California Teachers Association
1705 Murchison Drive
P.O. Box 921
Burlingame, CA 94011-0921
www.cta.org
Contact: Frank Wells (562) 942-7979 or Justo Robles (415) 254-2528 (cell)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON DC - More than 30 California teachers will fly to Washington this week to meet with members of the California Congressional Delegation. Leaders from the California Teachers Association will discuss concerns about the implementation of the "No Child Left Behind" Act and urge lawmakers to push for full funding of the program.
"With NCLB, the Bush administration made funding promises and then immediately broke them," said Wayne Johnson, president of the 330,000-member CTA. "The law has placed additional burdensome and grossly underfunded demands on our schools. If Washington is serious about improving education, it is going to have to help provide the resources to get the job done."
Approved in January of 2001, NCLB imposed massive changes on state testing, accountability, and teacher quality standards. Although promising infusions of federal education money when passed, the current federal budget shortchanges that promise by more than $11 billion, leaving states already beset by budget problems struggling to make up the difference.
In addition to urging full funding of the measure, the CTA representatives will press for more local flexibility on accountability issues imposed under the new law.
"California already has some of the highest curriculum and teacher credentialing standards in the nation," said Johnson. "We want to fix this law so that our schools are not punished because we have set the bar higher for them than schools in most other states."
Following the meeting with the California Delegation, CTA members who also represent the National Education Association will spend a day lobbying the full House and Senate on NCLB issues.
- WHAT: California Teachers Association leaders meet with California Congressional Delegation to press for full funding and flexibility in implementing the "No Child Left Behind" Act.
- WHEN: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 at 11:30 a.m.
- WHERE: Member Dining Room on House Side of Capitol Building, Washington D.C.