Greetings,

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to begin debating H.R. 3293, the Fiscal Year 2010 funding bill for education programs tomorrow morning, July 24.  Please contact your representative TODAY and urge him/her to support a progressive federal investment in K-12 education programs.  This bill will help ensure that school districts can continue the progress underway with the investments made in key programs through the economic stimulus, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA). 

H.R. 3293, the FY 2010 Labor, Health and Education Appropriations bill, would preserve funding levels for Title I grants for disadvantaged students ($14.5 billion), special education ($11.5 billion), and School Improvement grants ($545 million).  These proposed allocations would be in addition to the funding provided by the ARRA.  In addition, H.R. 3293 would provide increases for some programs that were not included in the stimulus, such as English Language Acquisition, Upward Bound, Striving Readers, and Career & Technical Education.  New programs for teacher incentive grants ($446 million) and a high school graduation initiative ($50 million) are also proposed in this bill. 

Thank you for your advocacy efforts!

CSBA Staff: Erika Hoffman, Pr. Legislative Advocate (ehoffman@csba.org) or Marites Ares, Legislative Analyst (mares@csba.org)

Subject: Please Support Federal Education Funding!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As your constituent and a school board member representing schoolchildren in your congressional district, I am writing to urge you to support H.R. 3293, a progressive federal investment in K-12 education programs for Fiscal Year 2010. I urge you to please:

*Support the Committee's efforts to preserve funding for Title I grants and special education.

*Support funding for innovative programs targeted towards specific needs to ensure greater student achievement including proposals for Early Childhood Grants, a Teacher Incentive Fund, a High School Graduation Initiative, and Promise Neighborhoods that would provide resources for school-community partnerships and integrated services.

*Oppose reductions in programs that are helping our schools provide 21st Century skills, such as Education Technology grants, and those that promote overall student achievement, such as Safe & Drug-Free Schools and Communities.

Such an investment will help ensure that school districts can continue the progress underway with the investments made in key programs through the economic stimulus, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Thank you for your attention to my concerns.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

cc:
NSBA Manager Kathleen Branch