Committee on Education and Labor - U.S. House of Representatives

Other Education/Children's Issues

The Committee on Education and Labor is committed to addressing all issues that impact the education of America's children, even when those issues go beyond the classroom.
 

The "Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008"

An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. teenagers attend private residential programs – including therapeutic boarding schools, wilderness camps, boot camps, and behavior modification facilities – that are intended to help them with behavioral, emotional, or mental health problems. Depending on the state where they are located, some of these programs are regulated; some are not. As a result of this loose patchwork of regulations, reports of child abuse at the programs have frequently gone unchecked. The Government Accountability Office found thousands of allegations of child abuse and neglect at private residential programs for teens between 1994 and 2007. Tragically, in a number of cases, this abuse and neglect led to the death of a child. More about the legislation »


Committee Approves Bill to Improve National Volunteer Community Service Programs

On June 27, the Committee overwhelmingly approved legislation to expand and improve key community service programs, including AmeriCorps, VISTA, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America. The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act would increase the number of AmeriCorps volunteers to 100,000, give young people from middle school through high school the opportunity to spend a summer in service to their community, and create an AmeriCorps Alumni Reserves Network, among other things. More »
 

Aid to Gulf Coast Area Schools

The Committee took the lead in securing emergency financial assistance for schools and colleges in Gulf Coast communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A disaster supplemental bill passed by the House on May 10, 2007 and signed into law on May 25, 2007, included $60 million in federal assistance to address teacher shortages in Gulf Coast area schools and to provide funding to schools and colleges to help them pay off debt and meet other recovery challenges they've faced over the past year and a half.