From the BCCT.
Pennsylvania Republicans are moving toward saying "NO" to stimulus money.
Pa. may turn down some stimulus funds
By: Gary Weckselblatt
The Intelligencer
State Republican lawmakers from Bucks County claim federal stimulus money has too many strings and will ultimately leave the state with long-term fiscal problems if it's accepted.
Citing federal mandates that come with portions of the $16 billion and rules that still "haven't been written," the legislators said in some cases it's best to turn the money down.
"We'll take the money for construction and engineering jobs," state Sen. Chuck McIlhinney said. "The shovel-ready projects are the way to go. The other stuff is just social engineering."
Speaking at a Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce breakfast Friday, where members begged for some good news, the lawmakers didn't oblige.
McIlhinney said if the state accepts federal stimulus funds for unemployment compensation, for example, it's mandatory that the Family Leave Act includes 12 weeks of time off with pay.
"That would cripple small business," McIlhinney said. "It's a very noble idea. They're doing it in California and they're in great shape there.
"These are the things we're going to say no to."
Another example McIlhinney cited is the Troubled Asset Relief Program [TARP], where rules for gaining access to the $700 billion kept changing.
"Tell us what you want up front," he said.
"That's the amazing thing about Washington," said state Rep. Kathy Watson, "the money's coming, but the rules for using it haven't been written."
It's possible a portion of the stimulus money could be used to stave off the anticipated school pension spike in 2012 from today's 4.76 percent district contribution rate to one in excess of 30 percent.
State Rep. Bernie O'Neill, co-chair of the House Republican Policy Committee's Education and Job Training Task Force, is looking at giving districts stimulus money to hold in a "secure dedicated fund" to ease the increase.
O'Neill also bemoaned Gov. Ed Rendell's plans to create new education programs while cutting others. "It's going to be a battle," he said.
He cited the state's push for Keystone Exams, a series of 10 state-developed end-of-course exams that area districts had balked at.
"It would cost our school board $42 million," O'Neill said.
State Rep. Paul Clymer said he's "opposed to the direction the governor is moving on these tests."
Clymer, an anti-gambling crusader, also blasted Rendell's proposed expansion of video gambling machines into bars to lower costs for those attending state universities.
"It's an enormous amount of gambling expansion in Pennsylvania," he said. "This is not the way this state should be going."
The same could be said for overall spending, according to State Rep. Scott Petri, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Economic Impact and Infrastructure.
He said that although state revenues decreased by 6.2 percent this fiscal year Rendell plans to increase spending from $28 billion to $29 billion.
"I don't believe another state has proposed higher spending than last year," Petri said. "We've got to buckle down."
Also Friday, state Rep. Marguerite Quinn argued on behalf of Worth & Co., the mechanical contractor from Plumstead that's been hounded by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry for paying 19 of its 450 workers $61,516 less than prevailing wage over a four-year period.
She said the state's "draconian measures" could put the company out of business.
"We're told by the governor, we're told by Washington that things are getting better. I'm not seeing it," Quinn said.
She then went on to question the government's commitment to job growth.
Quinn used the illustration of Congressman Patrick Murphy's plan to spend $10 million in flood relief to potentially create 200 jobs and $2 million more for up to 12 jobs at Humanistic Robotics.
"Do the math," she said. "We've got 450 jobs here that pay between $75,000 and $100,000 each. We're going to throw those away for $61,000.
"I'm deeply concerned with this fight. + Scream about this. It's something we should not let happen."
Showing posts with label federal funding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal funding. Show all posts
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Devil is in the Details
From the BCCT. Morrisville can use $441,000. No one disputes that. The question is *how* or *where* to spend the money.
SCHOOL STIMULUS MONEY
Devil of package is in details
School districts won’t know the regulations for spending the money until June.
By HILARY BENTMAN and JOAN HELLYER
Area school districts will get a slice of the president’s $787 billion stimulus package, but just how much, under what conditions, and for how long remains unclear.
