Letter to the House Subcommittee on Early Education, Elementary and Secondary Education: March 10, 2008

March 10, 2008

The Honorable Dale E. Kildee
Chairman, House Early Education, Elementary
and Secondary Education Subcommittee
2107 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Michael N. Castle
Ranking Member, House Early Education, Elementary
and Secondary Education Subcommittee
1233 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Re:  Letter for the Record on Subcommittee Hearing – “After School Programs:  How the Bush Administration’s Budget Impacts Children and Families”

Dear Chairman Kildee and Ranking Member Castle:

On behalf of the 95,000 school board members who serve the nation’s 49 million students in our local public school districts, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) respectfully requests that this letter be entered into the record in conjunction with tomorrow’s hearing on the Administration’s FY2009 budget proposal regarding afterschool programs.

NSBA is opposed to the plan put forward by the Administration to cut approximately $300 million from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program and to convert the program into a voucher experiment. Under the proposal, the remaining $800 million essentially would be given to individual parents to spend on afterschool programs at their discretion.

Currently, states distribute grants competitively to afterschool programs, typically for a 3- to 5-year period, assisting organizations with planning and developing a long-term quality program with a reliable and stable funding stream. Almost 1.5 million children benefit from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, with nearly half the students demonstrating improvement in reading, language arts and math, and approximately three-quarters completing more homework and increasing class participation, according to the U.S. Department of Education.

The Administration’s voucher plan would eliminate public accountability, undermine afterschool programs and jeopardize their quality by introducing a far more unstable and uncertain funding stream. Programs may not reasonably be able to budget for out years if the Administration’s voucher proposal were adopted.

The plan is an attempt to incorporate the unproven, unpopular and unaccountable concept of vouchers into federal education policy. We urge the subcommittee to closely scrutinize and oppose this current proposal.

Thank you for considering our views on this issue. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact Marcus Egan, Director of Federal Affairs, at (703) 838-6707, or megan@nsba.org.

Sincerely,

Michael A. Resnick
Associate Executive Director