Education Jobs Fund Press Conference
On Wednesday the National Education Association (NEA) held a press conference addressing the $23 billion education jobs fund featuring NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Reps. Dave Obey (D-WI) and George Miller (D-CA), and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.
“The Recovery Bill last year saved over 300,000 education jobs, but, because states have not yet recovered, and local economies are just beginning the recovery process, we still have a shortage of the financial resources necessary to keep teachers, firemen and policemen on the job for another year while state budgets catch up,†said Rep. Obey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee. “On that score, we have two choices—we can sit, frozen in our own indifference, as President Roosevelt once said, or we can take action to save those jobs. That’s what we’re going to try to do.â€
House Markup of Supplemental Postponed
The House Appropriation Committee’s markup of the emergency supplemental that was to include the $23 billion education jobs fund that was scheduled for Thursday has been postponed and will not happen until after the Memorial Day recess. In the meantime, the Committee released an official summary of the bill.
State-By-State Estimates of Jobs Saved or Created by Education Jobs Fund
Earlier this week the White House released state-by-state estimates of the number of jobs that will be saved or created through the $23 billion education jobs fund. Based on these estimates you can see how the funding will help your state, and since the House markup was postponed, there is still time to contact your Representative to voice your support of saving educators’ jobs!
Tags: advocacy, appropriations, Congress, federal legislation, funding, Secretary Duncan