Today and tomorrow, the U.S. House of Representatives is considering the education funding bill for Fiscal Year 2005 and a vote on the bill is expected tomorrow (Thursday). This bill falls far short of providing the necessary funds to implement the reforms under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Under this bill, NCLB will be funded at $9.5 billion less than was authorized for this year and IDEA will receive $2.5 billion less than authorized. While the bill provides some increases, the total increase is the smallest increase for America’s students in nearly a decade. At the same time, the White House has proposed to cut education funding by $5 billion over the next five years. Congress must not allow this to occur.
Take Action
Call and/or email your U.S. Representative and urge them to support all amendments to this bill that will increase education funding. In addition, urge them to VOTE NO if amendments to increase education funding are rejected. You can be connected with your Representative by calling the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Tell Congress that this budget has the wrong priorities for our nations’ children and families.
America’s students struggle under current funding levels:
* These cuts come at an especially inopportune time, as state education budgets continue to shrink and schools are struggling to provide quality services to increased numbers of disadvantaged students and students with special needs, while also being required to implement accountability and testing mandated under NCLB and IDEA.
* America’s 4.6 million low-income students remain inadequately equipped to meet the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. This coming year, over half of the nation’s school districts will receive less Title I funding than they did last year while the federal government is demanding more of them.
* America’s 6.9 million students with disabilities across the nation are receiving less than half of the federal funding for special education promised to states and local governments when the law was passed .
America’s Students will struggle if funding is not increased beyond what is included in the House bill. The House bill would:
* Eliminate over 20 vital proven education programs including dropout prevention, state grants for innovative education, parental assistance centers, , arts in education, and community technology centers.
* Cut vital support services necessary for student success such as comprehensive school reform, educational technology state grants, and smaller learning communities.
* Level fund many essential support services for students such as elementary and secondary school counseling, magnet schools, school libraries, and after school learning centers.
Remind your Representative that:
* A December 2002 National PTA poll of citizens who voted in the 2002 mid-term elections found that 61 percent of American citizens feel federal spending for education must be increased to fulfill the commitments made in NCLB. Further, 74 percent felt the law would not be effective if Congress failed to provide the funding authorized in the law.
* 5 Cents Makes Sense: Increasing federal education funding from 2.7 cents to 5 cents would enable schools to provide universal preschool/early childhood education, recruit, hire, and train new, quality teachers to reduce class size and serve 2.4 million low income students with Title I services.
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