It has left local school administrators scratching their heads and waiting for answers to questions that mount daily.
“It’s complicated,” said Eileen Kelliher, spokeswoman for the Bristol Township School District, which is scheduled to receive almost $3 million over two years to educate low income and special education students.
“In June, we will get the administrative regulations that tell us what we can use it for and then we will be able to plan,” Kelliher said.
The devil, they say, is in the details, agreed Dave Matyas, business administrator for the Central Bucks School District. “We don’t know the details and you never know for sure what strings come attached,” he said.
Under new estimates recently released, Central Bucks could see $3.4 million from the federal bill to be used over a two-year period.
The stimulus package is providing school districts with Title I and IDEA money.
Title I helps districts that have high concentrations of students from low-income families. Most area schools use their allotment for remediation. But only eight area districts are eligible for the additional money under the stimulus package.
IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, funding is often used for special education, an area of school budgets that continues to increase. The money is given to the state and redistributed to the districts.
Both Title I and IDEA grants can be used to fund existing programs, said Melissa Salmanowitz, spokeswoman for the House Education and Labor Committee, which released the estimates.
“They can use the money however they see fit, as long as it’s in accordance with the law,” she said.
But just how much of an impact the money will have on local districts is hazy.
Pennsbury, which could receive almost $2.5 million for special education expenses, isn’t making any plans for the money until district officials find out from the state how the money can be spent, spokeswoman Ann Langtry said.
Bob Reichert, business manager in Hatboro-Horsham, expects his district won’t see much in the way of increased state revenue this year, so new federal funding may only “help sustain what we received in the past.”
“A lot of it is going to be onetime funds, a shot in the arm,” he added. Hatboro-Horsham is estimated to receive about $1.1 million over two years.
Additionally, estimates show Pennsylvania will get about $1.9 billion in fiscal stabilization money, which can be used for school construction, renovations and to help districts make ends meet.
Those funds will be distributed by the state Department of Education, where officials are working on the parameters for allocation, said spokesman Michael Race.
The education department told the state’s 501 school districts last month to compile wish-lists of shovel-ready projects in preparation for the stimulus package. Shovel-ready projects are those that can begin in six months and immediately put people to work.
Bensalem is putting together its wish list, Superintendent James Lombardo told school board members last week, with hopes that some of the money could be used to cover renovations in the coming school year.
Palisades School District officials already compiled their list. It includes new roofs for a couple of schools and relocating the varsity baseball and softball fields.
How quickly some of those projects can be funded and whether the stimulus will help reduce the property tax burden in the coming school year is unclear as the state waits for the money to roll in.
SCHOOL STIMULUS MONEY
Devil of package is in details
School districts won’t know the regulations for spending the money until June.
By HILARY BENTMAN and JOAN HELLYER
Area school districts will get a slice of the president’s $787 billion stimulus package, but just how much, under what conditions, and for how long remains unclear.
It has left local school administrators scratching their heads and waiting for answers to questions that mount daily.
“It’s complicated,” said Eileen Kelliher, spokeswoman for the Bristol Township School District, which is scheduled to receive almost $3 million over two years to educate low income and special education students.
“In June, we will get the administrative regulations that tell us what we can use it for and then we will be able to plan,” Kelliher said.
The devil, they say, is in the details, agreed Dave Matyas, business administrator for the Central Bucks School District. “We don’t know the details and you never know for sure what strings come attached,” he said.
Under new estimates recently released, Central Bucks could see $3.4 million from the federal bill to be used over a two-year period.The stimulus package is providing school districts with Title I and IDEA money.
Title I helps districts that have high concentrations of students from low-income families. Most area schools use their allotment for remediation. But only eight area districts are eligible for the additional money under the stimulus package.
IDEA, or Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, funding is often used for special education, an area of school budgets that continues to increase. The money is given to the state and redistributed to the districts.
