children’s future as well as our economy.
During these hard times, I am encouraged that President Obama understands education is economic stimulus, and that the President and Congress have supported education spending as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
However, these ARRA funds should not be misunderstood as the increased federal funds that California has requested since the passage of No Child Left Behind’s increased education mandates. While these funds are an indication of the Obama administration’s interest in better funding the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the majority of these funds are intended to backfill our state education budget shortfall.
California faces historic cuts to education that our children, communities, and economy will feel for decades to come. To mitigate the devastating impacts of the cuts, we must ensure that these federal stabilization funds are distributed to our local schools as soon as possible to save jobs and protect the education of our children. As May quickly approaches, thousands of teachers and school staff will lose their jobs and deepen the economic crisis’ impact on their communities. Classroom teacher and support staff ratios will soar, and kids will pay the consequences.
I urge you, as California’s lead on these funds, to ensure that the ARRA dollars flow directly to our schools as quickly as possible. I ask you to encourage our schools to use these flexible funds to backfill their local best practices, mitigate increasing staffing ratios, and protect program quality across the board.
Funding education is not only immediate economic stimulus, but an investment in our future. Thank you for your quick action on this issue.
Sincerely,
Tom Torlakson
See related press release here. |
