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Last week, I traveled with several of my House of Representatives colleagues to Birmingham, Ala., to speak out against HB56, a deeply regressive and dangerous law that threatens the livelihood and civil rights of citizens, visitors, and especially immigrants, whether documented or undocumented.The law doesn’t just require police who “reasonably suspect” someone of being an undocumented immigrant to check their status. It also directs school districts to check the immigration status of every student at every level of education. It even prohibits landlords from renting to someone who may be an undocumented immigrant. It creates an intentional climate of fear...

It seems new and ever more frightening immigration-related news is surfacing daily. From calls to end birthright citizenship, to the recent crisis following passage of an immigration law in Alabama, to the release of agroundbreaking report earlier this week revealing that thousands of children are entering the foster care system as a result of irresponsible immigration enforcement measures – it seems that our policies and practices toward immigrant children and families have taken several significant steps backward. As disturbing as these recent stories have been, there are opportunities for Americans to move forward and reclaim our reputation as a...

The adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2009 marked a truly significant policy win for children in foster care. By automatically extending Medicaid eligibility to youth aging out of the system through age 26, beginning in 2014, the ACA finally addressed a major component of this relative abandonment of foster children by at least ensuring the continuation of health and mental health care and related support services that are so critical to their well-being.Yet, Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT), Chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, has introduced legislation...

After months of negotiations between Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Michael Enzi (R-WY), and after 15 hours of debate over amendments last week, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), made it out of committee late in the evening on October 20th. The measure, previously known as No Child Left Behind, made it out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions by a vote of 15-7, with the goal of moving it to the Senate floor before year’s end, or just before the Administration’s waivers on ESEA will be implemented.From the beginning of the mark-up, the whole process seemed...

Even though the American Jobs Act was voted down in the Senate last week, portions of the bill have been broken up into derivative pieces that are currently moving through Senate. On one end, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH)demonstrated critical leadership on the school facilities front by introducing the FAST Act of 2011. The bill provides assistance for the modernization, renovation, and repair of public school buildings and community colleges across the nation. The bill emerges at a crucial time as states and school districts continue to feel the impact of the economic crisis, forcing schools to endure budget cutbacks,...

After eight months of negotiations between Senate HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY), an agreement for a base bill for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA or No child Left Behind) was finally reached. While the draft for the base bill was released a few days ago, an updated version of the bill with manger’s amendments has recently been posted this week. For educators, parents, students, community stakeholders and education advocates, they have waited for this moment since 2007, the year that No Child Left Behind expired. For a moment,...

So much seems to be happening within federal education policy at the moment – last Friday, President Obama announced his ESEA Waiver program and this week he gears up for his back to school speech. His upcoming speech on the new school-year will be something I’m sure many of our students, educators, parents and other stakeholders will tune in to watch. What will the President say? Has his vision for educational achievement in America shifted in any way? How will we reflect and react to what he may share? All these questions ultimately lead me to also ask the following...

In an era where students, parents, schools and educators still await the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, it is great to know we still have champions on Captiol Hill that are leading the charge for meeting the needs of students. This week, Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA) introduced the Developing Innovative Partnerships and learning Opportunities that Motivate Achievement (DIPLOMA) Act which authorizes states to help local school districts build community-wide partnerships to address nutrition, health, personal safety, family stability, and other factors that determine how well children can perform in school.While education policy debates...

Today, Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA) introduced the Working to Encourage Community Action and Responsibility in Education (WE CARE) Act, which amends Title I of ESEA to require states and local educational agencies to assess the nonacademic factors affecting student academic performance and work with other public, private, nonprofit, and community-based entities to address those factors. The WE CARE Act will also require the annual report cards issued by states and local education agencies to include additional performance data, including information on their efforts to increase community and parent involvement in students' education.While the debate on education reform often focuses on...

As we witnessed the full committee markup of the State and Local Funding Flexibility Act (H.R. 2445) yesterday, we saw debate between members of the Education and Workforce Committee as to whether federal dollars truly make a difference in boosting academic achievement. It’s interesting how the majority argues that funding has not had an impact on academic outcomes for our schools while pushing a bill that highlights the importance of funding and the authority for states and school districts to move that money between all titles of ESEA as they deem necessary. This only speaks to the notion that funding...