CEC Policy Insider

Sequestration is Fast Approaching: CEC Shares Concerns with White House

Sequestration, the DC name for $85 billion dollars of across the board budget cuts, is less than 10 days away. If Congress and the Administration fail to act, the US Dept. of Education will lose $2.5 billion dollars on March 1. On February 19, CEC attended a speech that President Obama delivered at the White House in which he urged Congress to take all needed steps to ensure that sequestration cuts, which he described would have the impact of a “meat cleaver” do not occur. View his remarks here.

Following this speech, CEC attended a meeting with representatives from other national education associations and top level White House education policy staff. At this meeting, CEC presented specific concerns about how sequestration cuts will impact special educators and children and youth with disabilities and/or gifts and talents. Read this Q&A for more information. White House staff is working with the education community to understand how budget cuts over the past few years have impacted education and how districts will be forced to cut if sequestration occurs.

According to CEC and CASE members, districts have made several cuts over the last few years and thus, sequestration is most likely to mean job cuts. IDEA is projected to lose $600 million in the next seven months. Districts will see reduced amounts in their July 1 allocations, thus this cut will impact the 2013-2014 school year.

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Do 2 things – (1) send a letter to your members of Congress and share your concerns directly with them. It’s easy! Click here and use our Legislative Action Center – all you have to know is your zipcode. (2) Personalize the Op-Ed we have drafted for you and send it to media outlets in your area. These are 2 highly effective, easy and quick ways to ensure your concerns get noticed.

U.S. Department of Education Releases ESEA Flexibility Brochure and Fact Sheets

Available today via the U.S. Department of Education's website are a set of materials that provide a substantive overview of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) flexibility process—also known as ESEA waivers—by which 34 states and the District of Columbia have applied for and received flexibility regarding certain provisions of ESEA.  The intent of these materials—a brochure and five companion fact sheets—is to explain the rationale and intent of ESEA flexibility, as well as address its key components and highlight plan elements for a number of states approved for flexibility. 

The brochure and fact sheets can be found on the Department’s updated ESEA flexibility web page.  Individual links to the documents are below:

• “The Opportunity of ESEA Flexibility” (brochure)
• “Protecting School and Student Accountability” (fact sheet)
• “Advancing Accountability and Graduation Rates” (fact sheet)
• “Continuing to Expose and Close Achievement Gaps” (fact sheet)
• “Turning Around the Lowest-Performing Schools” (fact sheet)
• “Supporting Teachers, Leaders, and Local Innovation” (fact sheet)

President Obama’s Second Inauguration Celebrates Diversity, Civil Rights; Education Remains Legislative Priority in 2013

President Barack Obama’s second term began on Monday, January 21, 2013 as between 800,000 and 1 million people gathered on the Mall in Washington D.C. to watch the ceremonial swearing in of the President and Vice President of the United States. The Inauguration celebrated civil rights and diversity with performances by Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, James Taylor and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, as well as a poem read by Richard Blanco. The invocation was given by Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, and the benediction was given by Rev. Luis Leon of St. John’s Church, Washington.

The President’s Inaugural Address spoke to the power of the government to help its citizens and our ability to triumph if we all come together as Americans. In particular, the President referenced the government’s ability to provide support to children with disabilities and their families. The President also mentioned teachers, stating that “No single person can train all the math and science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future,” reminding us that education is a vast undertaking and vital to the future of all children.

Education will continue to be a priority in the second term. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the first ten measures of the new Congress. This list includes both the Sandy Hook Elementary School Violence Reduction Act and the Strengthen our Schools and Students Act. You can see the full list by clicking here.

Additionally, the House Education and the Workforce Committee held their first Full Committee Organizational Meeting of the 113^th Congress to outline their goals, which include reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act/No Child Left Behind and better protection of students in schools. You can read the full statement from Chairman John Kline (R-MN) by clicking here.

CEC will continue to advocate regarding these legislative priorities as well as the initiatives presented by President Obama’s Department of Education. Stay tuned as President Obama’s second term and the 113^th Congress get started! 

Does Obama’s Win Signal Changes for Education in Second Term?

