Community Update

No. 60, September 1998
U.S. Department of Education

Public Supports Mainstream Investments in Education
September 2, 1998

On July 14, the House Appropriations Committee marked up the FY 1999 Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill and fell more than $2 billion short in funding President Clinton's basic education budget. Earlier House and Senate budget resolutions did not approve of $22 billion in interest-free bonds to help modernize schools, or $12 billion over seven years to reduce class size. Comparisons of these surveys of public priorities against several of the administration's budget proposals and Congressional actions are shown below. By the beginning of October, Congress will likely finalize the FY '99 budget. For more information about the U.S. Department of Education's FY '99 budget request, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

America's Public Opinion on Education and Budgets

Types of Questions	America's Public Response	Administration's Budget Proposal	Status of Congressional Action
Do you favor providing funds to limit or reduce class size in the early grades? [American Association of University Women-AAUW and Gallup]	In 1998, among women voters, 82% favor to strongly favor [AAUW]. In 1998, 80% favor [Gallup].	$12 billion to local schools to reduce class size over the next 7 years.	Denied by the US House and Senate budget resolutions.
Should Congress provide funds to repair and replace older school buildings? [Gallup and Greenberg Quinlan, Tarrance Group]	In 1998, In 1998, 86% favor [Gallup]. 76% favor a similar proposal [Greenberg].	$22 billion in interest free bonds to modernize schools.	Denied by the US House and Senate budget resolutions.
Should federal government play a role in helping schools be safe from violence, guns, and drugs? [AAUW]	In 1998, 84% of women support a very to somewhat strong role.	$50 million in funds for local efforts to put anti-drug and safety coordinators in middle schools.	Denied by the US House Appropriations Committee
As parents, do you want access to after-school programs? [National Opinion Research Center]	In 1997, 77% of primary school parents want after-school programs and 82% of middle school parents want after-school programs.	$200 million to help local school-community partnerships to expand after-school programs.	$140 million denied by the US House Committee.
How serious is the inadequacy of training public school teachers today? [Time/CNN poll]	In 1997, 63% fairly to very serious.	$67 million for Teacher Recruitment and Training.	$64.8 million denied by US House Committee.
Should public tax dollars be used to assist parents who send their children to private school or to invest only in public schools? [AAUW]	In 1998, among women voters, 66% want public tax dollars only to improve public schools (including the majority of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents).	Offered a Budget proposal which strengthens our public schools for the 90% of kids who attend them, rather than divert these investments to tax benefits and vouchers that would virtually do little for average families.	Numerous private school voucher type proposals have been proposed in Congress rather than funding the mainstream proposals to improve education and public schools.

September Town Meeting Will Highlight Community Efforts to Keep Schools Safe for Students and Teachers

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley will welcome a panel of parents, educators, and business and community leaders who will explore ways that community-school partnerships can keep students safe and reconnect them to positive standards of behavior through structured and supervised environments, before, during, and after-school. Entitled "Back to School: Safe and Sound," the hour-long Satellite Town Meeting will air on Tuesday, September 15, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

The U.S. Department of Education produces the Satellite Town Meeting series in partnership with the National Alliance of Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with support from The Bayer Foundation and The Procter & Gamble Fund. Broadcast and cable partners include Discovery Communications, the Public Broadcasting Service and Channel One. The program will be closed-captioned and simulcast in Spanish.

The coordinates are as follows:

C-Band: Telstar 5, Orbital Location 97 degrees West; Transponder 24; Horizontal Polarity; Channel 24; Downlink Frequency 4180 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 MHZ (English).

Ku-Band: SBS6, Orbital Location 74 Degrees West; Transponder 4; Vertical Polarity; Channel 4; Downlink Frequency 11798 MHZ; Audio Subcarriers 6.2 MHZ (Spanish) and 6.8 (English).

To participate in the Satellite Town Meeting, ask your local Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station or Chamber of Commerce if your group can use the facility as a downlink site, or call your local public, education, or government access channel. For additional information or to register your participation, call 1-800-USA-LEARN, visit http://www.ed.gov/inits/stm/, or e-mail Satellite_Town_Meeting@ed.gov.

1998-99 Satellite Town Meeting Series Will Focus on Community Efforts to Improve Education

This free, interactive satellite program is broadcast on the third Tuesday of every month to hundreds of communities across the country. Beginning this fall, the program will be broadcast live from the television studio at the Newseum, the world's only interactive museum of news in Rosslyn, Virginia.

