NEA board member Karen Schuett, a teacher in Bakersfield, California, flew to Washington last week to join NEA partners and allies in urging Congress to renew the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) and Community Self-Determination Act. First enacted in 2000, the law supports public education and community services in over 4,400 schools in 770 rural counties…
Funds earmarked for public schools and daycare centers serving military families could be used instead to erect barriers on our southern border. At President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is diverting $3.6 billion from projects approved by Congress to construction of his border wall, which Mexico was supposed to pay for. Those projects include long-overdue renovations…
Keep telling your senators to push for action on bills that help families and educators As the Senate begins its August recess, the list of House-passed bills awaiting action just grows longer. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is proud of his refusal even to consider legislation with broad-based support—in the House and among the…
House passes bipartisan budget bill On July 25, the House passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 (H.R. 3877), which lifts the budget caps introduced in 2011 and prevents severe cuts in non-defense discretionary (NDD) funding for fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Bipartisan support for the deal demonstrates how damaging the budget caps’ automatic cuts…
NEA Member Testifies on Recruiting and Retaining Teachers before House Committee Michael Brosnan, a Bridgeport, Conn. high school teacher and member of the Connecticut Education Association, told members of the House Committee on Education and Labor that recruiting and retaining educators is a huge challenge for several reasons-including the cost of higher education, low teacher…