Last night’s election results – which secured wins for President Obama, Senate democrats and House republicans – have us all speculating what the next four years will hold for education policy issues.  Here are a few initial observations:

• Education Funding will Still Face Hurdles: Although President Obama has been historically supportive of increasing funding for education programs, we cannot forget that Congress is the branch of government that actually sets funding levels and the impact of the political split between a Republican-led House of Representatives and a Democratic-led Senate will likely result in a continuation of the recent fiscal debates. 

Presidential Candidates Invoke Education into Foreign Policy Debate

It was an education policy wonk’s dream: presidential candidates fighting to talk about education during a presidential debate!

That’s exactly what happened during Tuesday’s foreign policy debate between President Obama and Governor Romney.  Education, a topic that is rarely mentioned during such public debates, was discussed numerous times during the last debate between the two candidates.

While the candidates spent most of the 90 minutes focused on issues abroad, significant references were made to domestic policy, including education.  The most heated exchange came when moderator Bob Schaffer asked both candidates to explain how they see our role in the world. Below are excerpts from both candidate’s answers which referred to education:

• Gov. Romney: “You can’t have kids coming out of college, half of whom can’t find a job today, or a job that’s commensurate with their college degree. We have to get our economy going.”
  
  “…we’re going to have to have training programs that work for our workers and schools that finally put the parents and the teachers and the kids first, and the teachers union’s going to have to go behind.”

• Obama: “… let’s take an example that we know is going to make a difference 21st century, and that’s our education policy. We didn’t have a lot of chance to talk about this in the last debate. You know, under my leadership, what we’ve done is reformed education, working with governors, 46 states. We’ve seen progress and gains in schools that were having a terrible time, and they’re starting to finally make progress. And what I now want to do is to hire more teachers, especially in math and science, because we know that we’ve fallen behind when it comes to math and science. And those teachers can make a difference.
  
  Now, Governor Romney, when you were asked by teachers whether or not this would help the economy grow, you said, this isn’t going to help the economy grow. When you were asked about reduced class sizes, you said class sizes don’t make a difference. But I tell you, if you talk to teachers, they will tell you it does make a difference.
  
  And if we’ve got math teachers who are able to provide the kind of support that they need for our kids, that’s what’s going to determine whether or not the new businesses are created here. Companies are going to locate here depending on whether we’ve got the most highly skilled workforce. And the kinds of budget proposals that you’ve put forward — when we don’t ask either you or me to pay a dime more in terms of reducing the deficit, but instead we slash support for education, that’s undermining our long-term competitiveness. That is not good for America’s position in the world. And the world notices.”

• Gov. Romney: “…about education, because I’m — I’m so proud of the state that I had the chance to be governor of. We have, every two years, tests that look at how well our kids are doing. Fourth graders and eighth graders are tested in English and math. While I was governor, I was proud that our fourth graders came out number one of all 50 states in English and then also in math, and our eighth graders number one in English and also in math — first time one state had been number one in all four measures. How did we do that?
  
  Well, Republicans and Democrats came together on a bipartisan basis to put in place education that focused on having great teachers in the classroom.”

• President Obama: “But that was 10 years before you took office.”  “… And then you cut education spending when you came into office.”

• Gov. Romney: “The first — the first — and we kept our schools number one in the nation. They’re still number one today. And the principles that we’ve put in place — we also gave kids not just a graduation exam that — that determined whether they were up to the skills needed to — to be able to compete, but also, if they graduated in the top quarter of their class, they got a four-year tuition-free ride at any Massachusetts public institution of higher learning.”

• President Obama: “That happened — that happened before you came into office.”

• Gov. Romney: “That was actually mine, actually, Mr. President. You got that fact wrong.”

Okay, maybe the candidates bickered more than debated education policy.  But let’s be honest, it felt good to have education injected into the foreign policy debate!

Want more information about the education policy platforms of the two candidates and political parties?  Check out CEC’s I Educate, I Participate: 2012 Presidential Election Voter Education Guide.which has the candidate’s positions on education, voter registration information, a polling place locator, classroom resources and more!