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The House and Senate conference committee is meeting TODAY beginning at 10 am ET for its second day of negotiating final changes to the federal education law, currently called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

You can watch the deliberations here. More below.

PAA ACTION OF THE WEEK
The new ESEA train is leaving the station

The House and Senate have appointed members to hammer out the final version of a new federal education law. House Speaker Paul Ryan appointed these Republicans to the temporary committee:
  • Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chairman, Committee on Education and the Workforce
  • Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN), chairman, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education
  • Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
  • Rep. David P. Roe (R-TN)
  • Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA)
  • Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
  • Rep. Luke Messer (R-IN)
  • Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK)
  • Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL)
  • Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI)
As mentioned above, you can watch the deliberations here beginning at 10 am ET.

Leaders plan to send a compromise bill to the full Congress by November 30. So, this is really the last time for us to share our concerns. 

A good strategy would be to drop by your Senators' and Congresspersons' offices over Thanksgiving weekend.

Key points for PAA include:
1) reduced mandated testing from annual to grade-span (not likely to happen),
2) reduced funding for charter school expansion (??),
3) stronger student data privacy provisions,
4) increased funds to lower class size, and
5) increased funds for wrap-around services.

Reach out to your Senators and Congresspersons today - make sure your voice is heard! You can send them PAA's one-page priority position paper or just call and tell them how ESEA has affected your child and your school. 

PAA NEWS

Corrections to last week's newsletter

Donation link:
In last week's newsletter we asked you to support PAA with your donations, but the link may not have worked for everyone. If this link doesn't work or does not redirect, you can just go to our website home page and click on the Donate button in the second menu box on the right titled "Help keep us running!" Don't give up! We never do!

SOS-New Jersey:
We under-reported the membership of Save Our Schools New Jersey by about 27,000. Leader Julia Sass Rubin reminded us that the group's actual membership is 30,000 - worth noting and repeating!

JOIN US!


If you share our overall goals of progressive, positive education reform and more parent input in education policy making, we invite you to affiliate with us if you are an existing group, or to form a new PAA chapter. The more of us there are, the stronger our voice will be at every level. Here's how! 
If you have questions, comments, suggestions or stories to share, please e-mail us at info@parentsacrossamerica.org or visitwww.parentsacrossamerica.org.

Looking for regular updates on key education stories? Join the PAA News List by e-mailing PAAnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

 
 


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