As the Legislature recedes, national issues come to the fore

That long sigh of relief that you heard earlier this week was mine, as the close of the 2009 session of the Texas Legislature removed a huge weight from my shoulders. Following the actions of the Legislature is like watching a hockey game from the top floor of a neighboring skyscraper: You know something is going on, but you have no way to learn what. The good news is that the Lege apparently didn't pass any xenophobic legislation aimed at our students, and did not take advantage of the recession to slash education spending. Students are not more likely to show up in your classes with a concealed Glock. Nothing happened to make me feel the need to call each of you in the middle of the night with a list of your Senators and Representatives.



Therefore, we can turn our attention to a much more visible target, the U.S. Congress and Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Here, the outlook is considerably less grim than for the Texas Lege, where inertia is usually a positive sign. Congress is under fairly rational and progressive leadership, so we should don't have to fear too many surprise attacks on our profession.



Currently, TESOL is watching two pieces of legislation that bear directly upon our students:

S 729 (with companion bill HR 1751), called the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act (DREAM - don't you just love these acronyms?!), returns to the states the authority to give resident status to some undocumented alien minors. This authority was used before 1996 to allow children of undocumented immigrants, who in many cases had lived in the US since infancy, to enroll in public colleges and universities as residents rather than out-of-state students. Proponents of the DREAM Act claim that its passage will send a clear message to immigrants and native-born residents alike that we value education for all the residents of our country.

The DREAM Act, introduced in the House on March 26, 2009, is currently referred to the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness, chaired by Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, (D. Tex) from the Lower Rio Grande Valley. On the Senate side, S 729 was introduced on the same day by Senator Richard Durbin (D., Ill) and referred to the Judiciary Committee. If you would like to read comments on the House bill by its chief sponsor, Red. Howard Berman (D. Calif), click here. If you would like to express your opinion on this proposed legislation, Check out TESOL's Advocacy Action Center's site here.

The Families Learning and Understanding English Together Act (HR 1224), introduced on Feb. 26 by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D. Ariz), would provide funding for organizations which promote family literacy, including ESL. According to the NCSDAE (National Council of State Directors of Adult Education), current state and federal funding for adult literacy education is sufficient for only 3% of the 93,000,000 Americans in need of such learning. Rep. Grijalva's proposal will help to alleviate this serious shortfall, and will promote that old proverb "The family that studies ESL together prospers together." To express your views on HR 1224, click here.

Good news: Economic Stimulus Passes; Bad News: Texas Legislature in Session

First, the good news:

From the TESOL Advocacy Action Center (http://capwiz.com/tesol/issues/alert/?alertid=12758751&type=CU):

Education and the Stimulus

The federal economic stimulus package, entitled the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was passed late on February 13, and signed by President Obama on February 17. This historic law, which authorizes $787 billion in spending to aid the economy, includes about $115 billion for education, which is roughly twice the Department of Education's annual budget of $59 billion. This include:

• $77 billion in direct funding for education
• $40 billion in state stabilization funds to help avert education cuts.
• $13 billion for Title I under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
• $12 billion for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs.
• $5 billion in incentive grants for states that pursue higher standards, quality assessments, robust data systems and teacher quality initiatives.
• $5 billion for Early Childhood, including Head Start, early Head Start, child care block grants, and programs for infants with disabilities.
• $2 billion for other education investments, including pay for performance, data systems, teacher quality investments, technology grants, vocational rehab, work study and Impact Aid.
• $30.8 Billion for College Affordability, including additional tax credits and an increase in the Pell Grant award

What about Adult Education?

While Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) proposed amendment to include the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act among the programs eligibile for public safety and other government services funds for states did not make the final bill, ... the text in the final bill was changed to reference the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act in relation to what districts can do with funds they receive under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (Title XIV).

The Department of Education has posted a page on it site with details and updates on funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Information is available at
Education Department: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

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By the way, if you are interested in following the progress of this stimulus package as it affects education, you can check out the following website: http://www.recovery.gov/ At the present time, all that I found there was a bunch of language on the proposals for enhancing transparency (the mot du jour), but I am sure more information will be forthcoming as the money actually gets sent out to the states and communities.

In addition to the economic stimulus package, Congress is considering a host of bills which may impact our mission and profession. The TESOL Advocacy Action Center tracks these bills at the following site: http://capwiz.com/tesol/issues/bills/. Checking this site, you can find the title and sponsors for these bills as well as TESOL's position on them, and links to the text of the bills and their progress through committee. The site also facilitates contacting your legislators to write to them about these bills.

Other TESOL Issues:

The Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State requested public feedback on a proposed online English language program targeted towards learners in other countries. TESOL submitted its comments, noting concern about the potential impact of such a program on intensive English programs as well as failure to consult leading professional organizations, including TESOL, in the development of the curriculum of the course. You can read the comments at http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/bin.asp?CID=321&DID=11879&DOC=FILE.PDF.

And now for the bad news:

I always view the biennial meeting of the Texas Legislature with considerable trepidation. A good deal of my concern has to di with the brief, copressed nature of their session. The Lege, as we affectionately call it, has about 90 days to consider all the business of the state for the next two years. This can lead to hastily-considered legislation which can cause a lot of mischief for educators. In addition, much of the action in the Lege takes place in the last few days, when the body is in a hurry to pass bills before the statutory deadline for adjournment. Finally, a good bill can always be vetoed by the Governor, often after the Legislature has adjourned, and there isn't a lot that can be done about it.

Currently, there is one issue which really gives me sleepless nights, though it is not directly related to language teaching. It is related to community college employees, which comprise a goodly number of our ESL colleagues here in TEXTESOL-IV, so I am exercising my prerogative as your Ill-Tempered Linguist to call your attention to issue of proportionality in appropriation of benefits.

Put simply, the issue of "proportionality" boils down to this: Currently, the State of Texas pays for part (a "proportion") of the instructional costs of the community colleges, who make up the balance with tuition and local taxes. But the State pays 100% of the cost of employee benefits (esp. health care and retirement). Advocates of "proportionality" want to reduce this contribution to the same proportion as that in which they pay for instructional costs. This will lead to millions of dollars of additional costs for the local districts, and could force osme districts to scale back benefits received by employees, including teachers.

Proportionality is a very bad idea, and all community college teachers should be very concerned about this. Several Representatives and Senators have introduced bills to prevent the use of proportionality in funding benefits. TCCTA (Texas Community College Teachers Association) has a very informative page on this subject, along with a guide for action by community college teachers.

http://tccta.typepad.com/main/2009/03/bills-on-proportionality-gain-sponsors.html