Both Title I and IDEA grants can be used to fund existing programs, said Melissa Salmanowitz, spokeswoman for the House Education and Labor Committee, which released the estimates.
“They can use the money however they see fit, as long as it’s in accordance with the law,” she said.
But just how much of an impact the money will have on local districts is hazy.
Pennsbury, which could receive almost $2.5 million for special education expenses, isn’t making any plans for the money until district officials find out from the state how the money can be spent, spokeswoman Ann Langtry said.
Bob Reichert, business manager in Hatboro-Horsham, expects his district won’t see much in the way of increased state revenue this year, so new federal funding may only “help sustain what we received in the past.”
“A lot of it is going to be onetime funds, a shot in the arm,” he added. Hatboro-Horsham is estimated to receive about $1.1 million over two years.
Additionally, estimates show Pennsylvania will get about $1.9 billion in fiscal stabilization money, which can be used for school construction, renovations and to help districts make ends meet.
Those funds will be distributed by the state Department of Education, where officials are working on the parameters for allocation, said spokesman Michael Race.
The education department told the state’s 501 school districts last month to compile wish-lists of shovel-ready projects in preparation for the stimulus package. Shovel-ready projects are those that can begin in six months and immediately put people to work.
Bensalem is putting together its wish list, Superintendent James Lombardo told school board members last week, with hopes that some of the money could be used to cover renovations in the coming school year.
Palisades School District officials already compiled their list. It includes new roofs for a couple of schools and relocating the varsity baseball and softball fields.
How quickly some of those projects can be funded and whether the stimulus will help reduce the property tax burden in the coming school year is unclear as the state waits for the money to roll in.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Dear Mr. Obama: Pay Up
Here's an idea from the Concord(NH) Monitor
District sets out to collect on fed pledge
School boards to send special ed invoice to D.C.
By Karen Langley, Monitor staff, February 16, 2009 - 6:51 am
What's a school district to do when federal mandates arrive without federal money? Send an invoice.
That's the response of local school boards disgruntled with the perpetual gap in special education funding.
At the suggestion of their superintendent, the school boards of Allenstown, Chichester, Deerfield and Epsom have decided to bill the U.S. Department of Education for nearly a quarter of their special education costs from the past five years. The Pembroke board will consider the move at its next meeting.
Board members' qualms stem from the pledge Congress made to fund 40 percent of costs when it mandated special education programming in 1975. Funding has varied since then but has never risen much above the current 17 percent level.
The Education Department is likely to receive similar invoices, because the American Association of School Administrators is encouraging members to draw attention to the funding shortfall by billing the government.
Superintendent Peter Warburton said the campaign should not raise questions about the dedication to special education at SAU 53. It's meant rather to draw attention to the additional burden on districts, he said.
"My concern is we are now saddled with such large special education bills that in small districts lots of our other programming is being jeopardized," he said.
The SAU finance office is compiling past expense reports for filing next month.
The idea of billing the federal government for special education costs originated in Barrington, not far from the SAU 53 schools, according to Mary Kusler, assistant director of advocacy and policy at the school administrators association.
The Barrington School District first sent the government a $605,271 bill for special education costs in the 2000-01 school year.
Mike Clark, then chairman of the school board, said members were tired of drawing fire for the tax raises their budgets incurred. Board members agreed to protest what they considered failure to pay money owed.
"We weren't naive enough to think they had just not thought of the idea and would sit down and write every school district in the nation a check," Clark said.
Invoices from Barrington later included back expenses and interest. (The district never received a check, though Sen. Judd Gregg did send a letter.)
Warburton said he hopes the campaigns of enough school districts will prompt the government to increase funding. At the Deerfield School Board, Donald Gorman calls it a "political gambit" but expects to see money. If the government doesn't pay, he wants to sue.
"They said they were going to pay for it," he said. "Put the money on the table, boys."
