Teacher Issues

The Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, approved by the House during a rare emergency vote in early August, provides critical aid to communities struggling with budget shortfalls by supporting 319,000 American jobs in local communities, including 161,000 teacher jobs. Local news from communities across the country shows that this education funding is allowing school districts to keep teachers in the classroom.


Iowa’s Waterloo Courier reported:

“Iowa school districts will split a pot of $96.5 million in federal funding intended to save or create education jobs.

“Districts will receive monthly payments throughout the 2010-11 fiscal year starting in September or October based on enrollment. In Northeast Iowa, that means a total of $2.35 million for Waterloo Community Schools, $885,245 for Cedar Falls Schools, $386,161 for Waverly-Shell Rock, $300,669 for Independence and $134,235 for Hudson.”

The Salt Lake Tribune has similar good news to share, “The Alpine district already has added more teachers and the Provo district is paying for full-day kindergarten.”

The Austin Daily Herald of Austin, Minn. also reported that many local school teachers are able to keep their jobs due to the Congress’ action:

“More Austin Public School teachers will keep their jobs thanks to an estimated $1 million dollars in federal aid from the Education Jobs Fund.”

…

“The incoming aid helps ease the district’s projected $1 to 1.5 million deficit for next year, acting as an insurance against possible job cuts in the immediate future.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today issued the following statement in response to Governor Schwarzenegger's decision to withhold $1.2 billion in federal school jobs grants for the state of California. Miller fought for almost a year for additional aid to keep teachers in the classroom, funding that Congress approved last month in a rare emergency session.

The Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, signed into law in August, will save or create an estimated 319,000 American jobs in local communities, including 161,000 teacher jobs. 

States are applying for and receiving funds:

Yesterday, President Obama signed H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act, legislation that will prevent mass teacher layoffs, keep police and firefighters on the job, and close tax loopholes that encourage corporations to ship American jobs overseas. The new law will save or create 319,000 American jobs in local communities, including 161,000 teacher jobs. These much-needed funds are expected to reach the states in 45 days. Communities across the country are already celebrating the passage of this legislation:

The News-Leader of Springfield, Mo. reported:

“The bill would send Missouri $292 million for Medicaid and $189.7 million to help cash-strapped schools rehire staff or prevent future layoffs. The education funding will save 3,000 jobs statewide and more than 1,200 in the 4th, 7th and 8th congressional districts. The Medicaid funding would help states meet other budget needs, such as keeping thousands of police officers, nurses and other public workers employed.”

Montana’s Great Falls Tribune passed on similar news:

“Montana will receive $38 million in Medicaid funding and $30.7 million to avoid layoffs, mostly of K-12 teachers, from the bill. The U.S. Education Department estimates that the money will save about 700 teachers' jobs in Montana.”

California’s Coachella Valley will also benefit greatly, according to The Desert Sun:

“Valley schools may be able to rehire teachers and shrink the size of classes when school starts now that a $26 billion jobs bill has become law.

“‘I guess there is such a thing as Christmas in August,’ said Ricardo Medina, superintendent of Coachella Valley Unified School District.”

Chairman Miller appeared on MSNBC yesterday morning to voice his passionate support for the legislation and discuss why job creation is vital to the economic recovery:

“What we’re talking about is creating jobs for teachers, for firemen, for police, for nurses – the people that hold our public spaces together in this country. And we should not have our children lose a year’s education because the Republicans refuse to create jobs.

“And you know what they call teachers and firemen and nurses and policemen with jobs? You know what small businesses call them? They call them customers.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives today approved legislation that will save or create 319,000 American jobs in local communities, including 161,000 teacher jobs, and also discourages American corporations from shipping jobs overseas. By a vote of 247 to 161, the House passed H.R. 1586, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act.   President Obama indicated he would sign the legislation into law later today.

“With this vote today, we’re taking decisive action to prevent our children from becoming victims of this economy by ensuring more teachers remain in the classroom. This legislation won’t save every job but it will certainly provide much-needed relief and a critical lifeline to schools,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

Today, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued the following statement, emphasizing the President’s emphatic support for emergency legislation to help prevent teacher layoffs and create and save 300,000 education jobs.

