Budget cuts impact real people. Everyday ordinary Americans — students, middle class families, seniors, persons with disabilities — will see essential services they depend on dramatically downsized if Congress fails to act by the end of the year on the looming “fiscal cliff.”

At risk are jobs, schools, health care, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and veterans benefits unless members of Congress work together to find a balanced approach that preserves tax cuts for the middle class and asks the wealthy, CEOs and corporations to pay their fair share.

The consequences of across-the-board cuts to students and schools would be devastating:

• Services cut or eliminated for more than 9 million students, including 1.8 million students living in poverty and receiving Title I services.
• 69,000 students in our neediest schools hurt by cuts to School Improvement Grants.
• Students with disabilities see a drop in funding to 2006 levels in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, despite a 27 percent rise in costs since then.
• Rural education cut by $15 million, even though rural schools have absorbed 70 percent of increases in school enrollment.
• Nearly 80,000 education jobs lost at early childhood, elementary and secondary, and postsecondary levels.

Share your story. Tell us how “fiscal cliff” budget cuts would affect your students, you, your schools and your school colleagues. Make sure Congress hears your voice and knows you will hold them accountable.