Dick Cohen, executive director of the Disability Rights Center in Concord, said a court would be unlikely to consider the funding pledge by Congress legally binding. He questioned the argument that special education costs are truly owed to the districts.
"Education has always been seen as a local and state responsibility," he said. "The fact the federal government is providing extra in our view is a bonus."
Superintendents throughout the area said yesterday they did not plan to mail bills but were disheartened by the funding shortfall.
Recent meetings of the Andover School District featured votes requesting that congressional delegates act to fully fund special education, said Superintendent Michael Martin.
"Special education is always a topic at budget time," he said. "I think it's fair to say we are disappointed that the 40 percent is not funded."
District sets out to collect on fed pledge
School boards to send special ed invoice to D.C.
By Karen Langley, Monitor staff, February 16, 2009 - 6:51 am
What's a school district to do when federal mandates arrive without federal money? Send an invoice.
That's the response of local school boards disgruntled with the perpetual gap in special education funding.At the suggestion of their superintendent, the school boards of Allenstown, Chichester, Deerfield and Epsom have decided to bill the U.S. Department of Education for nearly a quarter of their special education costs from the past five years. The Pembroke board will consider the move at its next meeting.
Board members' qualms stem from the pledge Congress made to fund 40 percent of costs when it mandated special education programming in 1975. Funding has varied since then but has never risen much above the current 17 percent level.
The Education Department is likely to receive similar invoices, because the American Association of School Administrators is encouraging members to draw attention to the funding shortfall by billing the government.
Superintendent Peter Warburton said the campaign should not raise questions about the dedication to special education at SAU 53. It's meant rather to draw attention to the additional burden on districts, he said.
"My concern is we are now saddled with such large special education bills that in small districts lots of our other programming is being jeopardized," he said.
The SAU finance office is compiling past expense reports for filing next month.
The idea of billing the federal government for special education costs originated in Barrington, not far from the SAU 53 schools, according to Mary Kusler, assistant director of advocacy and policy at the school administrators association.
The Barrington School District first sent the government a $605,271 bill for special education costs in the 2000-01 school year.
Mike Clark, then chairman of the school board, said members were tired of drawing fire for the tax raises their budgets incurred. Board members agreed to protest what they considered failure to pay money owed.
"We weren't naive enough to think they had just not thought of the idea and would sit down and write every school district in the nation a check," Clark said.
Invoices from Barrington later included back expenses and interest. (The district never received a check, though Sen. Judd Gregg did send a letter.)
Warburton said he hopes the campaigns of enough school districts will prompt the government to increase funding. At the Deerfield School Board, Donald Gorman calls it a "political gambit" but expects to see money. If the government doesn't pay, he wants to sue.
"They said they were going to pay for it," he said. "Put the money on the table, boys."
Dick Cohen, executive director of the Disability Rights Center in Concord, said a court would be unlikely to consider the funding pledge by Congress legally binding. He questioned the argument that special education costs are truly owed to the districts.
"Education has always been seen as a local and state responsibility," he said. "The fact the federal government is providing extra in our view is a bonus."
Superintendents throughout the area said yesterday they did not plan to mail bills but were disheartened by the funding shortfall.
Recent meetings of the Andover School District featured votes requesting that congressional delegates act to fully fund special education, said Superintendent Michael Martin.
"Special education is always a topic at budget time," he said. "I think it's fair to say we are disappointed that the 40 percent is not funded."
Friday, February 13, 2009
Stimulus a Plus for PA
From the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
Final stimulus bill will deliver for Pa. budget
By MARC LEVY (AP)
A massive new federal economic stimulus bill will deliver billions to Pennsylvania for highways, mass transit and school districts, although it will force Gov. Ed Rendell to plug a relatively small hole in the state's finances.
The news was a relief for Rendell, who had feared the implications of the Senate's version of the stimulus bill after it cut tens of billions of dollars for states. Rendell had based his budget proposal delivered last week on a more generous House bill.
