NEA Directors' Board Report
On September 25-26 Grace Leavitt and Dan Allen, Maine's representatives on NEA's Board of Directors, attended a meeting in Washington, D.C. that provided an update on health care lobbying efforts, GPO/WEP repeal efforts, and NEA activities.
Leavitt, Allen and MEA President Chris Galgay met with staff members of Maine's congressional delegation to discuss health care reform and to express concerns about Race To The Top funds, charter schools and high stakes testing.
The good news from Congress is that support for the Social Security Fairness Act that repeals the Social Security penalties is growing. As of September, H.R. 235 has 307 cosponsors and S.R. 484 has 29 cosponsors.
These bills would repeal the Government Pension Offsets (GPO) and Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) that deny Maine educators earned Social Security benefits. The not-so-good news is that they are on the back burner behind other issues.
FMI: http://www.nea.org/home/16491.htm.
Maine's Directors report that the NEA is exercising financial caution and diligence during this turbulent economy and that the Board had an extensive dialogue with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Legislative Action
Locate your state and congressional representatives and share your views through our Cyber Lobby program.
Great Public Schools
MEA believes every child deserves an excellent education at a Great Public School. Sign up and help us lead the way.
