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In This Issue
Please Ask Congress Now!
Spring time is when Congress decides how it will spend your taxpayer dollars, so now is the time to tell them why Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) are important in your state and how an increase in funding is needed to support PIRCs' expanded role. PTA members have already sent over 1,000 emails to Congress asking for more PIRC funding, but we need to send even more to make sure our voice is heard. Take action today!
Why PIRCs are Important
Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) provide parents, organizations, schools, school districts, and state educational agencies with comprehensive training, information and support for parent involvement from early childhood through adolescence. More information about PIRCs is available in PTA's Policy Issue Cards.
What to Tell Your Members of Congress
- Please increase funding for Parental Information and Resource Centers (PIRCs) to $86 million.
- The PIRC program has recently undergone a substantial reorganization at the Department of Education to provide statewide leadership, technical assistance, and training to support effective family engagement.
- A substantial increase in funding to $86 million for FY 2010 is needed to effectively implement the critical role of PIRCs.
- From July 2007-June 2008, PIRCs assisted over 16 million parents, including almost 12 million low-income parents and 10 million parents with children who are limited-English-proficient (LEP).
- According to the Harvard Family Research Project's recent evaluation, PIRCs that reported outcomes showed that 76 percent improved parents' and teachers' knowledge and skills about how to enhance parental involvement in education.
- Research demonstrates that parent involvement in a child's education significantly raises student achievement, regardless of the parents' education level, socioeconomic status, or ethnicity.
- Parent involvement raises student achievement such that schools would need to increase spending by $1000 per pupil to gain the same results.
How to Contact Your Members of Congress
Using the PTA Takes Action Network, you can email both your senators and your representative and encourage them to increase funding for PIRCs. Contact your members of Congress today!
Both Houses Approve the Budget Plan on Party-Line Votes
On his 101st day in office, April 29th, President Obama's budget blueprint for fiscal years 2010-2014 was approved by both houses of Congress, setting the levels of total spending and revenues for the federal government. Overall, the budget plan allows for $3.36 trillion in spending for fiscal year 2010, and authorizes over $140 billion for education, training, employment and social services. This is an increase over the $91 billion included for these purposes in the fiscal year 2009 budget, but the increased investment in education is even more startling considering the approximately $100 billion that Congress invested in education through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act earlier this year.
Congressional Consensus Yet to be Reached
While the approval of this budget is a major win for the Obama administration, there is still contention among our nation's policymakers. No Republicans in either the House or the Senate voted for the budget. In addition, 17 Democrats in the House and four Senate Democrats voted in opposition to the legislation. Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) both opposed the budget due to their belief that the spending levels and their effect on our annual deficits were too high to support. Both senators stated that they agreed with President Obama's goals of supporting education, health care and energy, but they were not comfortable with the overall spending outlined over the next five years.
Former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) and recent Republican defector Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) also opposed the budget plan, but for a different reason. Both Byrd and Specter opposed the budget's explicit authorization of a process known as "budget reconciliation" for upcoming climate change and health care reform legislation. Budget reconciliation is a tool used in the Senate which allows complex legislation to pass with only majority support, disallowing any filibuster attempts which would require 60 votes for passage. According to Senator Byrd:
"Reconciliation was intended to adjust revenue and spending levels in order to reduce deficits. It was not designed to cut taxes. It was not designed to create a new climate and energy regime, and certainly not to restructure the entire health care system."
Nonetheless, Congressional approval of the budget blueprint is a major hurdle that the Obama administration has now overcome. With an ambitious agenda in the midst of extremely challenging times, it remains to be seen whether the president will be able to keep his own party together, meanwhile striving for the bipartisan process that he has repeatedly set as a goal for his administration.
PTA Voices Its Support
On March 24, 2009, the Senate Judiciary Committee introduced S. 678, the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2009. PTA, a long-time advocate for juvenile justice, voiced their approval for the strengthening and updating of critical components within the current bill. The bill currently sponsored by Chairman Leahy (D-VT), ranking member Specter (R-PA)*, and Senator Kohl (D-WI) reauthorizes a law which has been protecting youth across the nation for over 30 years.
S. 678 makes meaningful improvements that expand several of the core protections of the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, including PTA's top priorities of phasing out the harmful practice of incarcerating children who are truant, and ensuring that children awaiting trial are not placed in adult facilities. PTA passed its first resolution on juvenile justice in 1899, calling for a separate juvenile justice system so that youth would not be incarcerated with adults. You can read PTA's recommendations for the reauthorization of JJDPA in the 2009 Public Policy Agenda.
Advocates anticipated that the bill would be marked-up in the Judiciary Committee in May, but Senator Specter's recent announcement that he will be leaving the Republican Party to join the Democratic Party will delay the process. Senator Specter was the only Republican original co-sponsor of the bill. Senator Sessions (R-AL) is poised to succeed Specter as the top Republican on the committee. Senator Sessions is the fourth in seniority on committee, but Senator Hatch (R-UT) is term limited due to his previous tenure and ranking member of the committee and Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Kyl (R-AZ) will not be leaving their leadership posts within the party and other committees.
PTA has submitted a letter in support of S. 678 to the Judiciary Committee and has mobilized all state PTAs through a sign-on letter. Please stay posted for upcoming alerts!
* During the time of bill introduction, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania was a member of the minority leadership.
President’s Cabinet Now Complete
President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, was confirmed on Tuesday, April 28, the president's 100th day in office. The former Kansas governor was the last of President Obama's Cabinet members to be confirmed when the United States Senate approved the nominee by a vote of 65-31. The delay in filling the Health Secretary's post came after former Senator Tom Daschle's nomination ran aground amidst discrepancies in his federal income tax filings. Sebelius faced some stiff Republican opposition over her stance on abortion rights and their concerns that she will back health care reform efforts in Congress that will freeze out the minority party.
Sebelius Faces Many Challenges Ahead
In large part, Sebelius' nomination moved forward due to the widespread agreement that the global swine flu outbreak needed to be addressed in a substantial way, and it was imperative that an HHS Secretary be involved in leading these efforts. However, according to Secretary Sebelius, this is not the only health challenge facing our nation:
"We face an obesity epidemic that threatens to make our children the first generation of American children to face life expectancies shorter than our own. Globalization has made a flu strain in a remote country a potential threat to America's largest cities. We now must guard against manmade as well as natural disasters, as disease has become a weapon. Perhaps most importantly, we face a health system that burdens families, businesses, and government budgets with sky-rocketing costs. Action is not a choice. It is a necessity."
Although President Obama's Cabinet is now complete, there are still many positions, including 19 other HHS officials, awaiting approval. With much work to do, it will be imperative for the president to quickly nominate individuals for those positions that have yet to be addressed, including deputy secretary of HHS and surgeon general, and for the Senate to take up the nominations in a short time frame. Sebelius has been succeeded by Kansas' lieutenant governor, former Republican Mark Parkinson, as the state's chief executive. Governor Parkinson has announced that he will not run for reelection in 2010.
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