News
Educational Priorities? Ask the Experts--Us!

NEA members have a unique opportunity to work with the new President, Congress on legislation.

School employees just like you will be NEA's most effective lobbyists as the new Congress takes up education legislation. You can help advance NEA's legislative priorities (below) by telling lawmakers about the specific needs of your students and school. After all, you're the expert on education--and Congress needs your input.

Ask any educator about the needs of America's public schools, and you'll get an endless list. Boil it all down to five key points--focusing on more resources for low-performing schools, special education, school modernization, teacher quality, and early childhood education--and you've got NEA's legislative priorities for the new Congress.

If ever there was a year to be quick and concise about priorities, this is it.

In a country split down the middle on practically everything, public education has emerged as the one key issue on which new President George W. Bush can achieve national consensus and win groundbreaking legislation during his critical first year in office.

That's why NEA isn't wasting time.

Right before Inauguration Day, NEA delivered its legislative priorities to Bush's transition team. In just his third day in office, the President responded with his own education program, fulfilling a campaign pledge to put student achievement and school improvement on the nation's front burner.

"This historical moment," says NEA Executive Director John Wilson, "presents NEA with a wonderful opportunity to find common ground with the new administration to ensure that all public schools have the resources they need."

The federal government has never done its "fair share" to promote public education, Wilson stresses.

"This new President could do a great service by focusing on issues like IDEA funding and teacher professional development," says Wilson. "It's unrealistic to expect that local districts and states can tackle these expensive issues alone, without a full partnership with the federal government, especially in a time of a $350 billion federal surplus."

On both sides of the aisle in the new Congress, lawmakers will be looking to NEA's 2.6 million members as "the experts on what it will take to improve schools," adds NEA Government Relations Director Mary Elizabeth Teasley. "We're officially a bipartisan organization. Where we focus on issues, not partisan politics, we'll be in a good place with this new Congress."

Public education is already in a pretty good place in the 107^th Congress, thanks to:

• Progress made in the last Congress. Last December, the departing 106th Congress--deluged with messages from thousands of NEA cyber-lobbyists--increased funding for federal education programs by a record $6.6 billion, or 18 percent. On the funding list: everything from a $323 million increase for the federal class-size reduction program to the first-time funding of up to $1.2 billion in emergency public school repairs.

• An enhanced role for friends of public education. The new House of Representatives retains a highly conservative leadership, still capable of swerving toward regressive causes like teacher basic competency testing or merit pay. But the newly elected Senate is divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans, "making it easier to achieve real debate on educational issues," says NEA lobbyist Joel Packer.

  "This 50-50 split forces senators to act in a more bipartisan manner," Packer adds, "and that means that several moderate Republican senators long supported by NEA, including James Jeffords of Vermont, Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, will have more influence in debates on the needs of public schools."

• A negative public verdict on vouchers. One of President Bush's less inspired education proposals, federally funded vouchers for students in low-performing schools, will have tough sledding in this Congress, thanks in large part to the shock wave generated by voters' defeat of voucher ballot initiatives--by 70-30 margins--last November in California and Michigan.

  "For a new President who has pledged to unite the nation and end bitter partisanship, this voucher program is sure to divide us," warns NEA President Bob Chase. "Bush has an opportunity to invest in action that produces real results in troubled schools, such as reducing class size, repairing buildings, providing extra help for students who need it, and enhancing teacher quality. Let's invest in programs that have bipartisan support."

• A broad consensus on school needs. Throughout the Presidential campaign, Bush stressed themes like child literacy, early learning, higher standards, teacher quality, and closure of the "achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers." While NEA members may not agree with all of the President's approaches to these issues, we're on the same track, and there's definitely room for compromise.

• NEA's vast pool of lobbyists--including you. President Bush has stressed that he's open to suggestions on education legislation. That's a signal for NEA leaders and lobbyists, including members just like you, to educate Republicans and Democrats alike on our legislative priorities.

  "Many of our members have been in tough classroom situations," notes NEA Exec Wilson, "and have come up with the greatest ideas for turning schools around. Lawmakers need to hear about these solutions and how they can help.

"Our five crisply written legislative priorities allow us to efficiently mobilize NEA staff and resources, work for more resources for schools, and make us accountable in Washington, DC to our members on the front lines," Wilson concludes. "But we can't move these priorities without the help of every teacher and ESP in our ranks."

What You Can Do
Go to www.nea.org/lac for more on NEA's legislative priorities and bills moving through Congress. Sign up to become an NEA cyber-lobbyist, and then urge lawmakers to incorporate NEA's priorities into legislation.

NEA's Five Legislative Priorities for the 107th Congress

1. Low-Performing Schools
Our nation's top education priority should be to turn around low-performing schools, typically serving lower-income rural and urban communities.

NEA recommends that the federal government place the highest priority on addressing the needs of low-performing schools, including ensuring full funding of Title I to reach all eligible students.

A portion of Title I funds should focus on increased accountability through alignment of goals, standards, curriculums, and assessments; strengthened professional development; and the setting of standards for continual student improvement.

2. Full Special Education Funding
Although the federal government has committed to providing 40 percent of the average nationwide per-pupil expenditure to help meet the cost of educating students with disabilities, the federal share currently totals only around 15 percent.

NEA recommends "ramping up" to full funding of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act--IDEA--within six years. Once reached, full funding should be automatic, free from the unpredictable discretionary appropriations process.

3. Teacher Quality
Ensuring a qualified teacher in every classroom must be a central part of any agenda to strengthen public education and maximize student achievement.

NEA recommends a series of targeted new initiatives to help states and districts hire, train, and retain quality teachers. Federal investment should be combined with state funds for statewide, district-wide, or individual school initiatives that demonstrate proof or promise of success in recruiting and retaining quality teachers.

4. School Modernization
America's schools are in desperate need of repair and renovation. Nation-wide, unmet school needs are estimated to total more than $300 billion.

NEA recommends a federal/state/ local partnership to address school infrastructure and technology needs. The federal government should help states meet the interest costs on state or local bonds, through either tax credits or direct interest subsidies. In addition, the emergency repair grant program created last year by Congress should be expanded to meet more of our most urgent needs.

5. Early Childhood Education
How children learn and are cared for before entering kindergarten makes a huge difference in how well they perform in school.

NEA recommends that the federal government, in partnership with states, make substantial, targeted new investments to ensure that every child enters school ready to learn.

Specifically, NEA supports a comprehensive package including universal preschool, full funding of Head Start, expansion of the Child Care and Development Block Grant and Title I preschool services, and expansion and refundability of the Dependent Care Tax Credit.