National PTA issued the following statement applauding family engagement provisions in the ESEA reauthorization. Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee passed the Strengthening America’s Schools Act of 2013, legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), aimed at improving areas of No Child Left Behind. National PTA applauds the inclusion of family engagement provisions in ESEA.  The legislation would build local and state capacity for effective family engagement in education by using research-based practices. It also maintains and improves the Parent Information and Resource Centers Program (PIRC) – the sole federal program dedicated to family

The House passed it’s proposed budget today and now the House and Senate will select conferees to resolve the differences in the two budgets.

The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a $20.6 billion budget by a 77-41 vote.  A final vote on the House budget will take place today.  The House budget keeps class-size limits in place for kindergarten through third grade while the Senate budget lifts class-size limits.  The House budget cuts funding for teacher assistants by $24 million while the Senate budget cuts funding for teacher assistants by $142 million.  Funding for a private school voucher program survived proposed amendments to remove the voucher program from the budget.  The budget documents can be viewed on the General Assembly website:  www.ncleg.net.

The House Appropriations Committee met today to discuss the proposed House budget.  One key discussion point was an effort to remove the private school voucher language from the budget.  This amendment failed, and the voucher language will likely remain in the proposed House budget for the full House member vote.  The full House is expected to debate the budget tomorrow and audio for the budget debate can be found via the General Assembly’s website at www.ncleg.net.  The proposed House budget can also be viewed on the General Assembly’s website.

http://www.wral.com/house-senate-budgets-have-big-differences-on-education/12527905/

The House of Representatives Education Appropriations Subcommittee released the House’s version of the education budget today.  The budget can be found online via the Education Committee’s website.  The full House is expected to vote on the budget next week. http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/DocumentSites/browseDocSite.asp?nID=101&sFolderName=\2013%20Session\06-07-2013%20Meeting