**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE**UPDATE
Dear CAN Coordinators:
It’s been a crazy day on Capitol Hill today which was only made more hectic with the House having to adjourn at 4pm to accommodate the President’s address to the nation tonight, thereby cutting the debate and voting on the charter schools bill short.
The King Amendment was debated this afternoon but an initial voice vote indicating failure of the amendment was not enough to fully defeat it as a roll call vote was called, meaning that every Member of the House will be asked to vote on the amendment. This will happen as early as tomorrow or possibly early next week.
Please send out the following alert to your networks ASAP. We have uploaded talking points to CEC’s Legislative Action Center which provides contact information for the Congressional office as well. Also, please let us know of your outreach so that we can make sure we convey this to our Congressional champions on the Hill and coordinate advocacy activities.
Thanks so much for your quick attention to this issue! Don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions. Deb, Lindsay, Kim
hrough its National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds CHADD’s National Resource Center on ADHD (NRC), along with other critical programs affecting people with limb loss, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, paralysis, autism and other disabilities.
This year, the President's budget proposes to consolidate all of these programs into one over a three-year period. This consolidation could severely and negatively impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities who rely on these programs and services every day!We need your help NOW by putting a face on these programs. Contact your elected Members of Congress now!
National CAN
***CEC ACTION ALERT***
“Funding Flexibility Bill” Plays Shell Game with Education Resources at Expense of Students Who are Disadvantaged Join CEC in opposing the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act (H.R. 2445), legislation that fails to address our nation’s most pressing education issues and instead seeks to play a shell game with limited education resources.
This misguided legislation encourages diverting — or outright eliminating — funding from programs with deep historical roots that address inequities in educational opportunity, such as the Education for the Disadvantaged Program (Title I) in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)/No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Currently, 2.5 million students with disabilities are also eligible for support from Title I.
Take action now! On Wednesday, July 13, the Education and the Workforce Committee will mark up and vote on this bill. Act before then to let them know where you stand. Send this letter to your Representative on the Education & Workforce Committee and tell them to oppose this bill.
Visit CEC's Legislative Action Center today!
Download CEC Statement House Funding Flexibility Bill
National White Can Safety Day Celebrates 46th Anniversary
October 15th marked the 46th anniversary of National White Cane Safety Day, the tool which provides freedom and independence for people who are visually impaired. In a statement issued by the White House, the President stated that canes, along with other tools such as Braille and electronic readers, have allowed students with visual impairments to have access to educational facilities and materials that help them reach their potential. Stating that the Administration is, “still committed to ensuring that electronic readers and other electronic equipment used by schools, including postsecondary institutions, are accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired”, President Obama continued to note that the Administration is also, “providing guidance and technical assistance to help colleges and universities fully comply with the legal requirements to use emerging technology that is accessible to all students in the classroom.” One way in which the White House has shown their commitment to expanding opportunities for the visually impaired is with the signing of the Twenty‑First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, legislation which will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind, or live with a visual impairment to use the technology our 21st‑century economy depends on, such as navigating digital menus on a television and sending emails on a smart phone. Furthermore, President Obama signed an Executive Order that directed executive agencies and departments to increase recruitment of people with disabilities for governmental positions. CEC commends the Administration for honoring National White Cane Safety Day and for pledging to ensure that technology used in the classroom and in the marketplace is accessible for all individuals.
http://cecblog.typepad.com/policy/2010/10/national-white-cane-safety-day-celebrates-46th-anniversary.html
http://cecblog.typepad.com/policy/2010/10/national-white-cane-safety-day-celebrates-46th-anniversary.html
Center on Education Policy
A new brief from the Center on Education Policy highlights the limited extent to which school districts are implementing the four federally-mandated school reform models intended to improve the nation's lowest-performing 5 percent of schools: turnaround, restart, closure, and transformation. Approximately $3 billion was provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for grants to districts to carry out these models, but as of last school year, fewer than 12 percent of the nation's school districts had implemented any of the four reforms, and among these districts, there were varying degrees of success. For districts that had implemented and seen results for the four models, there were no significant differences in the percentages experiencing positive results and those experiencing unknown, mixed, or poor results, except for the transformation model, for which more districts reported positive results. Examining the survey data by the type of community, the authors found one important difference among districts serving cities, suburbs, towns, or rural areas. Larger percentages of districts serving suburbs, towns, and rural areas were unfamiliar with the four models than districts serving cities were. The authors speculate that city districts have more low-performing schools and therefore may have more experience implementing the models.
See the report: http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document_ext.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=313
See the report: http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document_ext.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=313
Race to the Top
On August 24, Secretary Duncan announced that nine states and the District of Columbia had won grants in Phase 2 of the Race to the Top competition. Along with Phase 1 winners Delaware and Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia will be awarded significant funding under the Administration’s groundbreaking reform program that will directly impact 13.6 million students and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools. As with any federal grant, budgets will be finalized after discussions between the grantees and the Department, and the money will be distributed over time as the grantees meet benchmarks. “These states show what is possible when adults come together to do the right thing for children,” the Secretary declared. “Every state that applied showed a tremendous amount of leadership and a bold commitment to reform. The creativity and innovation in each of these applications is breathtaking.” While peer reviewers rated these 10 as having the highest-scoring plans, few points separated them from the remaining applications. The number of winners selected hinged on both the quality of the applications and the funding available. “We had many more competitive applications than money to fund them this round,” the Secretary noted. “We’re hopeful there will be a Phase 3 of Race to the Top and have requested $1.35 billion in next year’s budget. In the meantime, we will partner with every state that applied, to help them find ways to carry out the bold reforms they’ve proposed in their applications.”
A total of 46 states and the District of Columbia put together comprehensive reform plans to apply for Race to the Top in Phases 1 and 2. During the competition, 35 states and the District of Columbia adopted common core college- and career-ready standards in reading and math, and 34 states altered laws or policies to improve education. Every state that applied has already done the hard work of collaboratively creating an education reform agenda. In the coming months, the Department plans to convene all states to help ensure the success of their work implementing reforms around college- and career-ready standards, quality data systems, great teachers and leaders, and school turnarounds. In addition to Race to the Top, the Department has made unprecedented resources available through reform programs like the Investing in Innovation Fund, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and Title I School Improvement Grants. Through all of these programs, the agency will be distributing almost $10 billion to support education reform in states and local communities.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/.
A total of 46 states and the District of Columbia put together comprehensive reform plans to apply for Race to the Top in Phases 1 and 2. During the competition, 35 states and the District of Columbia adopted common core college- and career-ready standards in reading and math, and 34 states altered laws or policies to improve education. Every state that applied has already done the hard work of collaboratively creating an education reform agenda. In the coming months, the Department plans to convene all states to help ensure the success of their work implementing reforms around college- and career-ready standards, quality data systems, great teachers and leaders, and school turnarounds. In addition to Race to the Top, the Department has made unprecedented resources available through reform programs like the Investing in Innovation Fund, the Teacher Incentive Fund, and Title I School Improvement Grants. Through all of these programs, the agency will be distributing almost $10 billion to support education reform in states and local communities.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/.