A version expected to pass Congress in the next couple days will restore most of the money in the House bill, but not all. But filling that gap will be far less onerous than what Pennsylvania would have faced under the Senate's bill.
"To add another half a billion in cuts ... would have gone from a moderate level of cuts to a severe level of cuts," Rendell told reporters on a Thursday evening conference call.
Had the state lost $500 million, as the Senate bill would have dictated, state-related universities such as Penn State, museums and educational and health care institutions would have lost some or all their funding. Dollars for school districts and counties also would have plummeted, potentially forcing layoffs, Rendell said.
"So we have pretty much escaped a disaster," Rendell said.
Rendell has already ordered hundreds of millions in spending to be frozen as Pennsylvania faces a $2.3 billion shortfall this fiscal year amid a deepening national recession. He also cut another nearly $1 billion from existing programs in the budget he proposed for the 2009-10 fiscal year that begins July 1.
Rendell said Congress is still writing a funding formula, so it remained unclear exactly how much more money he must cut or find _ he speculated it could be another $60 to $70 million.
The White House and Congress struck a deal on a final $790 billion stimulus bill on Wednesday and details about it began emerging during the day Thursday.
All told, Pennsylvania will get more than $16 billion from the stimulus bill, including about $5 billion in aid for the budget, about $1.5 billion directly to school districts and another $1.7 billion for highways, bridges and mass transit agencies.
Some of the aid will be help for the jobless, such as unemployment benefits, food stamps, health coverage and more. It also includes a tax break of up to $800 for millions of lower- and middle-income taxpayers that would benefit 4.9 million Pennsylvanians, according to White House figures.
Rendell said shovels could begin turning dirt on some of those projects within a matter of four months, while some might take longer, up to nine months, to get contracts awarded.
According to White House estimates, the bill will create or save 143,000 jobs in Pennsylvania over the next two years, sixth-most jobs in the country. Since the recession began just over a year ago, Pennsylvania has lost more than 75,000 jobs.
Many of the jobs to be created will be in construction, Rendell said.
The bill also offers opportunities for the state to compete for money for air, rail and other transportation projects. One such project that Pennsylvania will pitch is for a rail connection between Scranton and the Pocono Mountains to New York City, Rendell said.
Final stimulus bill will deliver for Pa. budget
By MARC LEVY (AP)
A massive new federal economic stimulus bill will deliver billions to Pennsylvania for highways, mass transit and school districts, although it will force Gov. Ed Rendell to plug a relatively small hole in the state's finances.
The news was a relief for Rendell, who had feared the implications of the Senate's version of the stimulus bill after it cut tens of billions of dollars for states. Rendell had based his budget proposal delivered last week on a more generous House bill.
A version expected to pass Congress in the next couple days will restore most of the money in the House bill, but not all. But filling that gap will be far less onerous than what Pennsylvania would have faced under the Senate's bill.
"To add another half a billion in cuts ... would have gone from a moderate level of cuts to a severe level of cuts," Rendell told reporters on a Thursday evening conference call.
Had the state lost $500 million, as the Senate bill would have dictated, state-related universities such as Penn State, museums and educational and health care institutions would have lost some or all their funding. Dollars for school districts and counties also would have plummeted, potentially forcing layoffs, Rendell said.
"So we have pretty much escaped a disaster," Rendell said.
Rendell has already ordered hundreds of millions in spending to be frozen as Pennsylvania faces a $2.3 billion shortfall this fiscal year amid a deepening national recession. He also cut another nearly $1 billion from existing programs in the budget he proposed for the 2009-10 fiscal year that begins July 1.
Rendell said Congress is still writing a funding formula, so it remained unclear exactly how much more money he must cut or find _ he speculated it could be another $60 to $70 million.
The White House and Congress struck a deal on a final $790 billion stimulus bill on Wednesday and details about it began emerging during the day Thursday.
