Volume
5, Issue 2,
May 2, 2003 |
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"As the proud son of public school educators, I understand the importance of education and have made improving our country’s education system one of my top priorities. I recognize that I would not have been successful as a small business owner, nor would I have even been elected to the United States Congress had I not received a solid education. Behind every one of us, there are dozens of extraordinary teachers who inspired, challenged, nurtured and expected the very best out of us. "Yet as our country prepares to recognize educators during Teacher Appreciation Week, May 4-10, I was disappointed to consider HR 1350, the legislation offered this week to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This bill, as passed by the House of Representatives, fails to provide full, mandatory funding for teachers to implement the regulations imposed on them when it comes to ensuring that children with disabilities receive an appropriate education. Additionally, the initiative fails to protect the rights of special needs students and their parents by eliminating the requirement to conduct a behavior assessment and create a behavior intervention plan for students with disabilities who are to be removed from the classroom and educated in an alternative setting. "Also this week, it was announced that the U.S. Department of Education approved Arkansas’s plan to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act, a plan that will require schools in our state to dramatically increase student achievement each year. Arkansas's plan is based on the belief that every child can learn, and demands that all of Arkansas's children achieve to high standards, regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or disability. Yet states like Arkansas, states that are taking these bold steps to improve education, are still dramatically under funded by the federal government when it comes to actually putting their objectives in place. "Again and again, solid efforts to improve our education systems remain poorly funded, placing a heavier burden on our states to come up with the money to implement these ideas. Our teachers do an incredible job with the resources they have. If we raise the expectations for how they teach our children, then I think it’s Congress’s job to provide them with added funding so they can meet the new challenges and make sure that indeed, no child is left behind." |
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The funding is the first installment of a policy -- strongly supported by Arkansas legislators -- to increase funding for local first responders, like police officers, firefighters, emergency medical service providers and other local public safety officials. ADEM will distribute the funds to local first responders for the purchase of emergency responder equipment and for costs related to planning, conducting and evaluating chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive terrorism exercises. Some of the grant money will also be used by state-level officials for the planning and administrative costs associated with instituting the statewide grant program for Arkansas local first responders and establishing first responder-related training programs to improve terrorism response capabilities in the state. In the last month, Reps. Ross and Berry have held public meetings with first responders in their respective Congressional Districts to learn more about the funding needs of local first responders and to demonstrate their commitment to increasing federal funding for the professionals that keep Arkansas communities safe. |
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Program Protects Soil – and Farmers “Arkansas’s farmers and ranchers know better than anyone how important it is to preserve our land and protect our natural resources,” Ross said. “Our state’s economy and our heritage are deeply-rooted in agriculture, and we must act now to ensure that our most valuable natural resource, our soil, will continue to provide for us. The Conservation Reserve Program is an excellent option that allows them to continue earning a living and producing our nation’s food, while keeping our environment healthy.” Participants in the Conservation Reserve Program voluntarily enter into 10-15 year contracts with the federal government promising not to farm on environmentally sensitive land. In return, participants receive annual rental payments for that land as well as up to half of the cost of establishing conservation practices. The 2002 Farm Bill authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture to enroll up to 39.2 million acres in the Conservation Reserve Program. When the application period closes, USDA will select the acreage to enroll based on the environmental value of the land. Current participants with contracts expiring this year can make new contract offers. Contracts awarded under this sign-up will become effective either at the beginning of the next fiscal year, Oct. 1, 2003, or the following year, Oct. 1, 2004, whichever the producer chooses. One other general sign-up will be offered through 2007. In addition, the USDA has reserved two million acres for the continuous sign-up Conservation Reserve Program. This program is available for the most environmentally desirable and sensitive land. To sign up for the program visit your local USDA service center. For more information, visit USDA on the web at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/crp/ |
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Photo: Students in Pine Bluff are
full of questions for Mike Ross as he tells them about his trip to Germany,
where he visited with soldiers wounded in Iraq. Students at Lake
Hamilton Elementary in Hot Springs, Coleman Elementary and Watson Chapel
Elementary in Pine Bluff, Prescott Elementary, Southside Elementary in
El Dorado, and Gardner Elementary in Strong made more than 500 get-well
cards for the soldiers. Ross recently made a round of visits to the
schools to thank the students for their cards, and to talk with them about
Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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1-800-223-2220 or mike.ross@mail.house.gov |
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