Education Funding Bills
November 17, 2006 by admin
Filed under Funding Reform, General
I received an email today from the NEA asking for help in getting Congress to increase funding for the government school system. I decide to follow their links and send my Congressional Representatives a letter of my own. What I sent is copied below. I would encourage all those that believe our government school systems needs to be reformed to fund each child and not the bureaucracy to let your voice be heard as well.
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I urge you to support an education funding bill for FY07 that provides the funds to fund each and every child equally and that allows the money to follow the child to whatever school they choose instead of being designated into the education bureaucracy Decisions about where to target federal dollars should reflect our priorities as a nation. Ensuring all of our children receive a quality education should be a top priority. The children are the priority and not the education bureaucracy. Yet, the education funding levels under consideration in both the House and Senate fall woefully short of meeting the federal government’s responsibility to students because they do not force accountability or competition into the public school system. Our nation’s longstanding commitment to education must include the necessary freedom to help every child succeed. NCLB was based on laudable goals of maximizing student achievement and closing achievement gaps. Yet, it is only federalizing the education system, adding more and more bureaucracy and diverting money away from actual education. Abolish NCLB and allow the money to follow the child instead of the system. No Increase in funds is needed for public schools. A change in how funding is distributed is the real impediment to our Nation’s children receiving a great education. In the 2005-06 school year, almost 11,000 public schools had already failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress for two or more years under NCLB provisions, and thus faced federal sanctions. These schools and the students they serve will face even greater challenges in the coming year as testing requirements go into full effect. In fact, the 2007-08 school year is the first year of mandated science testing. These statistics outline the very reason why competition and personal accountability needs to be implemented now. Funding each child instead of the system forces these failing schools and all schools to be held financially accountable to the local community, parents and most importantly the students. Please do everything possible to bring about an appropriations bill that reflects our community’s values and priorities. Fund the children and not the bureaucracy. |
