The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced Bill 610. This bill will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5 to 17, and starts the de-funding process of public schools. The bill will eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education. It is a comprehensive program that covers programs for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs. The bill also abolishes the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch. For our most vulnerable, this may be the ONLY nutritious food they have in a day. The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting special needs kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE. Some things the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 does for Children with Disabilities: -ensures access to the general education curriculum -ensures access to accommodations on assessments -ensures concepts of Universal Design for Learning -includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently under-performing subgroups -requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion). Please call your representative and ask him/her to vote NO on House Bill 610 (HR 610) introduced by three Republican reps. Please copy and paste this post (rather than hitting "share") so it isn't limited to the friends we have in common. Thanks for advocating on behalf of our nation's youth and their families. See the bill here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/610

Summary Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) has been an essential core component of Alabama's public schools for more than 23 years. We implore our legislators to represent the interest of students, teachers, and concerned community members by immediately putting ASIM back in as a line item in our Education budget. Furthermore, we ask that the funding for this critical program is increased to cover its actual operating costs to $3.5 million and that these funds be dedicated solely to Alabama Science in Motion. What is ASIM? ASIM provides teachers and high school students with expert guidance, professional development, curricula, and laboratory equipment that, in many cases, would be unavailable due to prohibitive costs. There are 33 ASIM specialists who travel around the state in multiple regions to share resources both in and out of classrooms. In 2016, ASIM specialists delivered $82,000 of supplies and $430,000 of equipment to 136,684 students in 352 schools, serving 132 of 137 school systems. The ASIM program is offered to ALL school systems in the state. What are the benefits of ASIM? For Students: ASIM works precisely because of the focus on student-centered classroom labs. A model program, ASIM efficiently shares high tech equipment among thousands of Alabama students. In having access to ASIM’s mentorship and laboratory equipment, much of which would otherwise be unavailable, students develop a genuine interest in science and are more prepared for higher education and the workforce. Having equitable access is critical for educational opportunities for children in poverty. In Alabama, these students are most often children of color and/or children from rural areas. Through ASIM experiences, many first-generation college students are more prepared to navigate university-level laboratory-based science courses. For Teachers: In having access to ASIM’s science education training and support, teachers gain specialized knowledge and invaluable tools. Teachers bring the continuing professional education they receive immediately into their science classrooms. ASIM specialists ensure that teachers are provided with updated equipment and that experiments are correlated to the latest science standards. Given the trend of increasingly high teacher turnover, ASIM guidance is particularly important for new classroom teachers in our school system. Specialists offer teachers collaboration, expertise, and encouragement in a challenging profession. Why did the Alabama legislature originally plan, create, and fund ASIM? Our representatives had a vision to get science into Alabama classrooms based on the pressing need to offer students a pathway to excel in the industries of science and technology. In a global economy, increasingly driven by digital technology, robotics, and information, this vision is more crucial than ever. What are the costs and budget for ASIM? ASIM has received its own line item allocation of around $1.6 million annually in the state budget for the past few years. It was funded at twice that amount before proration slashed the budget. AMSTI (Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative), a similar program for primary and middle school students, has allocated $1.5 million of its own operating budget for the past few years to keep ASIM operating at its current levels. That alone is strong evidence that science professionals highly value what ASIM is doing to prepare students to be scientifically literate. As of March 2017, the ASIM program has been completely taken out as a dedicated line item in the Alabama State Education budget. Governor Bentley’s administration has moved it under the "Other Current Expense" category of the Education Trust Fund in the state budget proposal for next year. Grouping ASIM into this discretionary fund ensures that the program is no longer earmarked as a priority. It will have to compete for funding with an array of unrelated budget items. Further, Governor Bentley’s administration has recommended that ASIM receives no discretionary funding at all from the “Other Current Expense” budget. This recommendation sends a clear message that the current governor and education superintendent want ASIM to be dismantled. What is the vision for Alabama public high school science? Alabama State Education Superintendent Sentance has argued that ASIM is not achieving his desired results for student performance and intends to work with Governor Bentley to phase out the program. Yet he and the governor have not presented a clear, detailed, and proven proposal for a comprehensive replacement for ASIM. Nor have they offered any data that something else will work better than this model program, which other states look to as a blueprint for cooperative science and technology. Few if any state delegates have been sent out to observe ASIM in action. Nor has any official data been collected from students, graduates, parents, teachers, scientists, or others who have firsthand experience with ASIM. Finally, Superintendent Sentance has unveiled a long-term plan to completely defund AMSTI as well. Since ASIM and AMSTI are the only two programs in the history of Alabama public schools that offer equitable access to high-tech, hands-on, student-centered, college-prep science education for all students, it is unclear what vision for education our current state administration holds. What are the long-term costs to Alabama students if ASIM is destroyed? Diminishing or obliterating the ASIM program strips Alabama public schools of essential components of our science education curricula. Our students rely on these components to have the mastery of science necessary to forge ahead as competent leaders and citizens. As a state, we continue to complain about a broken education system while citing standardized test numbers that imply only 24% of Alabama high school students are prepared for college science. Therefore we cannot risk losing ASIM, which ...

Governor Hogan is considering funding charter schools rather than completely funding Maryland's public schools. Reduced funding will cut special programs from our schools. My grandson, a ninth grader, will lose many of the programs he now has in a public school.

We, the undersigned constituents of Bridgeport, agree that Aresta L. Johnson, Ed.D should be hired as the permanent acting Superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools District. She's currently the acting Interim Superintendent . SHE KNOWS OUR CHILDREN NEEDS and has a proven track record of success within the Bridgeport Community and School System. There's work to be DONE and we believe Dr. JOHNSON IS THE WOMEN FOR THE TASK OF MOVING OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT FORWARD.

