CEC Policy Insider

CEC Twitter Town Hall: Arne and Alexa Answer Your Questions

Ever wonder what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan thinks about special educators, measures of student growth and new teacher evaluation systems? Ask him! Ever wonder what Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services thinks about co-teaching? Ask her!

On Wednesday, April 11, from 1-1:45pm Mountain Standard Time or 3-3:45pm Eastern Standard Time CEC will be hosting a Twitter Town Hall with Arne and Alexa. This is a great opportunity for you to ask questions and get answers straight from decision makers.

Tweet your questions today! Send your questions (140 characters or less), to @CECAdvocacy, @CECMembership or @CECConvention and CEC will send them directly to the Department of Education so that Arne and Alexa can answer in real time. It couldn’t be easier!

Can’t attend or want to see the full discussion after the fact, CEC will post a link on its website right after the conversation where you can see a full archive of the event. And – if you just can’t attend this Twitter Town Hall, but really want to ask something, just tweet us your question @cecadvocacy anytime between now and 1pm MST (3pm EST) next Wednesday.

Finally, this is also a great opportunity for you to start following CEC’s new Policy and Advocacy Twitter Account @CECAdvocacy.  Here you will find lots of great fast information about what is happening in Special Education policy in real time. So follow us and get the scoop!

Secretary Duncan Warns Again: Sequester Will Be Devastating

Today, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified in front of the US House of Representatives Education and the Workforce Committee about the President’s budget request, the Administration’s view of the Ryan Budget currently being debated on the House floor, and about the potential consequences of sequestration, the automatic cuts set to begin in January of 2013. In today’s hearing, Duncan faced tough questions and gave the most detail yet about how worried the Administration is about the looming cuts to education.

Let’s start with the Ryan Budget:  While the Ryan Budget, which is being considered by the full House of Representatives (this week!! Send a letter opposing this budget – click here.) does not specify how much the government could spend on specific programs, like IDEA, it sets the overall number the government can spend so low that the Department of Education’s calculations indicate IDEA Part B Grants to States would be cut by $2.2 billion dollars. This is a number which makes education almost unsustainable at current levels. And it cannot be seen in isolation because right around the corner is …

Sequestration: Last summer’s debt showdown ended with an agreement to raise the debt ceiling; but it also included another $1.2 trillion in savings – which could either be found by the so-called Supercommittee or through a process called “sequester.”  The Supercommittee failed, so the sequester is triggered. Sequester means automatic across the board cuts. While some programs are exempt from this, meaning they cannot be cut, education is not excluded. Education will be cut. Thus, unless Congress changes the law, on January 2, 2013, every education program will be cut by 7.8%-9.1%.

Sequestration Reality: IDEA cut by $900 million; 10,000 Jobs lost: Duncan gave the starkest idea yet about what sequestration will mean for education. He said that the Department of Education is currently working on tables that will tell states exactly how much money they will lose under the sequester. Early estimates indicate IDEA will be cut by over $900 million nationally. Duncan testified that this cut will result in a loss of jobs of over 10,000 special educators, paraprofessionals and others who work with children and youth with disabilities. These cuts will devastate services to children and youth with disabilities, especially at such a fragile time for our economy. Furthermore, as he testified “it is unfathomable to ask students to pay the price for adult dysfunction.”

What is CEC doing? CEC is joining with its many coalition members in the nation’s capital and around the country to oppose the sequester and encourage Congress and the Administration to as Duncan testified, “avoid a sequester by passing a balanced deficit reduction measure including targeted savings that total at least as much as the $1.2 trillion that was required by the Budget Control Act.” This will be our guiding message this year.

How can you help? Start by sending a letter to your Representative and letting them know that you oppose the House Budget Resolution. Click here. Next, send a letter to your Senator and tell him/her to support Senate Bill 1403 the IDEA Full Funding Act. Keep Congress’s Promise! Click here. Finally, watch the Policy Insider for upcoming events like a free webinar, a virtual hill day and other ways to let Congress know they need to protect education funding.  Stay Tuned! Together we can make a difference.

