June 10, 2010. The federal legislation will provide $23 billion for 2011-12 to prevent drastic personnel cuts in public K-12 and higher education.
Message from FEA President Andy Ford
As you know our national affiliates have been working diligently to attempt to win passage of the Keep Our Educators Working Act, sponsored by US Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. This legislation will provide $23 billion in federal money to stem the loss of public school jobs, potentially the most severe public education cuts in 50 years. We need the help of every member to make this law a reality.
Below are some of the actions FEA has taken in support of the Keep Our Educators Working Act this month:
· Posted both the AFT Pink Hearts and NEA Speak Up campaigns on the website
· Posted to FaceBook; Twitter and the RSS feed
· Incorporated the alerts from both AFT and NEA in the daily FEA clip packets sent to over 200 leaders
· Sent a CapWiz alert to our activists email list on the current AFT petition drive and the NEA call in campaign to a list of over 12,000
· Contacted Senators Nelson and LeMeiux
· Contacted the congressional targets (Kosmas and Boyd) identified by AFT and NEA. Kosmos has committed to support the bill.
Below are actions you can take to help gain support for the Keep Our Educators Working Act:
· Email your Congressional leader(s) and encourage them to support funding to save education jobs in the emergency supplemental appropriations bill.
· Join the discussion on Facebook. There’s a page for members – and – the public – Speak Up For Education and Kids –
· Click this link to sign a petition to save those jobs: http://action.aft.org/c/44/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=66
· Write or call telling your Congressman to co-sponsor legislation that will prevent the worst school cuts in 50 years. Help preserve the jobs of educators, and ensure that our students’ education is not disrupted by the economic crisis. Send a letter to your senators urging them to support the Keep Our Educators Working Act.
Additionally, I have attached a sample email which I urge you to send to your members. You may wish to included one or all of the following links in your communications or post them to your website, Facebook, etc.:
· Watch Listen, a 30 second TV spot in which students ask viewers, If I were a Wall Street banker or a company CEO, would Congress listen to me?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdFPyEW88X0
· A special ‘message to members’ video can be viewed and downloaded from YouTube – Put Students First – Save Teacher Jobs
· Visit the NEA’s Education Votes website to get detailed information about how you can become involved in the campaign http://www.educationvotes.nea.org/
· NEA has distributed a video message from Association president Dennis Van Roekel to members of the United State Senate – calling on passage of the Harkin Jobs bill – View the message here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVzJlunfjx8
· Learn more about the Pink Hearts, Not Slips campaign
Andy Ford, President
Florida Education Association
NEA, AFT, AFL-CIO
850.224.1953
Imagine the Future!