“As the House prepares to vote on the emergency spending bill today, communities across this country are facing an education crisis with hundreds of thousands of teachers at all levels at risk of losing their jobs.The President shares the concern of millions of Americans  that cuts to state and local budgets are forcing states and localities to cut education spending drastically, impacting the learning and growth of our nation’s children. While some states may not feel the impact yet, there are thousands of teachers who will receive pink slips in the coming months.  The President strongly supports targeted aid focused on preventing these  teacher layoffs in order to stem the education crisis.”

The House Appropriations Committee will vote on the legislation later today. [Note: This vote was postponed.]

U.S. Rep. George Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, and a lead champion to help save teacher jobs, applauded the White House for their clear message.

“The President knows the desperate situation in our schools. He knows the cost of inaction for our schools, our teachers, our students, our families and our communities. Today, he’s sent us the clear message that Congress has to act now to help prevent these layoffs that would punish teachers, devastate communities and set back the significant progress out students are making in school. ”

Yesterday, the White House released state-by-state estimates of the number of jobs that will be saved or created through the $23 billion Education Jobs Fund.

View the state-by-state job estimates.

View the White House fact sheet, “Keep Our Teachers Working”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the White House released state-by-state estimates of the number of jobs that will be saved or created through the $23 billion Education Jobs Fund, that is included as emergency spending in the FY2010 Supplemental Appropriations Bill. The $23 billion emergency investment will help fund an estimated 300,000 education jobs across the country, including teachers, librarians, principals, guidance counselors, school cafeteria workers, and janitors, among others.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and author of the Local Jobs for America Act, today issued the following statement applauding U.S. Rep. Dave Obey (D-WI), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, for including key investments in education in the FY2010 Supplemental Appropriations Bill. Specifically, the legislation, which the House Appropriations Committee will vote on tomorrow, includes $23 billion to save education jobs in schools across the country. 

Chairman George Miller is featured today in Politico’s video series called the “The Politics of America’s Youth” with Mike Allen. He discusses ESEA reauthorization, higher education, and the bipartisan spirit and support for education reform.

Watch the three part video here.

On ESEA Reauthorization:

"We now have the opportunity to really take that rigid system and make a trade-in, if you will, of some additional flexibility at the local level for outcomes, for results. The Secretary [of Education] has made that clear, the President has made that clear, and I think we've made that clear in the series of hearings that we have held. We'd really like now to put more emphasis on better teachers, more emphasis on better leadership, more emphasis on the use of those resources and the flexible use of those resources, and really put teaching and learning and leadership back into the classroom, back into the local systems, and then stand back and hold them accountable for those--for those results, and we're getting a lot of encouragement as we've held our hearings."

On Higher Education:

"And what we tried to address ... was to see whether or not we could bring down the cost of college for families with an increase in the Pell Grant, by lowering the interest rates on student loans over the next couple of years, and then make it easier for the students and the families to manage that debt that they're required to take out to get the degree that they desire. And one of the ways we do that is we have--we let them have an income determinant payment system. How much you pay every month depends upon how much you're making. So, if you start a career with a low entry wage, you can still have that career and you can manage your payments.

"If you go into public service or you work for a non-profit, if you want to become a nurse, a doctor, a teacher, a prosecutor, a public defender and you're working for a public agency, in ten years, your loans go away, and you never have to pay more than 10--10 percent of your discretionary income to pay that loan back. All of a sudden, people can envision careers that otherwise they couldn't have, where they may really wanted to be a teacher, to be a health nurse, to be a physician's assistant, but they couldn't see how they could balance the pay and the education. We need those people, and so this is really in the public interest.

"We also--when we moved to the direct loan programs, it required the companies bring jobs back to America because they're now managing federal assets when they manage the repayment of these loans, and that requires people--that it be done here in America."

On Bipartisanship:

"There is--clearly, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, you have a big interest in children. It's about our children, our neighbor's children, our constituents' children, it's about the country, and that passion is on both sides of the aisle, certainly in our Committee."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today after the Council of Great City Schools released their report “Investing Wisely and Quickly -- Use of ARRA Funds in America's Great City Schools,” highlighting the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on urban school districts across the country. The report shows the law helped save jobs, build capacity and advance reforms in education. 

