Legislative Advocacy Communications
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Title II Funding
I’m contacting you today to ask for your support in defending Title II funding and advocating for school safety on all levels.
As your constituent and someone who cares about the future of our public schools and the State of Minnesota’s students, I urge you to support ongoing increases in funding for the Title II, Part A, program of ESSA as Congress considers appropriations for FY 2020 and beyond.
Congress passed the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 and authorized the Title II, Part A, program to provide critical funding to states for the purposes of preparing, training, recruiting, and retaining high-quality teachers, principals, assistant principals, and other school leaders. Given the unique role that principals play in ensuring that our nation’s teachers are supported and our students have high-quality learning experiences through high school to be college and career ready, principals must be afforded the necessary opportunities for professional learning and growth as they work to improve teaching and learning in all schools.
Title II saw a drastic reduction in FY 2017 when Congress cut $249 million from the program. Despite the harmful cuts that have remained in place in recent years, decision-makers on the state and national level have proposed going even further and completely eliminating funding for Title II, Part A, in future budgets. This is not only dangerously shortsighted, but it would severely disrupt many states’ ESSA implementation plans and have a detrimental impact on student achievement in our state.
Despite the budgetary setbacks in recent years, your support moving forward can help protect Title II funding so that we can continue to recruit, prepare, train, and retain high-quality teachers, principals, and other school leaders that will best serve all of our students in the State of Minnesota.
Please feel free to contact me if you should have any questions.
With great respect,