May 9, 2012

Dear Representative:

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of 95 education associations and institutions from birth to postgraduate education, writes in strong opposition to the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012, reported from the Budget Committee, and to the overall approach to sequestration contained in the House-passed Budget Resolution (H. Con. Res. 112).

The Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Resolution and this legislation would replace the sequester, but do so by imposing dramatically deeper cuts to education and all other nondefense discretionary programs.  First, in FY 2013 the Budget Resolution and the Sequester Replacement Act (HR 4966), which has been incorporated into this bill, cut overall FY 2013 discretionary spending by $19 billion and nondefense spending by $27 billion below the levels established on a bipartisan basis in the Budget Control Act (BCA).

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March 16, 2012

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye                                                  The Honorable Thad Cochran
Chairman                                                                                                 Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations                                                       Committee on Appropriations
U.S. Senate                                                                                             U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510                                                                     Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Harold Rogers                                                      The Honorable Norm Dicks
Chairman                                                                                                 Ranking Member
Committee on Appropriations                                                       Committee on Appropriations
U.S. House of Representatives                                                      U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515                                                                     Washington, DC 20515

The 902 undersigned organizations—representing the full range of stakeholders in the programs of the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Labor—urge you to provide the largest possible FY 2013 302(b) allocation to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee within the discretionary cap established by the Budget Control Act (BCA). Rebuilding our investment in these domestic programs will boost the economy and reduce the deficit through prevention of costly chronic diseases, increased earnings, and reduced expenditures for unemployment and other social service programs.

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October 10, 2011

Dear Senator:

The Committee for Education Funding (CEF), a coalition of 90 education associations and institutions from preschool to postgraduate education, is writing to express our strong support for S. 1660, the American Jobs Act of 2011. In particular, we support Subtitles B (Teacher Stabilization) and D (School Modernization) of Title II. We urge you to vote for cloture on S. 1660 and to pass the bill with these provisions.

The Teacher Stabilization program would provide $30 billion to save some 280,000 jobs of not just teachers but also other school employees, including counselors, social workers, school nurses, paraprofessionals, librarians, custodians and other educators. Without these funds students will be shortchanged by shorter school weeks, education program eliminations and unreasonable class sizes.

The School Modernization program would provide $25 billion in critically needed funds to improve learning conditions for students in some 35,000 public schools and $5 billion to expand and upgrade facilities and capacity at community colleges.

Our students deserve safe, healthy and modern school buildings. It’s hard for students to learn in schools with environmental hazards or lacking modern technology and science labs. School districts face an estimated $271 billion of deferred building and grounds maintenance. The average public school building is 40 years old with many far older. Chronic deferred maintenance and repair can lead to energy inefficiencies, unsafe drinking water, water damage and moldy environments, poor air quality, inadequate health and safety conditions, compromised building security, and structural dangers.

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