May 25, 2013

 

Sequestration Update: Summer 2012

POSTED ON JULY 24, 2012/UPDATED ON NOVEMBER 18, 2012

NPTA’s public policy office has shared some new resources that detail potential negative impact of sequestration (looming across the board Federal cuts scheduled for January, 2013) on public education.  

An EdWeek Blog Post, entitled Alarms Sounded as Federal Ed Cuts Loom (go to: http://bit.ly/MgnoFz) presents a quick primer on the status of sequestration and actions on the part of the education community.  The blog also contains links to some state specific information for a few places (TX and VT for starters).  

The reports, one from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) and the other from the National Education Association (NEA), paint a clear picture concerning this very real threat - and how it may impact your school district.  As you know, PTA has been actively advocating to raise awareness to this issue.  Both are hyper-linked below.

Please use this information to bolster advocacy efforts concerning education funding across your state's membership - and please let us know how we can assist you in your efforts!  National PTA is working on template media materials to assist state congresses and district-level units in public education on the issue of Sequestration to be used during the August recess, so please stay tuned!!  

 

National Education Association (NEA) Analysis of Program-by-Program (and state-by-state) Cuts:

The detailed analysis (available by clicking here) provides updated estimates for specific education program (plus Head Start, which is administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services) cuts by state. Please note that these numbers have been updated since first released in January of 2012.

Some highlights:

• The broad, blunt cuts of sequestration will reduce funding to the U.S. Department of Education and Head Start by an estimated $4.5 to $4.8 billion.
• Sequestration would roll back Education Department funding to pre-2003 levels, impacting between 8.9 million and 9.4 million students.
• Potential job losses are projected to be between 74,600 and 80,500. These reductions come as schools and colleges enroll 5.4 million more students than they did in 2003 and the costs of K-12 services have increased 25 percent.  

Looking to particular programs:

• Title I funds would be cut by $1.2 billion, dropping to 2007 levels, impacting 1.8 million students and eliminating 16,100 jobs.  
• IDEA funds would be cut by $973 million, dropping to 2006 levels, impacting 495,000 students and eliminating 12,600 jobs.
• Title II Grants for Teacher Quality funds would be cut by $207 million, dropping to its lowest level since its creation in 2002, eliminating 2,800 jobs and reducing funding for class size reduction by $77 million.
• Rural Education Achievement Program funds would be cut by $15 million, dropping to 2002 levels, and impacting 400,000 students, even though rural schools have absorbed 70 percent of the growth in the nation's school enrollment. 
  

Cut Deep: How the Sequester Will Impact Our Nation's Schools:

 
For the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) Report, go to: http://bit.ly/LMyEoH.  Explore AASA’s survey for a nationwide look at how schools are responding to the threat of sequestration - and how they will be impacted, should the cuts go into effect.  This is a VERY USEFUL tool in communicating with policy makers to raise awareness of and fight sequestration.    

A few select excerpts:

• State/ local governments and school districts have very limited capacity to soften the cuts of sequestration. Nine of ten (90 percent) respondents reported that their state would be unable to absorb or offset the cuts of sequestration, equal to the 89.5 percent indicating that their district would be unable to absorb the cuts. /li>
• School administrators report a variety of approaches in planning for sequestration. More than half (54.1 percent) of respondents reported that their budget for the 2012-13 school year built-in cuts to off-set sequestration. Less than half (45.2 percent) of respondents reported that they are waiting to see when/how sequestration unfolds. Their budgets did not build in cuts to offset sequestration, and they plan to '...make any necessary changes as needed, when the cuts happen'.
• The cuts of sequestration will translate to reductions in, and eliminations of, personnel, curriculum, facilities and operations. Respondents reported that the cuts of sequestration would mean reducing professional development (69.4 percent), reducing academic programs (58.1 percent), personnel layoffs (56.6 percent) and increased class size (54.9 percent). As one respondent from Alabama replied, "The bottom line is that kids...pay the price."
• School administrators, by a large margin, describe the sequestration-related information provided by the federal government as 'non-existent'. For those reporting some type of information from the federal government (the administration or Congress), respondents describe the quality of information as poor/very poor. 
• What is Sequestration? (PDF)
• Fiscal Year 2013 Sequestration Report (PDF)
• PTA Support of Murray Amendment (PDF)
• Murray Sequestration Amendment (PDF)
• What NY will Lose (PDF)