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School Leaders Send Powerful Message to Congress and Secretary DeVos from NPC18
Last month, thousands of principals, assistant principals, superintendents, and school leaders from across the country gathered at the 2018 National Principals Conference, and sent a strong message to their elected representatives: support adequate funding for critical public education programs and make our schools safer. Using the new NASSP Policy & Advocacy Center, conference attendees contacted officials via email, Twitter, and Facebook to advocate for those priorities. Their message was punctuated with an impassioned speech from NASSP Executive Director JoAnn Bartoletti, who also called on Secretary DeVos to recommit to equity and do more to protect our most vulnerable students.
Many attendees at NPC18 also participated in a featured policy and advocacy track with sessions on equity, student voice and empowerment, the state of education policy in America, and more. You can view the full list of those sessions here, along with recordings of these two featured advocacy sessions:
Interested in attending NPC in Boston, July 18–20, 2019? Sign up here to receive updates as registration information becomes available.
This Month’s Top Advocacy Issues
Career and Technical Education (CTE) Overhaul Passed
Last month, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law a new overhaul of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. This bipartisan bill is the first major overhaul for career and technical education (CTE) since 2006, and passed through both the House and Senate on unanimous voice votes. The legislation features several key changes to the current CTE system, including new requirements for measuring and monitoring the performance of certain subgroups of students and in different program areas. The bill also aims to increase the flexibility for how states and schools are able to use their CTE dollars to better help them address local issues and areas of need. This includes using these dollars to help bolster dual and concurrent enrollment programs.
Ensuring that all students have access to valuable CTE is a top priority for NASSP, and we are pleased to see the steps this legislation takes in making that goal a reality. NASSP will continue to monitor the law’s implementation and hopes to work closely with the Department of Education throughout this process.
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Take Action
Debate regarding education funding levels for FY 2019 continues to swirl in the halls of Congress. Click here to make your voice heard and tell your representatives and senators that essential programs like Title II of the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act must be fully funded.
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Other News
In July, the NASSP Policy & Advocacy Center announced a new quarterly recognition for outstanding school leaders and public education advocates called the “Principal Advocate Champion.” You can read more here about the first Principal Advocate Champion, Dr. Rick Carter, NASSP’s Alabama State Coordinator.
The NASSP Policy & Advocacy Center website recently received a makeover! Check out some of the updated sections, including “State Advocates,” where you can find a map to locate and contact the NASSP coordinators in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Last month, NASSP adopted a new position statement on the issue of teacher quality, offering recommendations for federal, state, and district policymakers as well as school leaders on how we can improve teacher recruitment, retention, preparation, evaluation, and professional development to have the greatest possible impact on student achievement.
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