Priorities for the 110th Congress

Summary of NEA Priority Areas

• Influence Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Influence reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) with a proactive agenda based on priorities outlined in NEA's Positive Agenda for the ESEA Reauthorization.
  
  
• Close Achievement Gaps. Advance proven strategies such as reducing class sizes, ensuring high quality educators, and promoting parental involvement.
  
  
• Maximize Education Funding. Maximize overall federal funding of public education, particularly for ESEA/NCLB programs such as Title I and teacher quality, IDEA, Pell Grants, E-Rate, rural education and other critical programs.
  
  
• Reduce Dropout Rates/Increase Graduation Rates. Invest $10 billion over the next 10 years to support dropout prevention programs and states who make high school graduation compulsory, starting with an appropriation of $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2008.
  
  
• Repeal Social Security Offsets. Repeal the Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP).
  
  
• Strengthen Higher Education. Strengthen teacher preparation programs, support quality innovations including distance learning, and increase access including by strengthening student aid in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
  
  
• Expand Educator Tax Relief. Encourage respect for educators by using the tax code to recognize educator sacrifice and provide additional resources for schools.
  
  
• Reduce Cost of and Improve Access to Health Care. Address the high cost of health care and prescription drugs; promote access by NEA members, children, and the public to affordable health insurance plans.
  
  
• Increase Minimum Wage. Increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour.

Influence Reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Background

A great public school is a basic right of every child. NEA's priorities for the 2007 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) focus on a broad range of policies to ensure every child access to a great public school.

The current version of ESEA -- the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) -- is fundamentally flawed. It undermines existing state and school district structures and authority, and shifts public dollars to the private sector through supplemental educational services and takeovers of public schools by for-profit companies. However, its stated goals -- to improve student achievement and help close the achievement and skills gaps that exist in our country -- are important to NEA and our society. We want to retain the positive provisions of ESEA, both those that existed prior to NCLB and those that were added by NCLB, in the 2007 reauthorization.

Congress must shift from the current focus that labels and punishes schools with a flawed one-size-fits-all accountability system and severely underfunded mandates, to one that includes common-sense flexibility and supports educators in implementing programs to improve student learning, reward success, and provide meaningful assistance to schools most in need of help.

The following five priorities are crucial to realizing the goals of improving student achievement, closing the achievement gaps, and providing every child a quality educator:

• Accountability that rewards success and supports educators to help students learn;
  
  
• Smaller class sizes to improve student achievement;
  
  
• Quality educators in every classroom and school;
  
  
• Students and schools supported by active and engaged parents, families, and communities;
  
  
• Resources to ensure a great public school for every child.

NEA Recommends

• Retain positive provisions of ESEA, both those that existed prior to NCLB and those that were added by NCLB, in the 2007 reauthorization.
  
  
• Enact changes that advance the five priorities outlined above and in NEA's Positive Agenda for the ESEA Reauthorization.  

Close Achievement Gaps

Background

Despite classroom gains made over the last several years, significant gaps in academic achievement persist among many, in particular among racial and ethnic groups, and children of low socioeconomic means. Research reveals that student achievement gaps for minority populations are large, begin early in life, and are persistent. Closing these gaps is one of the most pressing challenges facing public schools.

Class Size Reduction: Closing the achievement gaps requires that educators have more opportunities to work with students who need greater assistance. The preponderance of research evidence indicates that learning increases as class size is reduced, especially in the early grades. Studies have shown that smaller class size provides lasting benefits for students, especially for minority and low-income students, and for students with exceptional needs. Therefore, NEA supports restoring the Class Size Reduction program that existed prior to NCLB. Specifically, ESEA should provide a dedicated funding stream to complete the job of hiring 100,000 highly qualified teachers to reduce class size.

High Quality Educators: A growing body of research confirms what school-based personnel have known -- that the skills and knowledge of teachers and support professionals are the greatest factor in how well students learn. Federal policy should be directed toward providing states and school districts the resources and technical assistance to create an effective program of professional development and professional accountability for all employees. It should also help create the conditions in which teachers and education support professionals can apply their knowledge and skills most effectively to help children learn; support innovation in addressing workload issues, especially in struggling schools; and seek ways to ensure that all schools, no matter how challenging, are staffed by high quality education professionals.

