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Senate advances bill that will help states prevent teacher layoffs; MLIVE- August 4, 2010
Topic Started: Aug 5 2010, 08:32 PM (305 Views)
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Senate advances bill that will help states prevent teacher layoffs
Published: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 3:17 PM

APThe Senate today advanced a bill that will provide funding to local school boards to help prevent teacher layoffs.
The Senate secured the 60 votes it needed to advance a bill that would provide $26 billion in aid to states that will help avoid teacher layoffs and provide Medicaid funding.

The vote on the motion to limit debate was 61-38. The Senate will take a final vote on the measure later this week. It would then have to go the the House of Representatives for a final vote before it goes to President Obama for his signature.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has asked House lawmakers to return to Washington from their summer break to pass the legislation.

According to a House legislative aide, members of the House may return to Washington this month, perhaps as soon as next week, to vote on the bill, the Hill reports. If not, the vote will have to wait until Sept. 13th, when the House is scheduled to return to Washington.

The legislation provides $10 billion to local school boards to help them avert layoffs of teachers. Senate Democrats say that it will save the jobs of 140,000 teachers across the country.

"This critical funding bill is about one thing and one thing only, and that's saving American jobs," said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during debate on the Senate floor. "We will not be able to reduce unemployment unless both the public and private sectors are healthy."

The legislation also provides $16 billion in funding for state governments to help them pay for Medicaid.

Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both from Maine, were the only two Republican senators to support the bill.

"Washington needs to take care of its own fiscal mess rather than trying to bail out the states," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.). "Americans are more intent than ever on reversing the trend of centralizing power in Washington."

The legislation has no impact on the federal deficit. It is paid for by spending cuts and an $11 billion tax increase on U.S. multinational corporations.

http://www.mlive.com/michigan-job-search/index.ssf/2010/08/senate_passes_procedural_hurdle_on_medic.html
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'Edujobs' bill closer to clearing Senate, though critics argue unions, not students, gain
Published: Wednesday, August 04, 2010, 4:48 PM
Dave Murray | The Grand Rapids Press

School districts might soon get a slice of $10 billion of federal cash to keep teachers on the payroll as a controversial “edujobs” bill is poised to clear the Senate.

While supports say the plan could spare pink slips intended for 100,000 teachers across the country, critics argue that the money comes from programs intended to serve students, and others say the move is nothing more than a cash grab by teachers unions.

The edujobs bill once faced a presidential veto, but Alyson Klein of Education Week blogs that the latest version leaves Race to the Top reform money intact.

A vote to end debate passed the Senate on Wednesday with support of two Republicans from Maine.

Klein reports this version takes $50 million from the Striving Readers program, which helps finance adolescent literacy projects and $10 million from Ready to Teach, which finances telecommunications programs for teachers. Another $82 million would be cut from student financial aid administration.

Even if the plan clears a special session of the U.S. House, Klein reports that states will need to apply for the money, then distribute the cash to districts, and process that could take at least a month.

“The upshot? In some places, laid off teachers may find themselves rehired until a month or more into the school year,” she writes. “That's probably better than not having a job at all, but it seems far from ideal for the teachers, or arguably, the kids.”

Union critics such as the Education Action Group argue that the bill has more to do with sending millions of dollars to the two largest teachers unions — the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers.

The EAG estimates the NEA would get about $36 million and the AFT would realize about $14 million.

“We have major spending problems in our public schools. Senate Democrats and these two Republicans are perpetuating the problem. It's unfortunate they don't seize the opportunity to do something about it,” EAG Vice President Kyle Olson said in a release.

“But it's not unexpected. The NEA and AFT are major funders of the Congressional majority’s campaigns. So this action, from this Congress, was a long time coming.”

Union leaders cheered the move, though said the money should have been considered "emergency spending" and not included dollars culled from programs aimed at students and teachers.

"We can’t ‘race to the top’ if the bottom is falling out for school districts across the country," AFT President Randi Weingarten wrote. "Make no mistake about it—for every layoff, every day that’s cut from a school week, every course or program that’s dropped, children are hurt.

"It is unfortunate that providing necessary help to those in need has become an either-or proposition. This package should have been, and could have been, dealt with as temporary, emergency spending rather than as funding requiring offsets that pit programs—those that help our children and struggling Americans—against one another."

It's unclear how much area districts would get through the plan, as 100,000 jobs spreads thinly across the entire country. Federal dollars always come with strings attached, as well. But district leaders tell me they aren't in a position to turn down money.

E-mail Dave Murray: dmurray@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReporterDMurray


Related topics: Dave Murray

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/08/edujobs_bill_closer_to_clearin.html
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House of Representatives to return to Washington early to vote on bill to prevent teacher layoffs
Published: Thursday, August 05, 2010, 8:44 AM
Jackie Headapohl
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Congress will return early from its summer recess to vote on legislation that would provide funds to states that will help avoid teacher layoffs.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she will be recalling lawmakers to Washington DC next week from their summer recess in order to vote on legislation that will help avoid teacher layoffs.

The legislation, expected to be passed by the Senate this week, would provide $10 billion in state aid to avoid teacher layoffs and $16 billion in Medicaid funding for states.


President Obama is expected to sign the measure into law before schools open, providing the funding local schools need to keep teachers in the classroom.

“This particular bill would mean about $318 million going directly into Michigan schools to be able to keep teachers in the classroom and keep the resources available for our children in the coming year,” Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow told WWJ.

http://www.mlive.com/michigan-job-search/index.ssf/2010/08/house_of_representatives_to_return_to_wa.html
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