Forum on Educational Accountability
http://www.edaccountability.org
April 13, 2011
Dear Member of Congress:
We are writing to express our dismay at the cuts to educational spending in the final FY 2011 continuing resolution. We believe these cuts will damage the quality of education of the nationÕs neediest children and undermine AmericaÕs civic, social and economic prospects. We call on Congress to restore funds cut from education and fulfill its own mandate as stated in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Òto ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education,Ó by fully funding both ESEA Title I and IDEA Part B.
The Forum on Educational Accountability is an alliance of organizations carrying forward the ideas initially expressed in the Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind, issued in 2004 and now with 155 national education, civil rights, religious, disability, and civic organizations signed in support. The Joint Statement says, in relevant part:
13. Raise authorized levels of NCLB
funding to cover a substantial percentage of the costs that states and districts
will incur to carry out these recommendations, and fully fund the law at those
levels without reducing expenditures for other education programs.
14. Fully fund Title I to ensure that 100
percent of eligible children are served.
In 2009, we issued Empowering Schools and Improving
Learning, a supplemental that elaborates on
funding issues:
The goal of the federal government shall be to ensure that all children have equitable access to a high-quality education and achieve high-quality learning outcomes. The federal government shall substantially increase education funding and ensure fair distribution of federal funds across the statesÉ Congress shall fully fund ESEA Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Part B, in accord with current formulas, and shall make both ESEA Title I and IDEA Part B mandatory federal budget items.
Our organizations recognize that money must be spent well – we have described important areas for federal attention – and that sufficient funding is an absolute necessity to ensure an adequate education for children in the 21st century. The federal government should not back away from this imperative, but should step forward to meet it.
We call on Congress to take all necessary steps to end the damaging cuts to education, restore cuts it proposes to make, and move ahead in the coming year to increase federal support for education. The federal government has an important role to play in ensuring adequacy and equity. While some would claim this is pie-in-the-sky in the current financial situation, the failure to provide the resources to adequately educate all our children runs the risk of making a healthy national future an even more Ôpie-in-the-skyÕ proposition.
Sincerely yours,
Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Chair