Here's a brief look at the 1998-99 Satellite Town Meeting series:

• "Back to School: Safe and Sound" September 15, 1998, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern time.
• "Modernizing Schools: Updating Technology, Buildings and Classrooms" October 20, 1998, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "Going to College: Financial Aid Night" November 17, 1998, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "Learning Together: Diverse Schools Building One America" January 19, 1999, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "Teaching Reading: Success Stories from School and Home" February 16, 1999, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "Counting the Stars: Mathematics, Arts and Space Science" March 16, 1999, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "Improving Teacher Quality: Shaping the Profession That Shapes America's Future" April 20, 1999, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "High Standards at Work: Comprehensive Approaches to School Improvement" May 18, 1999, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.
• "School Leadership: Principals at the Center" June 15, 1999, 8:00-9:00 p.m. Eastern.

In addition to the Satellite Town Meetings, the U.S. Department of Education produces and distributes a number of free special teleconferences throughout the year. This fall, look for programs on school design, arts education, and the Y2K computer issues. To find out more, call 1-800-USA-LEARN or join STM-LIST, a new e-mail service. Just send an e-mail to listproc@inet.ed.gov and leave the subject area blank. In the message area, write subscribe STM-LIST yourfirstname yourlastname.

YMCA of Greater New York Provides After-School Opportunities

The Virtual Y's curriculum is based on the YMCA's spirit-mind-body triangle, helping schools that are striving to reach higher academic standards by focusing on education, health, and values. With a favorable ratio of one counselor to ten children, students work one-on-one and in small groups on their reading and writing skills.

Families and community members are also active participants in the Virtual Y program, participating on advisory committees and in learning activities. The Virtual Y's activities serve to address the tremendous need for after-school learning as has been shown in recent studies.

A report by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice -- Safe and Smart: Making After-School Hours Work for Kids -- highlights this need along with the benefits of after-school activities. According to the report, children without constructive after-school activities are far more likely than their supervised peers to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; engage in criminal or delinquent behavior; become victims of crime and injury; receive poor grades; and drop out of school. The report also indicates that almost one-third of juvenile crime occurs between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on school days and that the parents of more than 28 million children work outside of the home, leaving five to seven million "latch-key" kids to come home to empty houses.

The YMCA of broader New York has also linked its Virtual Y program to the U.S. Department of Education's America Goes Back to School effort, and will focus its fourth annual Youth Matters Forum on the importance of after-school programs as a critical aspect of youth development. Last year's forum featured U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley who reminded the audience that demand for after-school programs greatly outstrips the supply. For more information on the YMCA of Greater New York and the Virtual Y program, call (212) 630-1543, or visit http://www.ymcanyc.org. As long as supplies last, copies of Safe and Smart: Making After-School Hours Work for Kids can be ordered by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS or by visiting http://www.ed.gov.

Announcements

• Speakers' notes and overheads for presentations on the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education for family-school groups, community and religious organizations, and employers and its four sectors are now available on the Partnership's homepage at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/PFIE/. Presentations are also available on CD Rom by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS as long as supplies last.

• On Wednesday, July 29, 1998, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley announced the new Think College Early Web site as part of his speech on "Technology and Education: An Investment in Equity and Excellence." The site is designed for students, ages 10 to 14, inviting them to find out about what it takes to go to college. Among the highlights are specifics on what courses to take in what grades, and the average costs of college, state by state. The site also contains special sections for parents, teachers, and counselors, and is ideal for first-generation college-goers. The site can be found at http://www.ed.gov/thinkcollege/early/. For further information, contact Diana C. Phillips, Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary, Think College Early, at (202) 205-3687; by fax at (202) 401-9027, or by e-mail at diana_phillips@ed.gov.

• On Monday, October 5, the teleconference "National Symposium on School Design: School as Centers of Communities," featuring Vice President Al Gore, will focus on designing and renovating schools for the future, involving educators, parents, architects, community leaders, and students. The program will provide examples and tools to help local communities consider new ways of designing schools that are flexible and adaptable to changing needs. For more information call 1-800-USA-LEARN.

