A Tale of the House and Senate Budgets

With both the Senate and House budgets now seeing the light of day, there is time to compare and contrast them both. The non-partisan budget website run by the Legislative Evaluative and Accountability Program and the Office of Financial Management website compares the House and Senate budget's here.  That graphic goes deep into the weeds and develops a side by side fiscal comparison between the two proposals.  The key differences in the budgets are as follows:  

1) How revenue is generated for each proposal

2) Funding Higher Education

3) The approach to teacher and state employee cost of living increases

4) Level and extent given to funding capital dollars for school construction.

National PTA Applauds Bi-Partisan Legislation to Expand Access to High-Quality Early Learning Programs

This week, the Strong Start for America’s Children Act of 2013 was introduced in the House and Senate as a means to ensure that every child has access to high-quality early education.

“The education of our nation’s children must begin long before they enter school as research shows that providing effective, targeted supports and interventions to children and parents starting at birth will better prepare them for academic and career success,” said Otha Thornton, National PTA President. “National PTA applauds this bi-partisan legislation and encourages the House and Senate to take swift action to move forward the issue of early childhood education to expand access to high-quality programs for all children.”