Education Week: Fiscal Cliff: How Would White House, GOP Plans Affect K-12?

Trying to keep up with all the confusing back-and-forth about the fiscal cliff and how it relates to federal education programs? Here’s your watchword as you read about various proposals: spending.

President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. John Boehner, the speaker of the House, have been negotiating on the fiscal cliff, but right now, they’re not talking about specific programs. They’re just talking about broad categories: taxes, entitlements (like Social Security and Medicare), and … spending cuts.

via Fiscal Cliff: How Would White House, GOP Plans Affect K-12?.

Edutopia: The Fiscal Cliff: Why You Should Care and What You Can Do

Anne OBrien Deputy Director of the Learning First Alliance

It is easy to ignore the noise from Washington, DC, about the upcoming fiscal cliff. The tone from the Capitol hardly seems changed from the pre-election rhetoric that made many of us tune out what politicians have to say.

But we need to tune in on this. The fiscal cliff, particularly the aspect of it known as sequestration (automatic 8.2 percent budget cuts to all federal discretionary spending programs that will occur in January unless Congress acts), has very real implications for our nation’s schools. The National Education Association (NEA) estimates that it will cut $4.8 billion in education funding (including cuts to Head Start), impacting 9.3 million students attending pre-K, elementary, secondary and postsecondary schools.

via The Fiscal Cliff: Why You Should Care and What You Can Do.

Education Week: Fiscal Cliff: How Are Impact-Aid Districts Preparing for Education Cuts?

Almost everyone in education is worried about the fiscal cliff—including the 8.2 percent across-the-board cut to school districts—but no program is in as precarious a position as Impact Aid, the one major K-12 program that would be cut immediately come January if Congress and the administration aren’t able to work out a long-term deal on the deficit.

Impact Aid districts get extra money from the federal government to make up for lost tax revenue due to federal land, or the cost of educating additional students that wouldn’t be in the district if it weren’t for the feds (such as the children of military personnel or students from a Native American reservation). The program is currently funded at roughly $1.27 billion.

via Fiscal Cliff: How Are Impact-Aid Districts Preparing for Education Cuts?.

Education Week: Fiscal Cliff: How Are Advocates Fighting the Education Cuts?

If you happen to be an education advocate, you are probably having trouble finding time to do your Christmas shopping, because of all the time you’re spending organizing call-ins, visiting the Hill, signing onto coalition letters, and waiting for the next proposals from House Speaker John Boehner and the Obama administration.

Organizations around Washington are taking different tacks in trying to persuade lawmakers to spare K-12 from a possible 8.2 percent across-the-board cut come January—most school districts wouldn’t feel the impact until next school year. (Everything you ever wanted to know about those cuts and more here.)

via Fiscal Cliff: How Are Advocates Fighting the Education Cuts?.

Education Week: Fiscal Cliff: How Would Federal Spending Cuts Affect Your District?

If lawmakers don’t act to head off a series of automatic spending cuts, states and districts around the country will feel a squeeze—but some may be more heavily impacted than others, according to an analysis released today by the American Association of School Administrators.

AASA, which represents superintendents and other administrators, took a look at how every state and virtually every school district around the country would be impacted by automatic spending cuts (known as sequestration), which are set to hit on Jan. 2. Unless lawmakers and the administration can reach a long-term deal on deficit reduction, many federal programs, including most in the U.S. Department of Education would face a cut of roughly 8 percent. Most districts wouldn’t begin to feel the pinch until the new school year starts in the fall. More here.

via Fiscal Cliff: How Would Federal Spending Cuts Affect Your District?.

EdSource Today: Fiscal cliff, with federal cuts, not imminent for school districts

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For California’s K-12 districts and federally funded preschools, the “fiscal cliff” that is now consuming politics in Washington is more like a distant canyon.

The abyss refers to an across-the-board 8.2 percent cut in federal discretionary spending, including defense, that will go into effect Jan. 3 if President Obama and congressional leaders don’t reach a deal on taxes and spending to reduce the federal debt by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. Federal student loans, most child nutrition programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program would be exempt from cuts.

via Fiscal cliff, with federal cuts, not imminent for school districts – by John Fensterwald.

Education Week: Obama Talks Fiscal Cliff and Education

So now that all the big talk in Washington has shifted to the fiscal cliff, the question for school districts is whether education programs will see cuts in any final deal to head off sequestration, aka the automatic, across-the-board cuts set to hit almost every federal agency early next year. Democrats and Republicans will have to come up with a deal to avert those cuts, and head off a host of tax increases, in the next couple months.(Confused by the fiscal cliff? Check out this post.)

President Barack Obama offered some hopeful signs for worried school districts during Wednesday’s news conference, his first since winning re-election, but still stopped short of saying he would veto any compromise that would cut K-12.

via Obama Talks Fiscal Cliff and Education.

Education Week: Fiscal Cliff Cheat Sheet: 10 Frequently Asked Questions

Almost as soon as President Barack Obama was re-elected, the coming fiscal cliff took center stage. Lawmakers and the Obama administration are supposed to solve the problem in a planned “lame-duck” session of Congress, which starts today.

That means we can expect to hear the words “entitlements”, “revenue”, “loopholes”, and “sequestration” a whole lot for the next couple months. What does it all mean for you, as a teacher/principal/superintendent/policy person?

via Fiscal Cliff Cheat Sheet: 10 Frequently Asked Questions.