• The kick off for American Education Week with National Parent Involvement Day will take place on Monday, November 16. For further information on getting involved in this effort, call the National Parents Day Coalition at (202) 530-0849.

• Employers for Learning are using technology to everyone to get involved in America Goes Back to School. Microsoft Corporation, a member of the Partnership's Employers for Learning, has included a back-to-school message with contact information for America Goes Back to School on its home page with a link to the Partnership's Web site.

America Goes Back to School Planning Tip: By now the planning for your America Goes Back to School event should be finished. You may have even already held the event! If you haven't, call 1-877-4ED-PUBS (toll-free) and order copies of tips for families and community members on how to be involved in reading, math, and college-going that you can hand out at your event. Then enjoy the event! All your hard work will pay off when you see how many more parents and community members become involved throughout the school year! Get involved, stay involved!

Think College Early

New studies show that almost 90 percent of students want to go to college and 90 percent of their families want their children to go to college. Yet, many students and families are not preparing academically and financially for college. Many lack a fundamental understanding about the cost of college, financial aid and tax cuts, and which courses are critical to take in middle and high school. In response to these needs, the U.S. Department of Education's Think College Early initiative can help provide teachers, counselors, parents, and students with helpful publications, examples, and strategies to prepare academically and financially for college.

Preparing and paying for a college education requires time, effort, and careful planning by parents, students and educators. And many parents--especially those who did not attend or finish college themselves--don't realize that preparing a student academically and financially for college should begin early, by the time a student enters sixth or seventh grade, and continue through middle and high school. For decades, the college-going rate of lower-income students has lagged far behind the rates for students from higher income families. A recent study found that the top one-third scoring students from low-income families were five times as likely to forego college than students from high-income families.

Middle grade students from low- and middle-income families need to know that education after high school is not beyond their means. Teachers, guidance counselors, and community and business organizations must reach out to students and families whose lack of finances and information might prevent them from pursuing higher education goals. Students should be encouraged to:

• set high expectations and high standards;
• work hard and take college preparatory courses, especially the college "gateway" courses of algebra in the eighth grade and geometry in the ninth grade, leading to chemistry, trigonometry, physics, calculus, three or four years of a foreign language, and advance placement and tech-prep courses in the junior and senior years of high school;
• find and connect with mentors who will support their positive goals; and
• learn about programs to help them pay for college, and take advantage of tax cuts and savings plans.

The new Think College Early Web site at http://www.ed.gov/thinkcollege/early/ is filled with helpful information for students, educators and parents on what it means and takes to prepare for college. The U.S. Department of Education's publications Think College? Me? Now? and Getting Ready for College Early are available on the Think College Early Web site. If you have a computer with Windows software in your school or library, you can access this publication and are encouraged to make multiple copies. The< eric review: a pathway to college is available by calling 1-877-4ED-PUBS. You can also join the Think College Early listserve by contacting diana_phillips@ed.gov to get the latest information and strategies on what others are doing to help students and their families prepare for college early.

Take Part in National School Modernization Day

"With the number of school-age children at a record high and growing, schools across the country already are at or beyond capacity," President Clinton said. "One-third of our schools need to be modernized. Nearly half don't have the basic wiring to support basic computer equipment. The federal government helps to rebuild roads and bridges and other infrastructure projects because they are in the national interest. But none of that will matter if we do not see that our national interest in an adequate education infrastructure is also preserved."

President Clinton, members of Congress, local officials, parents and educators, and concerned business and community leaders will come together to discuss the challenges they face in their own local schools, and how parents, communities, and state and local governments can get involved. The discussions will also highlight how the administration's education agenda can help provide communities with interest-free bonds to build and modernize schools, enable school districts to hire more well prepared teachers to reduce class sizes in the early grades, and help every child have access to a computer connected to the Internet.

President Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley will be releasing the third annual Baby Boom Echo report, with new figures for total school enrollment on a state-by-state basis, as well as projections for future enrollment growth. Each local event will have the opportunity to link by satellite or other method to the national event with President Clinton. To get involved, call 1-800-USA-LEARN to receive the satellite coordinates and procedures for linking to the national event, as well as suggestions on how to participate in this national effort.

Jazz Is Focus of White House Millennium Evening

Partnership for Family Involvement in Education members are encouraged to host downlink sites as part of the America Goes Back to School celebration. Satellite coordinates are available by calling 1-800-USA-LEARN.

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