Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced legislation, the Keep Our Educators Working Act, that would provide local communities with $23 billion to help avoid massive layoffs of teachers and other cutbacks in public education. A subcommittee of the US Senate Appropriations Committee held hearings on the prospect of new federal money intended to stave off the layoff and/or non-hiring of some 250,000 public school employees this fall. NEA produced short videos on the hearings:
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) enacted in 1965 was a piece of legislation that infused federal money into the nation’s schools, established programs like Head Start and provided educational resources for under-served communities. It was reauthorized and re-named “No Child Left Behind” in 2002 and did just that… leaving children behind focusing on high-stakes testing and underfunding the very resources that would help.
We are now faced with the Obama Administration’s ESEA plan, which still continues with more one-size-fits-all testing, blaming teachers and labeling schools as winners and losers.
CTA’s principles for ESEA Reauthorization support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and offer CTA’s “Reach for the STARS”, our five-point reauthorization principles which include Students, Teachers, Accountability, Resources and Innovation and Systems.
What you can do:
· Email your member of Congress to oppose this ESEA reauthorization
· Take the NEA survey on how you and your students are affected by this legislation