Tag Archives: U.S. Senate

Advocacy Alert: Urge Congress to fully fund IDEA

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A renewed push is now underway for Congress to fully fund the federal commitment under the federal special education law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  You can join in that effort.

With Congress currently in the middle of its August recess period, most members are back in their districts.  This is a great time to contact your U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator and urge them to support bi-partisan legislation—called the IDEA Full Funding Act—that would authorize a 10-year plan to get us to full funding of IDEA. You can get helpful information about contacting your members of Congress from the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA’s) advocacy webpage here.    Continue reading Advocacy Alert: Urge Congress to fully fund IDEA →

Encourage Congress to fully fund IDEA

Federal Budget, Federal Issue, NSBA, , , ,

While there are relatively few things about public education funding that governors, state legislators and school board members from across the political spectrum agree on, one of them is likely that the federal government is under-funding special education in this country.

A renewed push is now underway for Congress to fully fund the federal commitment under the federal special education law known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  You can join in that effort. Continue reading Encourage Congress to fully fund IDEA →

Congress reauthorizes Perkins Career and Technical Education Act

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Congress passed a long-awaited bipartisan overhaul of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) Act Wednesday (July 25) when the U.S. House of Representatives approved changes made by the U.S. Senate on a voice vote, then sent the legislation to the President for his signature.

The $1.1 billion Perkins CTE program, last reauthorized in 2006,  provides funding for job training and related programs for high school students as well as for students in higher education.  President Donald Trump has made career and technical education a priority for his administration and has called on Congress to send him the bill.

Continue reading Congress reauthorizes Perkins Career and Technical Education Act →

School input on lunch regulations requested as Congress finalizes farm bill

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Recently, the U.S. House passed its version of the federal farm bill, including an amendment requiring the Secretary of Agriculture to review the Obama-era federal regulations that set nutrition standards and issue new regulations for school lunch and breakfast programs that will provide greater flexibility to school districts.

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is working to ensure the school nutrition amendment is included in the final version of the farm bill. If your district has specific examples of how the current school nutrition regulations are negatively affecting your  school meal programs or student participation, please send them to Dan Rossmiller or Chris Kulow and we will forward this information to the NSBA to use to advocate for the inclusion of the amendment in the final version of the bill. Continue reading School input on lunch regulations requested as Congress finalizes farm bill →

Primary election debate held for governor; scheduled for U.S. Senate

Election, Federal Issue, State Issue,

As we get closer to the August 14 partisan primary election, the first debate for governor has been held and the first debate for U.S. Senate has been scheduled.

The eight Democratic candidates vying for the chance to take on incumbent GOP Gov. Scott Walker had their first debate Thursday, July 12 in Milwaukee. The candidates are state Superintendent Tony Evers; former state party chairman Matt Flynn; political activist Mike McCabe; state firefighters president Mahlon Mitchell; corporate attorney Josh Pade; former state Rep. Kelda Roys; Madison Mayor Paul Soglin; and state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout. Continue reading Primary election debate held for governor; scheduled for U.S. Senate →

Federal update: Career and Technical Education (CTE) draws attention

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The U.S. Senate’s Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee announced it will hold an Executive Session next week to vote on an as-yet-unnumbered proposal to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education (CTE) Act.  The proposal is included on the list of bills to be considered Wednesday, June 20, at 10:30 am.

Nearly a year ago, the U.S. House passed bipartisan legislation (HR 2353) to reauthorize the Perkins CTE Act.  While the House measure passed on a voice vote, similar proposals have been stalled in the Senate amid differences of opinion between the chairman, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and ranking Democrats, particularly over how much authority the Secretary of Education should have to oversee the program.

Continue reading Federal update: Career and Technical Education (CTE) draws attention →

Plan to convert federal Impact Aid into ESAs for military families appears halted

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Proposals introduced during recent House and Senate deliberations on the pending National Defense Authorization Act would have redirected more than $400 million from the Impact Aid program to education savings accounts (ESAs) for private school tuition.  (See previous post.)  For the time being, those proposals will not advance.

The federal Impact Aid program provides funding to school districts with non-taxable federal properties within their jurisdictions. These properties include military installations and Native American tribal lands. (According to the DPI, 22 Wisconsin school districts received a total of more than $16 million in Impact Aid in 2016-17.) Continue reading Plan to convert federal Impact Aid into ESAs for military families appears halted →