Office of Public Engagement Seeks Nominations for Champions of Change

The White House Office of Public Engagement, the Department of Labor and the Department of Education are partnering to honor individuals doing great work in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to increase opportunities in education and employment in those fields. The program is called Champions of Change, and the White House is seeking nominations from across the country to identify these individuals.  Nominations are open now through midnight on April 7.

The Champions of Change program will highlight stories and examples from citizens across the country that represent the White House’s vision of excellence in innovation and education that outpace the rest of the world with projects and initiatives that advance their communities. Each week, OPE will host an event to honor those who are “Winning the Future,” and inspire and empower other members of their communities. Attendees of the events will include Agency representatives and White House Policy Offices.

The program is seeking people whose work includes:

• Hiring people with disabilities in STEM fields
• Making STEM materials accessible for people with disabilities
• Advancing educational opportunities for people with disabilities in STEM
• Promoting STEM opportunities for people with disabilities
• Developing programs or initiatives that change attitudes about STEM for people with disabilities
• Inventing STEM products for people with disabilities

 Nominate a CEC special educator by clicking here. Nominations close at midnight on April 7.

Secretary Duncan: Ryan Budget Will Cut IDEA by $2.2 Billion

This week, U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, testified before the Appropriations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. His words and outlook for the future of special education funding were bleak.

First, Secretary Duncan testified that if enacted, the fiscal year (FY) 2013 Budget proposed by Chairman of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan (R-WI), which we discussed in a blog post earlier this week, would result in a cut to funding for the Part B Grants to States program of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of $2.2 billion dollars. This amount is stark and unacceptable. It will greatly inhibit our nation’s schools’ ability to serve children with youth with disabilities. Speak out against this Budget! Join CEC and tell your Representative to vote NO!

Next, Secretary Duncan discussed the impact of sequester on education. Sequester is the process Congress and the Administration agreed to in the Budget Control Act last August,which will begin on January 1, 2013, when all education programs will be cut. According to Secretary Duncan, the impact of the sequester on education will be “significant and very negative.” He further stated, “[I]t would jeopardize our Nation’s ability to develop and support an educated, skilled workforce that can compete in the global economy.” Read all of Secretary Duncan’s testimony here.

Tell Congress to protect education! Vote against the House FY13 Budget Proposal! Join CEC and send a letter today.

House Republicans Budget Likely Means Cuts to Education

This week, the Chairman of the Budget Committee in the US House of Representatives, Paul Ryan (R-WI), released the House Republican’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2013 – A Path to Prosperity.  In general, this budget proposes to spend 33% less than the President’s budget on the areas of education, training, employment and social services and make major changes to Medicaid.  While many details must still be clarified, CEC is concerned with what this budget would mean for education.

The material released by the Chairman does not provide specific details on spending cuts to education and other domestic programs, but the proposal does state it will reduce the amount of discretionary spending (including education) by $19 billion from a total level that both the House and Senate agreed on last summer in the Budget Control Act.  In addition, the proposal seeks to reduce spending for important health and education programs, known as Function 500 programs, by $9.5 billion.

The proposal attempts to address the issue of the year, sequestration or automatic cuts. This 9.1% across the board cut will apply to every program in the Department of Education and will begin on January 1, 2013. CEC will be joining with several other groups throughout this year to oppose sequestration and urge Congress to find a better way to reduce the deficit. Chairman Ryan’s proposal would replace the first year of automatic cuts with cuts to mandatory-funded domestic programs, not including education. However, it leaves in place the more than $1 trillion of sequestration cuts that will occur to education programs in FY 14 - FY 21.

Overall, while CEC was not pleased to see the President’s request for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in his budget proposal, essentially level funding, we support the President’s commitment to making education a priority. Unfortunately, if the Path to Prosperity is enacted we have grave concerns about the future of funding for any education program. 

One bright note, was a letter sent by the Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, John Kline (R-MN) in which he urged members of the Appropriations Committees to fully fund IDEA. Read CEC’s letter thanking him for his commitment to funding IDEA here.