Major Education Associations Urge Swift Action to Pass Education Jobs Fund

WASHINGTON, July 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Learning First Alliance, a partnership of 17 national education associations representing over ten million parents, educators and policymakers, released the following statement:

"The Learning First Alliance strongly supports efforts to provide $10 billion in federal aid to prevent imminent layoffs of teachers, principals and other school staff. The importance of these funds at this critical time cannot be overstated. Massive layoffs of school and district staff could have grave long-term consequences for our nation's children, who are already facing growing class sizes, shrinking curricula and the loss of essential services.

Job cuts in our public schools and school districts threaten our long-term economic future, which depends on our ability to prepare all students for college and careers. The prospect of job losses running into the hundreds of thousands also poses a serious and immediate threat to our fragile economic recovery.

We call on the Senate to work quickly to address this crisis facing our nation's classrooms. Because some have concerns with the education offsets in the House-passed Supplemental, we urge the Senate to work with the House and the Administration to craft a package that can garner the needed votes for swift passage of a Supplemental Appropriations Bill that includes the $10 billion Education Jobs Fund."

The Learning First Alliance is a permanent partnership of 17 leading education associations with more than 10 million members dedicated to improving student learning in America's public schools. Alliance members include: the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, American Association of School Administrators, American Association of School Personnel Administrators, American Federation of Teachers, American School Counselor Association, Association of School Business Officials International, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of State Boards of Education, National Education Association, National Middle School Association, National School Public Relations Association, National Staff Development Council, National PTA, National School Boards Association and Phi Delta Kappa International. The Alliance maintains www.learningfirst.org, a website that features what's working in public schools and districts across the country.

SOURCE Learning First Alliance