CEC Policy Insider

Make Your Voice Heard: Join the OSERS Conversation for Change Now!

Join the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, along with the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Social Security Administration for a free, public, online dialogue to discuss the impact of federal regulation and legislation on successful transition from school to work of youth with disabilities.

Help these agencies by identifying current barriers and opportunities to improve transition outcomes by participating in the discussion and bringing your expertise. The discussion hosts are looking for anyone with a personal or professional stake in supporting youth and young adults and their transition from school to living, working and thriving in their communities. The purpose of this discussion is to help federal agencies improve the legislation and regulations intended to support school to work force transitions for youth with disabilities by helping to facilitate strategic communication and the alignment of policies between agencies.   

To register for the discussion, and find more information, please click here.

Calling all Stories about the Impact of Sequestration!

CEC is looking for stories about the impact of sequestration – not just the amount of education money cut from the budgets of districts, schools and states, but about the consequences of those budget cuts – layoffs, reduction or changes in services, fewer children/students served, etc. As many of you know, the sequestration cuts came about as part of Congress’s approach to the deficit, and include a 5% across-the-board cut to all education funding, including IDEA. Your district will see this cut in July. For more information on sequestration, you can read our one-pager here.

If you have any stories from your own schools, please send them our way! Reach out to other schools and districts as well. The more stories we have the better we’ll be able to demonstrate to Congress the detrimental consequences of sequestration. We would like to receive a first batch of stories by Tuesday, May 7. You can email them to pubpol@cec.sped.org. Please include your name, your school district, city and state, your role, and a contact phone number.

Help us continue to advocate for children and youth with disabilities, their families and the professionals who work with them. Send us your stories, and then, send a letter to Congress via CEC’s Legislative Action Center telling Congress to protect education funding. We need your help today – make your voice heard!

CEC Joins National Education, Disability, Mental Health Organizations in Calling for School Safety Framework

This month, CEC joined with numerous national education, disability, and mental health organizations in supporting a framework for improving school safety and increasing access to mental health supports for children and youth.

A Framework for Safe and Successful Schools was created by the American School Counselor Association, National Association of School Psychologists, School Social Work Association of America, National Association of School Resource Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. 

The Framework challenges the notion that reactionary measures alone will keep children safe in schools, and instead embraces a proactive, interdisciplinary approach that centers on six policy recommendations:

1. Allow for blended, flexible use of funding streams in education and mental health services;

2. Improve staffing ratios to allow for the delivery of a full range of services and effective school–community partnerships;

3. Develop evidence-based standards for district-level policies to promote effective school discipline and positive behavior;

4. Fund continuous and sustainable crisis and emergency preparedness, response, and recovery planning and training that uses evidence-based models;

5. Provide incentives for intra- and interagency collaboration; and

6. Support multitiered systems of support (MTSS).

More than 100 education and children’s mental health groups and experts have endorsed the recommendations outlined in the Framework, including CEC, the National Education Association, American Association of School Administrators, Mental Health America, and many other organizations.

Read the Framework for Safe and Successful Schools

Read CEC/CCBD’s Testimony to Congress on School Safety

Read CEC’s Policy on Safe and Positive School Climate

“Welcome back to another day in paradise”: CEC Celebrates Teachers at the White House Teacher of the Year Ceremony

“Welcome back to another day in paradise,” is how National Teacher of the Year award winner Jeff Charbonneau greets his students every day. For him, school is paradise – he says that the work is a reward of its own.

Yesterday, CEC’s President Christy Chambers, and Associate Executive Director for Policy and Advocacy Deborah Ziegler attended the ceremony at the White House to celebrate this year’s Teacher of the Year. Attendees gathered in the Rose Garden to hear remarks by President Barack Obama as he honored Charbonneau, a science teacher from Zillah, Washington. Charbonneau reinvigorated the science curriculum in Washington State, where students now participate in everything from robotics competitions to drama productions because of the energy and passion Charbonneau brings to his work.

 “Educators like Jeff and everyone up here today, they represent the very best of America – committed professionals who give themselves fully to the growth and development of our kids,” said President Obama during his remarks. “And with them at the front of the classroom and leading our schools, I am absolutely confident that our children are going to be prepared to meet the tests of our time and the tests of the future.”

State Teachers of the Year from all over the country attended the event and were celebrated during the ceremony – an homage to the teaching profession, and to public education. Included among the honorees was National Teacher of the Year finalist, and CEC member, Alex Lopes, a prekindergarten special education teacher who had been named Florida Teacher of the Year by his home state. Also among those honored yesterday was Shannon Shanning, special education teacher for seventh and eighth grade and the Maine Teacher of the Year. CEC congratulates both Lopes and Shanning on this wonderful honor, and applauds all that they’ve done for children and youth with disabilities.

CEC congratulates all of the teachers honored at the Teacher of the Year ceremony on their extraordinary work and contributions to the field of teaching and education.

“The teachers from across the Nation present at the Teacher of the Year Ceremony embody the best of the teaching profession,” says CEC President Christy Chambers. “And I recognize and commend each of them for the work that they do every day to ensure great outcomes for children.”

Education is not an Expense, it is an Investment: Secretary Duncan Testifies about President Obama’s Education Budget

Today, the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor Health and Human Services about the President’s budget proposal. He staunchly defended investment in education and urged the Senate to eliminate sequestration cuts.

According to Secretary Duncan, “The big takeaway message here is that education is more than a set of numbers on the ledger line. Education is not just an expense—it's an investment. In fact, it is one of the most critical investments in the future that we, as a Nation, can make. America cannot win the race for the future without investing in education—it's that simple.”

Secretary Duncan highlighted several investments in the President’s Budget proposal including his focus on early childhood and early learning. He also specifically urged Congress to reject the 8% across the board sequestration cuts which are slated to be in place for the next 9 years.

CEC was pleased to hear the Secretary speak out on these important issues and continues to urge members of Congress to reject the coming 9 years of Sequestration. Want to join us? Know your zipcode? Then use CEC’s Legislative Action Center to contact your members of Congress and tell them to invest in education.

Want to know more about what Secretary Duncan told Congress today? Read his statement or watch the full hearing.

Not sure what “sequestration” is? Read our 1 page explainer!

Curious about where we are in the budget process? Read our 1 page quick explanation!