The
NEA bill is on the Hill!
NEA's Great Public Schools for Every Child Bill is in every Congressional
office. The bill includes all six NEA priority corrections that
provide real help for real students in our public schools.
- Funding
- Fully fund all federal requirements at the levels established in
the bill. Suspend all testing and accountability requirements not
fully funded.
- 'Highly
Qualified Teachers' - Ensure that all children have a 'highly qualified
teacher' by modifying the definition to reflect the unique circumstances
of special education, middle school, bilingual education, and rural
school assignments, and withdrawing the blanket exemptions applied
to charter schools, supplemental service providers, and alternate
route programs.
- 'AYP'
- Grant schools flexibility in measuring adequate yearly progress.
- Schools-in-need-of-Improvement
- Grant states flexibility in taking steps to improve schools in need
of help.
- Paraprofessionals
- Ensure that schools fund the help paraprofessionals need to meet
the new NCLB standards.
- Civil
Rights - Ensure that entities receiving federal funds comply with
federal civil rights laws.
Action Alert! Urge
your U.S. Representative and Senators to sponsor NEA's 'Great Public
Schools for Every Child' Act.
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IDEA
IDEA
Round Four - The Senate Bill
NEA applauds Senate efforts to address 'highly qualified' definition.
Less than 24 hours ago, the Senate released its IDEA reauthorization
bill that has been in the wings since the House bill passed on April
30. NEA is analyzing the as yet unnumbered bill. Stay tuned.
'Highly
Qualified' Definition - First Glance. NEA's hard work in the Senate
appears to have yielded a major policy win! NEA applauds Senate efforts
to address and correct the House bill's 'highly qualified teacher' language.
The House bill imported the ESEA/NCLB language that requires all teachers
to have degrees or to pass tests in each academic subject taught. Under
the House bill, thousands of special education teachers who have already
demonstrated their competence in their fields will be labeled as "not
highly qualified."
About
mandatory full funding of IDEA. The bill does not include mandatory
full funding.
- What's
rumored: The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) will be denied the opportunity to consider mandatory
full funding
- What
we know: The 1975 special education law guaranteed every special
needs child a "free appropriate" education. Congress promised
to reimburse states for up to 40 percent of the cost. However, Congress
has never honored this commitment. The federal government currently
provides states 18 percent of the cost. Since the inception
of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975, the unfunded
federal portion has cost local schools and taxpayers over $300 billion.
- What
we need …
Action Alert!
- Urge
Senators on the HELP
Committee -- "Ensure the Senate reauthorization bill
includes a provision for mandatory full funding of IDEA."
-
Urge Senators not on the HELP Committee to carry this message
to committee members.