Family and Community Involvement: An engaged community is a supportive community. Therefore, NEA supports policies and resources that assist communities in making schools the hub of the community and that help parents become more involved in their children's education.

NEA Recommends

• Advance proven strategies to close achievement gaps such as reducing class sizes, ensuring high quality educators, and promoting parental involvement.
  

Maximize Education Funding

Background

Funding increases for core programs like Title I, IDEA, and Pell Grants are necessary to help states, local school districts and postsecondary institutions meet the demands of increasing enrollments and higher levels of accountability. A significant investment in education is needed for a range of important programs, including many smaller programs that provide key support to critical components of our nation's education system.

Debates on the merits of certain federal education reform efforts aside, increased federal requirements cost money. In addition, resources are needed to expand and strengthen proven programs to help close achievement gaps, such as smaller classes, early childhood education, after-school programs, and improved professional development programs for teachers and other educators.

In the 2005-06 school year, almost 11,000 public schools had already failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress for two or more years under NCLB provisions, and thus faced federal sanctions. These schools will face even greater challenges in the coming year as testing and teacher quality requirements go into full effect. In fact the 2007-08 school year is the first year of mandated science testing.

The federal government is moving backwards, away from its commitment to provide 40 percent of the costs of providing special education services to students. Because of inadequate federal support, schools are often unable to provide the full spectrum of services mandated under IDEA. In addition, administrators must sometimes cut other critical programs to fund mandated IDEA services.

An increase is also needed to ensure adequate resources for higher education programs such as Pell Grants. As public universities, long seen as the "affordable" option, have to raise their tuition to make up for severe state budget cutbacks, the ability for low-income individuals to pay for college becomes an even greater challenge. When the Pell Grant program was first created, the maximum grant for the poorest students covered 84 percent of the cost of a public four-year college. Today, it covers only 39 percent.

Congress should also reauthorize and fund the Forest County and Schools program, which ensures a predictable payment to federally impacted forest counties, removing dependency on timber revenues to fund education.

The FY06 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, coupled with a 1 percent across-the-board cut enacted as part of the FY06 defense appropriations bill, resulted in significant cuts to critical education programs. Overall education funding fell below the previous year for the first time in a decade. Funding for No Child Left Behind programs was cut by $1 billion, dropping funding below the level enacted three years prior. The federal share of special education funding was also cut for the first time in a decade, from 18.6 to 17.8 percent.

NEA Recommends

• Restore and increase education funding to the levels necessary to ensure great public schools for every student.
  
  
• Reauthorize and fund the Forest County and Schools program.

Reduce Dropout Rates/Increase Graduation Rates

Background

According to estimates, about 30 percent of high school students drop out before graduation, meaning about one million students fail to graduate from high school every year. Only five in ten Black and Hispanic students graduate on time with a standard diploma, and less than one-half of American Indian and Alaska Native students complete high school.

Studies show that each class of high school dropouts costs the nation more than $200 billion in lost wages and tax revenues, as well as spending for social support programs. High school dropouts have an earnings disadvantage that tends to remain with them throughout their lives. Without the required education to obtain a good-paying job, high school dropouts often face a bleak future. The majority of inmates at state and federal prisons failed to complete high school.

A 2006 study by Civic Enterprises shared dropouts' insights on why they left school before graduation. They cited a number of factors that would have kept them in school: enhancing the connection between school and work; providing real-world learning experiences; making school more relevant and engaging; and providing more help to struggling students.

NEA Recommends

• Make high school graduation a national priority by investing $10 billion over the next 10 years to support dropout prevention programs, starting with $1 billion appropriation in FY08.
  
  
• Mandate high school graduation or equivalency for everyone below the age of 21.
  
  
• Establish and fund high school graduation centers for students 19-21 years old.
  
  
• Give school districts the tools and resources they need to:
  
  
  • Fully fund high-quality, universal preschool and full day kindergarten,
    
    
  • Increase career education and workforce readiness programs in schools so that students see the connection between school and careers after graduation,
    
    
  • Make sure students receive individual attention in safe schools with small class sizes, and
    
    
  • Address the literacy problems leading to high school dropouts, such as through the Striving Readers program.
    
