grows daily. New Medicaid and SCHIP regulations threaten essential healthcare for:

• Low-income children and families
• Children with disabilities

Urge your elected representatives to put a hold on the new regulations and increase federal funding for Medicaid by supporting H.R. 5613, H.R. 5268 and S. 2819.

Contact your Representatives in Congress TODAY!

Tell Congress to provide healthcare for more children, not less.

Tell Your Senator: Vote "Yes" on the Fair Pay Restoration Act

This week, the Senate will vote on the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S. 1843), which reaffirms civil rights threatened by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Ledbetter v. Goodyear. This ruling:

• Makes it virtually impossible for women facing pay discrimination to take legal action against their employers.
  
  
• Threatens justice for anyone discriminated against on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, or age.

The House has already passed a bill that remedies the problems caused by the Court's ruling. Now, the ball is in the Senate's court.

Contact Your Senator TODAY!

Tell your Senator to vote for the Fair Pay Restoration Act (S. 1843) and make this bill a law.

04/10/08

News from Capitol Hill...

Tell Congress: End the DC voucher experiment!

President Bush is asking Congress to extend the problem-ridden DC voucher experiment, set to expire this September, even though it:

• Has not demonstrated a positive impact on student achievement.  
• Diverts $14 million per year from public education and is opposed by three-fourths of DC’s own residents. 
• Pays tuition for students to go to private schools with unqualified teachers – some do not have even bachelor’s degrees.  

Urge your elected representatives to say “no” to President Bush and put an end to the unproven, poorly managed DC voucher program.    

Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!

Tell Congress the DC voucher experiment deserves to die on schedule this September.

Tell Congress: include rural schools in supplemental appropriations bill!

If the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act is allowed to expire: 

• More than 4,400 rural schools in 800 forest counties in 42 states will face severe budget shortfalls.
• Many rural schools in forest counties will cut back or eliminate essential educational services – some may even be forced to shut down.
• Tens of thousands of county and school employees will lose their jobs, straining the already fragile economies of these rural areas to the breaking point.

Urge your elected representative to include funding for rural schools in the supplemental appropriations bill now moving through Congress.     

Contact your representatives in Congress TODAY!

Tell Congress that access to great public schools is a basic right for rural kids, just as it is for city kids.