Our Work in Federal Policy

| By: Committee for Children

Committee for Children took a much more active role in federal policy this year, and we plan to continue our work in this area in the years ahead.   One of our key legislative victories this year was the inclusion of social- emotional learning as an identified area of focus for federal education research.  Our Executive Director, Joan Duffell, wrote a letter to Congressional leaders in support of this provision, and we were pleased when the language was successfully added to the bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 8, 2014.

A letter to the secretaries

We also organized a Congressional letter to Secretary Arne Duncan and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in support of including social- emotional learning in existing funding streams.  The letter was signed by five members of Congress and sent to the two secretaries on May 16, 2014. 

Funding priorities and the new Congress

The current Congress has adjourned for the year, and the new Congress will reconvene next January.    This means that all legislation that didn’t get signed into law this year must move back to the start of the legislative process when the new Congress returns to Washington, DC, early next year. 

The new majorities in Congress could mean a major reshuffling of funding priorities for education programs.  At the top of the list for education policy is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as the No Child Left Behind law. ESEA is important because it sets federal education policy and acts as the overriding guidance for Department of Education funding.  Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the likely chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and PensionsCommittee, has never been an NCLB fan.

How you can help

There will be several bills that Committee for Children plans to support in the new Congress and will be coordinating with the bill sponsors to reintroduce the bills and generate support from other Members of Congress.  We will need your help to get these bills signed into law!  Please be on the lookout for alerts and messages in early 2015 that will ask for your support and involvement in promoting policies that seek to strengthen and expand social-emotional learning programs across the country.