    
• Monitor, accurately report, and work to reduce dropout rates by gathering accurate data for key student groups (e.g., racial, ethnic, and economic), establishing benchmarks in each state for eliminating drop outs, and adopting the standardized reporting method developed by the National Governors Association.
  
  
• Expand students' graduation options through creative partnerships with community colleges in career and technical fields and with alternative schools.
  
  
• Support the use of multiple measures of student achievement to more accurately assess students' progress.
  
  
• Support legislation that gives educators the opportunity to develop comprehensive curricula that engage students at every level of their academic careers.
  
  
• Ask governors to set benchmarks for eliminating dropout rates in their states and to create dropout commissions with all stakeholders represented.
  

Repeal Social Security Offsets

Background

The Government Pension Offset (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) unfairly reduce the retirement benefits of public employees who have dedicated their lives to serving their communities and their country. The resulting loss of income jeopardizes the retirement security of those who have chosen public service -- often at considerable financial sacrifice -- and even forces some into poverty.

The GPO reduces public employees' Social Security spousal or survivor benefits by two-thirds of their public pension. The WEP reduces the earned Social Security benefits of an individual who also receives a public pension from a job not covered by Social Security.

The GPO affects people who work as federal, state, or local government employees, including educators, police officers, and firefighters, if the job is not covered by Social Security. The WEP affects people who worked in jobs not covered by Social Security and in jobs in which they earned Social Security benefits -- such as educators who do not earn Social Security in the public schools, but who work part-time or during the summer in jobs covered by Social Security. The WEP also affects people who move from a job in which they earn Social Security to a job, such as teaching, in which they do not.

The impact of the GPO and WEP is primarily felt in those states in which public employees like educators are not covered by Social Security (Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Texas). However, because people move from state to state, there are affected individuals everywhere.

Estimates indicate that nine out of 10 public employees affected by the GPO lose their entire spousal benefit, even though their deceased spouse paid Social Security taxes for many years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the GPO reduces benefits for some 300,000 individuals by more than $3,600 a year. The GPO has the harshest impact on those who can least afford the loss: lower-income women.

The WEP causes low-paid public employees outside the Social Security system, like educators, to lose a significant portion of their Social Security benefits. The WEP also impacts the teaching profession, as people are less likely to leave other careers in which they earn Social Security benefits to become educators.

NEA Recommends

• Act immediately to repeal both the GPO and WEP.
  

Strengthen Higher Education

Background

NEA supports reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) in a manner that addresses access to adequate financial aid resources, equality of access to postsecondary educational opportunities, support for comprehensive and high quality teacher preparation programs, and a focus on the benefits to the economy and society of a strong system of two- and four-year degree-granting institutions.

Assuring equality of educational opportunity is essential to a strong economy and clearly is in the national interest. Economic independence and the ability to prosper financially are linked to educational attainment, as evidenced by decades of data.

Currently, more than 8 million postsecondary students receive financial aid. With 70 percent of this support coming from the federal government, the impact of the Higher Education Act programs in providing access cannot be overstated. In the near future, enrollment in postsecondary programs is expected to increase significantly, mostly due to significant increases in the enrollment of minority students, including many who live below the poverty line.

NEA Recommends

Reauthorize the Higher Education Act in a manner that helps close gaps and encourage respect for educators, particularly by:

• Providing financial assistance sufficient to enable all students to pay for postsecondary tuition and other appropriate expenses;
  
  
• Emphasizing needs-based financial aid through grants rather than loans;
  
  
• Expanding and improving teacher preparation programs to ensure that teachers entering the profession are highly qualified;
  
  
• Providing loan forgiveness to students who become employees in public education institutions; and
  
  
• Providing support to low-income high school students to make a successful transition to postsecondary education through programs such as GEAR UP and TRIO.

