The time is NOW to contact your Senators and House Representatives! Congress is back from recess and will be trying to reach a compromise between the Senate and the House of Representatives version of the ESEA reauthorization. All the provisions listed below contain language specific to school libraries as well as provisions in Title II, Part A – Fund for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning; Title II, Part D – Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation (LEARN); and Title IX – General Provisions.
Contact your Senators and House Representatives TODAY by using the link below.
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Keep the Momentum Going for the Every Child Achieves Act
Currently, the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions are preparing to go to “conference” in an attempt to work out differences between the two versions of S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act and reach agreement on ESEA reauthorization.
ALA is asking (with your help!) that any conference agreement to reauthorize ESEA maintain the following provisions that were overwhelmingly adopted by the HELP Committee and the full Senate under S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act:
1. Title V, Part H – Literacy and Arts Education – Authorizes activities to promote literacy programs that support the development of literacy skills in low-income communities (similar to the Innovative Approaches to Literacy program that has been funded through appropriations) as well as activities to promote arts education for disadvantaged students.
2. Title I – Improving Basic Programs Operated by State and Local Educational Agencies – Under Title I of ESEA, State Educational Agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) must develop plans on how they will implement activities funded under the Act.
3. Title V, Part G – Innovative Technology Expands Children’s Horizons (I-TECH) – Authorizes activities to ensure all students have access to personalized, rigorous learning experiences that are supported through technology and to ensure that educators have the knowledge and skills to use technology to personalize learning.
Now is the time to keep the momentum going! Contact your Senators and Representative to let them know that you support the effective school library provisions found in the Senate bill and they should too!