As a concerned parent, I wish to bring to your attention a matter of class size at Lester D. Wilson elementary school. This year Ms. Pawlowski's second grade class is currently 24 students. This is very alarming. Study after study show specifically that class size in the younger grades of K-Third plays a vital role in the education of our children. Class size impacts test scores, grades, attendance and drop out rates in later years. Smaller class sizes also aid in teaching children to stay on task and keep them engaged in learning. Did you know that other classes at LDW are as low as 15 students? Many states propose referendums that limit these classes to 18 or fewer children--some as low as 15 students. Don't we agree that the second grade head count should be much lower? If you had the opportunity to observe your child's second grade class this year, you witnessed firsthand the extra time and attention required to manage this class size with many individual students with IEPs, 504s, and behavioral issues. And that's with a full-time teacher and a full-time teacher's assistant. The particular dynamics of this class of 48 students cannot be re-mixed in any new way that doesn't affect the learning environment in a negative way. Please take a minute to sign this petition, write a letter to our Superintendent, Dr. Matthew J. Jennings, speak with our principal, Sandy Kacedon and/or attend the School Board meeting on March 23rd. Please let your voice be heard. Part of the benefit of living in Hunterdon County is to give our children the best education possible. We must stand up for them now. If we take the time now, we can help them in subsequent grades and well into the future. Thank you, and please share with other first grade families so that we may all have the opportunity to be heard.

My son started Kindergarten at New Sarpy Elementary this year and has come home daily complaining about there being too much classroom work at school. He would enjoy going to school more if there was less emphasis on instructional work and more emphasis on learning through play. Developmentally, children should not be punished from this highly beneficial form of learning. Our children deserve the best we can offer and there should be a 30 minute recess every day, as mandated by Louisiana State Law 17:17.1.

We, the undersigned, stand in solidarity with the principle that higher education in America should be considered a public good, rather than a private commodity. We believe that solutions should immediately be found to the growing crisis of over $1.4 Trillion of existing student debt. Higher education benefits society as a whole, not just individual students, and because it has proven to boost our economy, it is imperative that we ease the burden of student debt so that every hard-working American can afford college. Those solutions should include student loan forgiveness, expansion of existing federal repayment plans and expansion of consumer protection laws that protect borrowers. This looming crisis needs to be addressed - and it needs to be addressed now. We believe that we need to reform the ways in which higher education is paid for in America. Wall street continues to play too large a role in the financing of higher education, while states continue to play too small a role. It’s time that states reaffirm their commitment to funding higher education across the country by reinvesting in this all-too-important public good and getting Wall Street out of higher education. We believe that everybody, regardless of background, geography, or financial status, should have equal access to quality, affordable higher education. All too often, where you come from or how much your parents earn, determines whether you can obtain a higher education. In 2017 America, there has got to be a better way. We should obtain this goal through debt-free college for all immediately, eliminating these barriers to obtaining a higher education. We believe in protecting the rights of all Americans on college campuses, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. Equal rights means equal rights for ALL. We support the right of minorities to protest and to make their reasonable demands for equality heard. Whether we’re talking about protesting the Trump Administration’s recent immigration ban targeting people of the Muslim faith or the renewed focus on limiting the rights of transgendered people to use the bathroom of their choice, we believe that college campuses should be free spaces where everyone’s rights are protected and respected. We also believe that faculty have the right to speak out against these policies without fear of retribution. Finally, we believe in fair pay and a union voice for faculty, researchers and all staff. Access to quality, affordable higher education is wholly dependent on access to well-paid staff whose workplace rights are protected. We believe that this is what it means to be a progressive who supports higher education in America in 2017. We implore lawmakers to thoughtfully consider our demands and to legislate and regulate accordingly.

As a public school parent, I see every day the difficult and essential work that happens in our public schools. That's why I'm sounding the alarm about HR 610, a horrifying new bill in Congress that would repeal the Educational and Secondary Education Act, the landmark law that provides Title I support for schools serving low-income students--and guarantees essential rights for disabled students. HR 610 would redirect Federal ed funding into to vouchers for private school kids. The bill would also largely abolish the Department of Education and repeal basic health standards for school lunches. Millions of students like my daughter and her classmates would immediately suffer. Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos have embraced similar ideas. So we need to stop HR 610 from getting traction in Congress. The good news is, this isn't a party line issue. People across the political spectrum support public schools and the ESEA. If we raise our voices together, we can stop HR 610. Please share this petition widely!

Donald Trump's education plan would redirect billions of dollars away from public schools to create a massive and risky voucher program, even though evidence shows that vouchers often hurt the kids they’re supposed to help. To pay for it, experts say support for schools that serve low-income students would be cut. And another likely source would be cuts to IDEA, which helps kids with disabilities. Many education and disability-rights groups have opposed Trump's new education Secretary Betsy DeVos, especially after she showed a stunning lack of understanding and support for laws that protect kids with disabilities. The good news is that Congress would have to approve Trump's cuts, and there is support across the political spectrum. With enough of an outcry, we can protect our public schools!

This bill eliminates the Elementary and Secondary Education Bill of 1965. If passed, it would redistribute Federal funds for public elementary and secondary education in the form of vouchers for eligible students; it would repeal a rule relating to nutrition standards in schools and would cut programs for special needs, advanced, and language learners.

It will destroy public education and negatively effect our children.

I'm a 5th grade teacher a local public school. This proposed charter school would divert scarce funds from the public school system into a program that offers nothing that the public schools are not already providing East Aurora’s students. The resources will be controlled by outsiders with no stake in East Aurora and have not been elected by taxpayers.