NSTA
Legislative Update
March 16, 2009
President Obama Delivers Major Policy Speech on Education
Congress Finally Approves FY2009 Appropriations
President Obama Unveils Budget for FY2010
President Obama Delivers Major Policy Speech on Education
On March 10 President Obama delivered a major policy speech on education, his first since becoming president on January 20.
After calling for more bipartisan agreement on education issues, the President said the time for finger pointing is over and “The time for holding ourselves accountable is here. What's required is not simply new investments, but new reforms. It's time to expect more from our students. It's time to start rewarding good teachers, stop making excuses for bad ones. It's time to demand results from government at every level. It's time to prepare every child, everywhere in America, to out-compete any worker, anywhere in the world. It's time to give all Americans a complete and competitive education from the cradle up through a career. We've accepted failure for far too long. Enough is enough. America's entire education system must once more be the envy of the world -- and that's exactly what we intend to do.”
During his presentation the President said that outlined the five pillars of a comprehensive education reform strategy that he and Secretary Duncan will be pursuing this year.
For early childhood education programs the President challenged states to develop a cutting-edge plan to raise the quality of early learning programs so that more children are better prepared to start kindergarten.
He also challenged states to “adopt world-class standards that will bring our curriculums to the 21st century. “Today's system of 50 different sets of benchmarks for academic success means 4th grade readers in Mississippi are scoring nearly 70 points lower than students in Wyoming -- and they're getting the same grade. Eight of our states are setting their standards so low that their students may end up on par with roughly the bottom 40 percent of the world.” The President vowed to help states adopt challenging standards with additional funding and accountability measures in No Child Left Behind.
To address the third pillar-- recruiting, preparing, and rewarding outstanding teachers—President Obama called for “a new generation of Americans to step forward and serve our country in our classrooms. He spoke of unprecedented commitment to support teachers and prepare them for the classroom, encourage them to stay in the classroom, and “to create new pathways to teaching and new incentives to bring teachers to schools where they're needed most. That's why we support offering extra pay to Americans who teach math and science to end a teacher shortage in those subjects (emphasis added).”
“Now, here's what that commitment means: It means treating teachers like the professionals they are while also holding them more accountable -– in up to 150 more school districts. New teachers will be mentored by experienced ones. Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement, and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools. Teachers throughout a school will benefit from guidance and support to help them improve.
And just as we've given our teachers all the support they need to be successful, we need to make sure our students have the teacher they need to be successful. And that means states and school districts taking steps to move bad teachers out of the classroom. Let me be clear -- the overwhelming number of teachers are doing an outstanding job under difficult circumstances. My sister is a teacher, so I know how tough teaching can be. But let me be clear: If a teacher is given a chance or two chances or three chances but still does not improve, there's no excuse for that person to continue teaching. I reject a system that rewards failure and protects a person from its consequences. The stakes are too high. We can afford nothing but the best when it comes to our children's teachers and the schools where they teach.”
The fourth pillar of reform in the Obama speech focused on promoting innovation and excellence in America's schools with new focus on charter schools and by expanding the school day. He called on states to lift caps on the number of allowable charter schools, expand effective after-school programs, and to “rethink the school day to incorporate more time -– whether during the summer or through expanded-day programs for children who need it.” He called on students to be more accountable by staying in school and not dropping out, and for parents to be more responsible in their child’s education.
The fifth part of America's education strategy is providing every American with a quality higher education, either college or technical training, by simplifying the college admission forms, increasing the amount of Pell grant aid available, and helping colleges and universities to control costs.
The entire text of the President’s address on education can be found at the White House website.
Congress Finally Approves FY 2009 Appropriations
The official start of the FY 2009 budget began last October 1, but for the past six months, thanks to budget battles over domestic programs with the previous administration, most federal departments and agencies have been funded under a continuing resolution based largely on FY2008 funding levels. Finally, last week the Congress approved, and the President signed into law, the $410 billion Omnibus Appropriations Act for 2009. The bill combines nine FY2009 appropriations bills that Congress failed to pass at the end of 2008 into a single omnibus spending package. It provides $19 billion more than President Bush requested for FY 2009, including a $4.45 billion increase for the U.S. Department of Education.
H.R. 1105 provides significant increases for both education and for science. Title I, which received $13.9 billion in FY 2008 will receive a $593.5 million increase. Funding for special education will increase by $586 million to $11.99 billion. Department Of Education Math And Science Partnerships were level funded at the FY2008 level of $179.0 million. The omnibus bill will also provide increases for afterschool programs, the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling program, Smaller Learning Communities, TRIO, and GEAR UP. Congress eliminated funding for the Reading First program which as been soundly criticized this past year for mismanagement.
Funding for the National Science Foundation was up 5.9% to $6.5 billion. The bill includes $845,260,000 for NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate, including $61 million for the Math and Science Partnerships and $55 million for the Robert Noyce Scholarship program. Funding for NASA was up 2.2% to $17.8 billion and education programs at NASA got a nice boost, up 15.3% to $169.2 million. The Office of Science at the Department of Energy funding received $4.8 billion.
President Obama Unveils Budget for FY2010
Shortly before Congress finished work on the FY2009 appropriations, President Obama unveiled his spending plan for FY2010.
Under the President’s Budget proposal funding for the U.S. Department of Education would increase from $46.2 billion to $46.7 billion for FY2010.
Highlights of the president’s budget focus on many of the initiatives outlined in his March 10 address on education reform: incentives and support for states to build comprehensive early childhood, “Zero to Five” systems; helping states to develop high quality rigorous standards and assessments, rewarding effective teaching, and investing in effective approaches to improving student achievement; and expanding opportunities for students to pursue higher education.
In the science agencies, the President is proposing to provide $7 billion for the National Science Foundation, a 16 percent increase over FY2008 level, and $18.7 billion for NASA.
A detailed budget proposal that would specify funding for specific programs is expected from the Administration in April. Both the House and Senate Budget Committees are expected to begin hearings on the Presidents Budget for 2010 shortly.