Teachers, firefighters and policemen nationwide are losing their jobs due to local budget shortfalls.  Chairman Miller has urged Congress to pass the Local Jobs for America Act to create or save one million public and private sector jobs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In response to an announcement earlier today that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s budget will cut the jobs of 11,000 city workers, including teachers, firefighters and police officers, U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) again called on Congress to act immediately on legislation that would save or create one million public and private sector jobs. Miller is the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee and the author of the legislation, the Local Jobs for America Act.

Teacher job crisis looming

The American Association of School Administrators recently estimated that budget cuts will leave 275,000 educators out of work in the 2010-11 school year. In addition, Dr. Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute estimates that for every 100,000 education jobs lost, 30,000 jobs will be lost in other sectors because of the lost spending by schools and the laid-off educators.  A loss of 275,000 education jobs would translate into more than 82,000 job cuts in other industries.

Committee Chairman Miller: “Teacher layoffs threaten our economic recovery and long-term stability at every level. Our teachers can’t afford to lose their jobs, our children can’t afford to lose a year of learning, and our nation can’t afford to stall the progress we’ve made to get our economy back on track.”

Watch Chairman Miller speak about investing in education jobs through the Local Jobs for America Act at a press event:



Local Jobs for America Act can help

The Local Jobs for America Act, introduced earlier this year, would invest $75 billion directly in local communities to save and create jobs in both the public and private sectors and restore vital services that families rely on.  The bill also includes an additional $24 billion investment to support 250,000 education-related jobs, including teachers, janitors, cafeteria workers, guidance counselors and principals.


In related news: yesterday, on National Teacher Day, the Committee held a hearing to examine how to best support teachers and leaders in schools. Studies show that teachers are the single most important factor in affecting student achievement.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary  Education Act, lawmakers should focus on reforms that will support teachers and leaders, focus on training and development and use all available resources to help ensure every student has access to a highly effective teacher, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee today. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee and a key architect of the education pieces of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, issued the following statement today on the law’s one-year anniversary:

One year ago today, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was enacted with the goal of keeping our recession from turning into a deeper Depression, and saving and creating jobs. A year later, it’s clear that the Recovery Act pulled our economy back from the brink of financial collapse, protected teachers, policemen, firefighters, and other vital workers from losing their jobs, and made strategic investments in education reforms and worker training that will help lay the groundwork for a long-term economic recovery. Newspapers from coast to coast have documented how the Recovery Act has helped students, workers and families:

STATE	FUNDS AWARDED	RECIPIENT-REPORTED JOBS	EDUCATION JOBS
Alabama	$2,879,946,703	13,871	5,866
Alaska	$1,599,388,595	1,596	268
Arizona	$3,392,939,821	6,811	2,849
Arkansas	$1,584,748,636	2,829	655
California	$21,650,138,095	71,015	49,982
Colorado	$3,229,978,450	9,407	3,900
Connecticut	$1,851,708,850	7,048	3,975
Delaware	$720,689,064	1,523	705
District of Columbia	$3,044,036,584	3,719	661
Florida	$9,094,185,017	34,966	24,055
Georgia	$4,861,526,252	24,103	14,397
Hawaii	$1,007,797,512	3,014	2,083
Idaho	$1,858,250,061	6,160	4,057
Illinois	$7,805,527,172	11,375	2,602
Indiana	$4,153,669,041	15,278	12,046
Iowa	$2,059,557,824	9,096	6,203
Kansas	$1,565,844,902	6,561	3,883
Kentucky	$2,511,040,050	10,677	7,381
Louisiana	$2,515,219,042	11,322	7,023
Maine	$889,318,291	2,182	336
Maryland	$4,680,473,252	6,759	1,467
Massachusetts	$4,713,047,794	9,261	3,215
Michigan	$7,319,327,513	20,140	9,313
Minnesota	$2,978,457,783	12,291	6,952
Mississippi	$2,071,100,200	3,412	602
Missouri	$3,390,575,173	16,074	11,462
Montana	$1,162,870,408	4,121	1,579
Nebraska	$1,079,872,241	3,849	1,703
Nevada	$1,427,100,987	3,149	2,005
New Hampshire	$824,716,551	1,295	261
New Jersey	$4,582,612,624	21,512	15,907
New Mexico	$2,223,479,041	4,582	2,373
New York	$12,373,720,643	43,061	30,157
North Carolina	$5,437,207,212	26,119	19,039
North Dakota	$885,135,966	2,698	1,613
Ohio	$6,445,027,536	24,705	11,881
Oklahoma	$2,329,598,907	7,999	4,903
Oregon	$2,241,634,383	9,657	5,623
Pennsylvania	$6,816,672,122	12,238	2,661
Rhode Island	$794,028,907	1,345	194
South Carolina	$5,765,646,903	11,024	4,947
South Dakota	$950,346,898	3,244	602
Tennessee	$5,941,032,774	10,259	3,749
Texas	$12,423,955,147	28,460	18,577
Utah	$1,761,439,655	4,740	1,955
Vermont	$624,753,124	1,624	294
Virginia	$4,319,924,264	9,877	5,079
Washington	$7,867,066,655	14,413	5,464
West Virginia	$1,480,743,335	2,195	641
Wisconsin	$2,948,665,736	10,316	4,338
Wyoming	$562,557,420	851	18
TERRITORY	FUNDS AWARDED	RECIPIENT-REPORTED JOBS	EDUCATION JOBS
Northern Mariana Islands	$84,398,311	138	55
Puerto Rico	$2,340,754,806	14,506
TOTAL	$199,662,327,231	599,108

Note: “Funds Awarded” includes federal contract, grant, and loan awards for individual states and territories, as reported by prime recipients for the period February 17-December 31, 2009. “Recipient-Reported Jobs”covers the period October 1-December 31, 2009.
Source: recovery.gov 

“Education Jobs” are reported from the Department of Education for the period October 1-December 31, 2009, and include jobs such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors. Source: Department of Education

President Obama’s 2011 Education Budget continues an impressive funding commitment in education. His budget sends the right message about balancing incentives with resources – spurring major school improvements and providing the resources needed to make them.

The President’s proposed budget includes  a request for $49.7 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Education, a $3.5 billion increase from last year’s request. It streamlines programs through consolidation and program elimination with an eye on program effectiveness. Specifically, the President’s budget will:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement  today after Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) announced a new plan for teacher evaluations and development.

Rep. George Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, speaks passionately about the need to pass the Jobs for Main Street Act on the House floor on December 16, 2009.


Learn more about the Jobs for Main Street Act and how it will create additional jobs for construction workers, teachers, police officers, firefighters and others, and extend critical assistance for the unemployed and people who have lost health insurance.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation today to create urgently needed new jobs for construction workers, teachers, police officers, firefighters and others, and to extend critical assistance for the unemployed and those who have lost health insurance. The Jobs for Main Street Act is the most recent step in Congress’ year-long effort to rescue the economy and stem the crippling impacts of the worst recession in generations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the House passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes critical investments in education, worker training, job creation, and other priorities that will help the U.S. economy move toward recovery. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, released the following statement:

To learn more about seclusion and restraint, click here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of California’s Democratic Congressional Delegation today urged Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and state education officials to release emergency funding provided to school districts under President Obama’s economic recovery plan as soon as the state receives it. Without these funds, the lawmakers warned in a letter, thousands of teachers throughout California could lose their jobs in coming weeks.
 

Building a Strong, Competitive 21st Century Economy

As we work to rebuild our economy and move our country forward, teachers will play a critical role in preparing our students to compete globally. It’s time to treat teachers like the professionals they are by rewarding them for their talent and hard work and providing them with opportunities for professional development and growth. 

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will help retain and cultivate excellent teachers by saving and creating new jobs and providing teachers with the support they deserve. The legislation will:

The House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing to examine a recent report released by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel on the state of math education and instruction in the United States. Among other things, the report found that the nation’s system for teaching math is “broken and must be fixed” if the U.S. wants to maintain its competitive edge.