December 17, 2010

NEA advocacy: Your values in action

NEA cyberlobbyists: from Capitol Hill to the classroom, your voice AND your membership matter! Thanks to you and your support, the entire NEA family and public education made historic gains in 2009 and 2010. You collectively sent over 900,000 e-mails to the 111th Congress and made thousands of phone calls to and visits to your Members of Congress.

The results of your hard work are evident -- because of your efforts, the 111th U.S. Congress:

• Improved learning conditions - secured $4 billion to modernize public schools.

• Kept more than 550,000 educators working and millions of students learning - the Recovery Act saved 400,000 jobs and the Education Jobs Fund an additional 150,000 to prevent ballooning class sizes, cuts in after-school programs, and shorter school weeks.

• Helped make higher education affordable - invested an unprecedented $2 billion in community colleges, increased Pell Grants, streamlined student loans, and more.

• Addressed the needs of the whole child - expanded the school lunch program, set new standards to improve the quality of school meals with more fruits and vegetables, and provided professional development for food service workers.  

• Expanded access to health care for children and adults - added 4 million poor children to current programs, created new programs for 32 million uninsured Americans, enabled children to stay on a parent’s policy until age 26, ended abuses such as lifetime coverage limits and dropping people when they get sick, and more.

• Stopped multiple efforts to fund voucher programs -in the District of Columbia and as part of the Department of Defense appropriation.

• Fought for social justice - passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and won extended benefits for unemployed parents to ensure they can provide food, shelter, and clothing for their children.

Thank you for sharing your first-hand expertise with policymakers and making sure educators’ voices were reflected in these important debates.

The threats to public education will be great in the coming year, and we will continue to need your help to stand up for public schools, for educators, and for the students you serve. Anti-public education forces at the federal and state level are threatening the rights of educators and seeking to silence organizations that fight for educators’ rights.