All told, Pennsylvania will get more than $16 billion from the stimulus bill, including about $5 billion in aid for the budget, about $1.5 billion directly to school districts and another $1.7 billion for highways, bridges and mass transit agencies.
Some of the aid will be help for the jobless, such as unemployment benefits, food stamps, health coverage and more. It also includes a tax break of up to $800 for millions of lower- and middle-income taxpayers that would benefit 4.9 million Pennsylvanians, according to White House figures.
Rendell said shovels could begin turning dirt on some of those projects within a matter of four months, while some might take longer, up to nine months, to get contracts awarded.
According to White House estimates, the bill will create or save 143,000 jobs in Pennsylvania over the next two years, sixth-most jobs in the country. Since the recession began just over a year ago, Pennsylvania has lost more than 75,000 jobs.
Many of the jobs to be created will be in construction, Rendell said.
The bill also offers opportunities for the state to compete for money for air, rail and other transportation projects. One such project that Pennsylvania will pitch is for a rail connection between Scranton and the Pocono Mountains to New York City, Rendell said.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Oops!
From the Inquirer.
Maybe we can learn from this mistake?
Camden school district must return $393,00 in federal funds
By Rita Giordano Inquirer Staff Writer Posted on Thu, Nov. 27, 2008
The Camden School District, which often complains to the state that it doesn't have enough money to serve its mostly poor student population, has to return nearly $400,000 in federal aid.
Why? Apparently someone didn't file the necessary request to allow the district to roll over the unused funds from 2004-05 to the following year.
The district routinely asks for federal permission to roll over unused funds from one year to the next, spokesman Bart Leff said. However, for the year in question, he said the request for rollover permission "either wasn't made or it was made late."
The $393,000 was part of nearly $21 million in Title I aid from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2004-05 school year, according to Leff. The unused money, which is granted to help low-income children, was identified through an audit.
A vote to return the aid was made at Tuesday night's board meeting.
In an interview yesterday, board president Sara Davis said she feels state officials "share some of the blame" for the district losing the money. She said the money would have been used to fund certain math and reading programs, but state officials wanted those programs discontinued.
She also acknowledged that given administrative changes and lack of continuity within the district in recent years, "things happened that shouldn't have happened."
Camden school officials have long said the largely poor district needs more aid than it receives. To balance this school year's budget, the district had to cut staff and programs.
The board also voted to make Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, a school holiday. It gives students an extended holiday since they are already off Jan. 19 for Martin Luther King's Birthday and employees a paid day off.
Maybe we can learn from this mistake?
Camden school district must return $393,00 in federal funds
By Rita Giordano Inquirer Staff Writer Posted on Thu, Nov. 27, 2008
The Camden School District, which often complains to the state that it doesn't have enough money to serve its mostly poor student population, has to return nearly $400,000 in federal aid.
Why? Apparently someone didn't file the necessary request to allow the district to roll over the unused funds from 2004-05 to the following year.
The district routinely asks for federal permission to roll over unused funds from one year to the next, spokesman Bart Leff said. However, for the year in question, he said the request for rollover permission "either wasn't made or it was made late."
The $393,000 was part of nearly $21 million in Title I aid from the U.S. Department of Education for the 2004-05 school year, according to Leff. The unused money, which is granted to help low-income children, was identified through an audit.
A vote to return the aid was made at Tuesday night's board meeting.
In an interview yesterday, board president Sara Davis said she feels state officials "share some of the blame" for the district losing the money. She said the money would have been used to fund certain math and reading programs, but state officials wanted those programs discontinued.
She also acknowledged that given administrative changes and lack of continuity within the district in recent years, "things happened that shouldn't have happened."
Camden school officials have long said the largely poor district needs more aid than it receives. To balance this school year's budget, the district had to cut staff and programs.
The board also voted to make Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, a school holiday. It gives students an extended holiday since they are already off Jan. 19 for Martin Luther King's Birthday and employees a paid day off.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
21st Century Funding Cuts-Action Needed
I just received this urgent news tip. If you have the opportunity, please help.
We had many of the club advisors work on letters with their students. There is no better testimonial than the words out of the mouths of our children. We will be sending a large packet of letters, and petitions to each of our local representatives. Additionally, we have asked all the school district employees, and the agencies that partner with 21st Century to call the offices of Patrick Murphy, Bob Casey, and Arlen Specter. The flyer below has numbers to the local and Washington D.C. Offices
We feel that the loss, or reduction of after school programs would be devastating not just to our students, but the millions of students participating in 21st Century programming nationwide. Though we have not been notified that we would among the programs affected, neither have we received assurances that we are safe.
Please consider contacting our representatives to have your voice heard. Feel free to pass these phone numbers to anyone who may be interested in helping us to be heard.
URGENT! YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING 21ST CENTURY FUNDING CUTS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: February 25th and 26th –
National Call-In Days to Show Support for After School Programs.
President Bush is proposing a devastating cut to after school funds and a drastic restructure of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. This would mean that after school programs such as Morrisville’s would not have funding needed to remain in operation. If you want to show opposition to this proposal, we are urging you to participate in a National Call-In Campaign to support after school programs on February 25th and 26th.
On February 26th the US Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings will be testifying before the House of Appropriations Committee responsible for after school funding and we want Members of Congress to know that their constituents do not support the President’s proposal to cut and reconfigure the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.
Together we can send a message that after school programs are critically important to the success of our children and youth and that the President’s proposal should be rejected. Encourage your partners, colleagues and friends to call in n behalf of the millions of youth who need a safe, productive and inspiring place to go to during the after school hours.
Congressman Patrick Murphy –
215-826-1963 (Bristol Office) 202-225-4276 (Washington Office)
Senator Bob Casey –
215-405-9660 (Philadelphia Office) 202-228-0604 (Washington Office)
Senator Arlen Specter –
215-597-7200 (Philadelphia Office) 202-224-4254 (Washington Office)
We had many of the club advisors work on letters with their students. There is no better testimonial than the words out of the mouths of our children. We will be sending a large packet of letters, and petitions to each of our local representatives. Additionally, we have asked all the school district employees, and the agencies that partner with 21st Century to call the offices of Patrick Murphy, Bob Casey, and Arlen Specter. The flyer below has numbers to the local and Washington D.C. Offices
We feel that the loss, or reduction of after school programs would be devastating not just to our students, but the millions of students participating in 21st Century programming nationwide. Though we have not been notified that we would among the programs affected, neither have we received assurances that we are safe.
Please consider contacting our representatives to have your voice heard. Feel free to pass these phone numbers to anyone who may be interested in helping us to be heard.
URGENT! YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING 21ST CENTURY FUNDING CUTS
MARK YOUR CALENDARS: February 25th and 26th –
National Call-In Days to Show Support for After School Programs.
President Bush is proposing a devastating cut to after school funds and a drastic restructure of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. This would mean that after school programs such as Morrisville’s would not have funding needed to remain in operation. If you want to show opposition to this proposal, we are urging you to participate in a National Call-In Campaign to support after school programs on February 25th and 26th.
On February 26th the US Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings will be testifying before the House of Appropriations Committee responsible for after school funding and we want Members of Congress to know that their constituents do not support the President’s proposal to cut and reconfigure the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.
Together we can send a message that after school programs are critically important to the success of our children and youth and that the President’s proposal should be rejected. Encourage your partners, colleagues and friends to call in n behalf of the millions of youth who need a safe, productive and inspiring place to go to during the after school hours.
Congressman Patrick Murphy –
215-826-1963 (Bristol Office) 202-225-4276 (Washington Office)
Senator Bob Casey –
215-405-9660 (Philadelphia Office) 202-228-0604 (Washington Office)
Senator Arlen Specter –
215-597-7200 (Philadelphia Office) 202-224-4254 (Washington Office)
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