RRCNA Advocacy Update - March 30, 2007

After a month of frenetic activity, Congress’ spring district work period begins this weekend and continues until April 9th for the Senate and April 13th in the House. Highlights from Washington include:

1. House passes Budget Resolution for FY 08 – Send a thank you to Congress!
    
2. RRCNA supports successful Budget Resolution to increase funding caps for education and other domestic programs.
    
3. USDE unveils operating plan for FY07 continuing resolution.
    
4. President designates Kerri Briggs as Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OSES) and nominates her for the permanent position.
    
5. State special education directors recommend expanding RTI and early intervening services in NCLB.
    
6. More advocacy news from RRCNA

“Make Books, Not Bombs” and “Make Hip-Hop, Not War.”

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1. & 2. FY08 Budget Resolution - Please thank your member of congress if s/he voted in favor of H.Con. Res. 99! A list of members voting in favor of H.Con.Res 99 is at the bottom of this email, and you can email your representative from the “Write Your Representative” website at: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ .

RRCNA sent a letter to Congress in support of H.Con. Res. 99 – Budget Resolution for FY 08 - that increases funding caps for education, health care and other domestic discretionary programs by $3 billion over current services and $7.9 billion over the President’s request. The resolution passed on March 29th by a vote of 216 – 210.

3. USDE operating plan for FY 07 - The funding resolution passed by Congress for FY07 is different from an appropriations bill in that it has very little detail. The U.S. Department of Education provided the detail in an operating plan issued this month. The entire plan is available on the USDE website at: http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget07/07action.pdf , but a few examples include:

-Title I, Part A – Same funding for FY 07 as FY 06.
-Title II - Same funding for FY 07 as FY 06.
-Title III - Same funding for FY 07 as FY 06.
-Title V - Same funding for FY 07 as FY 06.
-Even Start – Funding reduced from $99 million in FY 06 to $82 million in FY 07.
-Reading First - Same funding for FY 07 as FY 06
-Early Reading First – Funding increased by $14 million over FY06.

4. Kerri Briggs – The President designated Kerri Layne Briggs, of Virginia, to be Acting Assistant Secretary of Education for Elementary and Secondary Education and has nominated her to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Elementary and Secondary Education. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development in the Department of Education and Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Education. Dr. Briggs’ nomination requires Senate confirmation and is currently pending in the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee.

5. NASDSE recommendations: The National Association of State Directors of Special Education issued its priorities for the NCLB reauthorization:
http://www.nasdse.org/documents/NASDSE%20reauthorization%20statement.pdf  NASDSE recommends the use of RTI to meet the needs of all students, not just those evaluated for a specific learning disability, in the NCLB, and that comparable language for early intervening services in the IDEA also be included.

6. RRCNA advocacy news: Lou Ann Racher joins RRCNA advocacy team. Lou Ann comes to RRCNA with lots of association experience and will be with us a few hours a week to prepare for the Teacher Leader Institute and North American Leadership Academy. You’ll be hearing from her about those Capitol Hill visits soon. Welcome Lou Ann! http://www.readingrecovery.org/sections/conferences/2007TLI/2007TLI_index.asp .

RRCNA’s new Briefing Paper “Reading Recovery Reduces Achievement Gaps” was disseminated at a Joint Hearing of the House and Senate Education Committees in March. The topic of the hearing was Closing the Achievement Gap and the briefing paper was available on the Press table for media and attendees: http://www.readingrecovery.org/pdfs/Closing_the_Gap_Brief-07.pdf 

RRCNA exhibited for the first time at the National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators (NAFEPA) conference in Arlington, VA.

7. “Make Books, Not Bombs” and “Make Hip-Hop, Not War.” These are just two of the T-shirt slogans I’ve seen on Capitol Hill recently. As spring (and spring break) approaches, there halls of Congress are teeming with advocates. Is YOUR voice being heard? Go to “How to Be an Advocate” on the RRCNA web site (http://www.readingrecovery.org/sections/home/how_adv.asp) or contact Lucy Gettman, RRCNA director of advocacy at: lgettman@readingrecovery.org or 614.310.7329.

U. S. House members voting in favor of H.Con.Res. 99 – Budget Resolution for FY 08: Abercrombie, Ackerman, Allen, Altmire, Andrews, Arcuri, Baca, Baird, Baldwin, Becerra, Berkley, Berman, Berry, Bishop (GA), Bishop (NY), Blumenauer, Boswell, Boucher, Boyd (FL),Boyda (KS),Brady (PA),Braley (IA), Brown, Corrine, Butterfield, Capps, Capuano, Cardoza, Carnahan, Carney, Carson, Castor, Chandler, Clarke, Clay, Cleaver, Clyburn, Cohen, Conyers, Cooper, Costa, Costello, Courtney, Cramer, Crowley, Cuellar, Cummings, Davis (AL), Davis (CA), Davis (IL), Davis, Lincoln, DeFazio, DeGette, Delahunt, DeLauro, Dicks, Dingell, Doggett, Doyle ,Edwards, Ellison, Emanuel, Engel, Eshoo, Etheridge, Farr, Fattah, Filner, Frank ,MA),Giffords ,Gillibrand, Gonzalez, Gordon, Green, Al, Green, Gene, Grijalva, Gutierrez, Hall (NY),Hare, Harman, Hastings (FL), Herseth, Higgins, Hinchey, Hinojosa, Hirono, Hodes, Holden, Holt, Honda, Hooley, Hoyer, Inslee, Israel, Jackson (IL), Jackson-Lee (TX), Jefferson, Johnson ,GA), Johnson, E. B., Jones (OH), Kagen, Kaptur, Kennedy, Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kind, Klein (FL),Langevin, Lantos, Larsen (WA),Larson (CT),Lee, Levin, Lewis (GA), Lipinski, Loebsack, Lofgren, Zoe, Lowey, Lynch, Mahoney (FL), Maloney (NY), Markey, Matsui, McCarthy (NY), McCollum (MN), McDermott, McGovern, McIntyre, McNerney, McNulty, Meehan, Meek (FL), Meeks (NY), Melancon, Michaud, Miller (NC), Miller, George, Mollohan, Moore (KS), Moore (WI), Moran (VA), Murphy (CT), Murtha, Nadler, Napolitano, Neal (MA), Oberstar, Obey, Lover, Ortiz, Pallone, Pascrell, Pastor, Payne, Perlmutter, Peterson (MN), Pomeroy, Price (NC), Rahall, Rangel, Reyes, Rodriguez, Ross, Rothman, Roybal-Allard, Ruppersberger, Rush, Ryan (OH), Salazar, Sanchez, Linda T., Sanchez, Loretta, Sarbanes, Schakowsky, Schiff, Schwartz, Scott (GA), Scott (VA), Serrano, Sestak, Shea-Porter, Sherman, Sires, Skelton, Slaughter, Smith (WA), Snyder, Solis, Space, Spratt, Stark, Stupak, Sutton, Tanner, Tauscher, Taylor, Thompson (CA), Thompson (MS), Tierney, Towns, Udall (CO), Udall (NM),Van Hollen, Velázquez, Visclosky, Walz (MN),Wasserman Schultz, Waters, Watson, Waxman, Weiner, Welch (VT), Wexler, Wilson (OH), Woolsey, Wu, Wynn, Yarmuth.