Letter to U.S. House of Representatives: December 10, 2009

Member
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

RE:  FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Bill (Labor-Health & Human Services-Education)

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the 95,000 local school board members and the state associations represented by the National School Boards Association (NSBA), I am writing to thank you for your support of our 48 million public school students and 15,000 school districts this year with the passage of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and with the funding levels recommended for education programs in the conference report for the FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Bill.

The FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Bill would maintain funding for Title I grants for Disadvantaged Students, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), School Improvement grants, Career and Technical Education, English Language Acquisition, and other programs critical to student achievement. The legislation would also increase funding for the Teacher Incentive Fund by $303 million and provide $50 million for a new High School Graduation Initiative. Overall, the legislation helps schools by not reducing key funding levels that would contribute to funding cliffs for certain programs during this severe fiscal crisis for states and school districts.

In other areas, however, the bill would reduce funding for education technology grants by $169 million, and would restructure and reduce funding for the Safe & Drug-Free Schools and Communities program. Reducing funding for these two programs is counterproductive for many school districts that may need extra resources to integrate technology into the classroom or continue productive school-community partnerships for drug/gang prevention programs. We urge you to reconsider these recommendations or consider addressing them as part of the FY 2011 process.

Again, NSBA thanks you for your support for our nation’s public school students and school districts. Your efforts to help our schools expand successful, innovative programs that benefit our students, schools, teachers and communities are greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Resnick
Associate Executive Director