“Every Child Achieves Act of 2015,” bipartisan Senate legislation to reauthorize the ESEA/NCLB

The U.S. Senate is at work on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) also known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  The new legislation is titled  Every Child Achieves Act.  The bill is being marked up in committee this week.  If you are signed up for National PTA Action Alerts, you received one on Monday.  You can access that link here:  http://cqrcengage.com/npta2/app/write-a-letter?2&engagem.  For more information from National PTA continue reading below

WSPTA in the Other Washington for National Legislative Convention.

While Washington State holds its annual legislative assembly in October, National PTA holds its Legislative Conference in Mid-March. This year, a delegation of WSPTA members attended the three day event and spoke with congressional leadership about issues concerning the proposed update of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (Currently known as No Child Left Behind) and expanding family engagement.

In addition to lobbying activies, the delegation took time out to present our own Senator Patty Murray with National PTA's Congressional Voice for Children Award.  Pictured below is incoming National PTA President and former WSPTA President, Laura Bay; Vice President Barbara Martin; Legislative Director Sherry Krainick; Senator Patty Murray; President Heather Gillette; National PTA board member and former WSPTA President Scott Allen, and Region 6 legislative chair Heidi Bennett.

Family Engagement in Education Act of 2015

Yesterday, the Family Engagement in Education Act of 2015 was introduced in the US House of Representatives by Congressman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Congressman Mark Desaulnier (D-CA), and in the Senate by Senators Jack Reed (D-RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Chris Coons (D-DE).

These Congressional champions need our help!  Contact your members of Congress and ask them to cosponsor the Family Engagement in Education Act of 2015. The evidence is clear—schools need parents to help close the achievement gap, and we stand ready to help them with this important task. We need Congress to make sure that family engagement is a cornerstone of the ESEA reauthorization.

Please take a moment to Take Action, contact your Members of Congress today and ask them to co-sponsor the bill today!

House of Representatives to Vote on ESEA Re-authorization This Week

The House of Representatives will vote this week on The Student Success Act (H.R. 5) to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—No Child Left Behind (ESEA-NCLB). The time is now for Congress to hear your voice, Take Action!

 

Congress needs to hear that PTA supports:

• Safeguarding all family engagement provisions, modeled—in part—from the Family Engagement in Education Act.
• Adequate authorization levels to support critically important programs.
• The exclusion of any provision that would create or lead to a private school voucher, including Title I portability funding.  
• Providing access to well-rounded education curricula for all students.
• Safeguarding and improving equity protections and dedicated funding streams for disadvantaged populations.
• Developing ambitious, yet appropriate, state-driven accountability systems with growth and performance goals to replace Adequate Yearly Progress.
• Guaranteeing that all students receive quality instruction from well-prepared teachers and pupil support personnel.
• Improving state longitudinal data systems and sharing of student data. 

Please take a moment to Take Action, contact your Representative today and voice your concerns!

Join National PTA in supporting Family Engagement as an intergral part of updating No Child Left Behind.

Congressional members led by Senators Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander are pushing to reauthorize and update the Elementary and Secondary Education Act known in its current form as No Child Left Behind.  National and State PTA are urging our members to contact their representatives in congress and remind them of our commitment to include the funding for family engagement programs in the final bill.  Please click here to send this important message to our federal leaders.

National PTA Applauds Bipartisan Legislation to Improve the Nation’s Juvenile Justice System

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Dec. 11, 2014) — Today, a bill to reauthorize the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) was introduced in the Senate as a means to improve and strengthen the juvenile justice system in the United States. The JJDPA, which was signed into law in 1974, prevents children and youth from entering the juvenile justice system and protects those currently in the system.

Since the passage of the JJDPA, thousands of children and youth have been provided with family and community-based alternatives to incarceration and kept separate from adults in detention. While the impact of the JJDPA over the last 40 years has been remarkable, improvements need to be made to the nation’s juvenile justice system. Loopholes left in the JJDPA as well as amendments made to the law over the years have weakened its protections and resulted in thousands of children and youth being detained for minor offenses such as skipping school. Additionally, research shows that minority youth are overrepresented in the system.

FY2015 Appropriations

FY2015 officially begins October 1, 2014, with the FY2014 budget set to expire on September 30. Last week, to prevent another government shutdown, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that extends funding levels through December 11.  The Senate roll call vote can be found here and the House vote here.

The CR extends the current funding levels from the FY2014 Omnibus Appropriations Act, under all terms and conditions, through December 11, 2014. However, due to the annualized rate of spending in FY2015, the CR included an across-the-board cut of 0.0554% in order to conform with the FY2014 spending cap. For Department of Education programs, that would be a cut of $37.3 million. However, since almost all ED programs are forward funded, that cut will only affect a small number of programs during the period of the CR. Because the CR was an extension, very few changes were made to the bill itself and National PTA did not take an official position (an earlier letter sent by our coalition partners expressing our support for the FY2014 Omnibus Approps Act is available athttp://www.wastatepta.org/files/Consolidated_Appropriations_House.pdf). 


Congress is now adjourned until after the November elections and right now both the Senate and House are scheduled to return on Tuesday, November 12 for a lame duck session.  When they return, these cuts in the current CR could be replaced by FY2015 spending bill. We will keep you posted on FY2015 developments, as there are several different paths Congress could take including another CR through the end of the year/spring or passing a full or partial FY2015 spending bill. 

Federal Budget Update

Federal Budget Progress: Last night (Thursday, December 12, 2013), the House passed the Bipartisan Budget Act by a vote of 332-94. This was legislation based on the budget deal announced earlier this week. The next step is for the Senate to vote on the bill. The bill provides sequester relief and continues to forward fund education.

Sequester Update

The National PTA Government Affairs team has prepared an action alert asking Congress to replace the harmful sequester cuts with a balanced, fair approach. Take action today to make your voice heard! NDD United has released a report on the effects of the sequester. Visit PTA.org/Advocacy for more information on the sequester!