Expand Educator Tax Relief

Background

Educator Tax Deduction: Educators are spending more of their own funds each year to supply their classrooms, including purchasing essential items such as pencils, glue, scissors, and facial tissues. NEA's 2003 report, Status of the American Public School Teacher, 2000-2001, found that educators spent an average of $443 a year on classroom supplies. More recently, the National School Supply and Equipment Association found that, in 2005-2006, educators spent out of their own pockets an average of $826 for supplies and an additional $926 for instructional materials, for a total of $1,752.

In 2001, Congress enacted a two-year $250 tax deduction for educators' out-of-pocket classroom supply expenses as part of the economic stimulus package. The deduction originally expired at the end of 2003, but was extended in 2004 and again in 2006.

NEA supports expanding the deduction to cover professional development costs (an expansion made all the more critical given professional development mandates in No Child Left Behind) and make it permanent.

Background

Tax Relief for Educators in High-Need Areas: Ensuring a highly qualified educator in every classroom is critical to closing achievement gaps and maximizing students' academic success. Yet often those schools with the greatest needs, and consequently the most challenging working conditions, have the most difficulty retaining talented educators, particularly given the resources and benefits available in more affluent areas.

NEA supports providing a non-refundable tax credit to full-time educators working at schoolwide Title I-eligible schools (schools with at least 40 percent of their students from families in poverty). This tax relief would offer an incentive for talented educators to remain at high-need schools.

NEA Recommends

• Support legislation to expand and make permanent the tax deduction for educators' out-of-pocket classroom supply expenses.
  
  
• Support legislation to provide tax credits for educators at high-need, high-poverty schools.

Reduce Cost of and Improve Access to Health Care

Background

Prescription Drug Costs: American consumers are charged the highest prices in the world for the same medicines that are available in other major industrialized nations at a fraction of the cost. As a result, millions of senior citizens and individuals with disabilities, many of them retired educators living on fixed incomes, face escalating medication costs and too often must pay for medication at the expense of food or other necessities.

Uninsured Americans: The number of uninsured Americans has grown significantly over the past three years, escalating from 41.2 million in 2001 to 46.6 million in 2005. The number is increasing due to the continued high unemployment rate, soaring health care costs, and rising health insurance premiums. Of those lacking health care many are near or below the poverty line, with a disproportionate share of lower-income families, African Americans, Latinos, and other racial and ethnic minorities more likely to experience harmful consequences due to a lack of access to health care. Quality health care is essential for the well-being of our nation's children and families. Children's access to quality health care can impact on their ability to learn and succeed in school.

Public and private employers facing deteriorating economic conditions and significant budget deficits are finding it more difficult to keep pace with escalating health care costs. Contrary to popular belief, employment does not guarantee coverage, as most uninsured people work or are dependents of workers.

Medicare: The Medicare law enacted in 2003 left gaps in coverage and did little to address the rising costs of prescription drugs. NEA supports legislation that would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate fair prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. NEA also supports filling in the coverage gap for drug costs between $2,251 and $5,100; providing subsidies for employers who otherwise will drop existing coverage for more than three million seniors; eliminating taxpayer subsidies for HMOs that were included in the law to lure seniors away from traditional Medicare coverage; and prohibiting drug plans from denying seniors coverage for the drugs they need.

NEA Recommends

• Close the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D.
  
  
• Allow for the re/importation of safe, affordable prescription drugs from other industrialized nations.
  
  
• Allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate fair prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries.
  
  
• Expand access to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
  
  
• Move toward a national health care policy that will mandate universal coverage with the highest quality health care at the lowest possible cost.

Increase the Minimum Wage

Background

December 2006 marked the longest period without an increase in the federal minimum wage since the minimum wage was established in 1938. In the nine years since the last minimum wage increase, its value has fallen 20 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In 2006, its purchasing power fell to its lowest level since 1955.

NEA members know first-hand the impact of poverty on children's ability to learn and succeed. Too many of our nation's working families simply cannot afford to provide the most basic necessities for their children.

Raising the minimum wage plays a vital role in ensuring family stability and the well-being of thousands of students in our public schools. It is particularly critical given the pressures on lower-income families, including increasing costs of health care, prescription drugs, child care, and other essential expenses.

NEA Recommends

• Increase the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour.