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Sunday, April 26, 2009
The American Association of Classified School Employees’ (AACSE) 7th Annual Legislative Conference, held its three day meeting where members gathered to attend informative presentations on critical issues concerning AACSE and discuss their priorities with the Members of Congress. Tom Hogan and Karen Sierpina provided a political overview and a presentation which included a political update, an education issues review, and outlined the road to political action.
The AACSE’s 2009 legislative priorities include Education Funding, Head Start, IDEA, No Child Left Behind Act, National School Breakfast and Lunch Program, and Healthy High Performance Schools. In addition to these core policy issues that AACSE continuously engages in, each year the Board and the Government Relations Committee select a signature policy issue to work on in depth. The 2009 signature issue is motorcoach safety, which took center stage at the Conference and during the group’s meetings with Congressional Members and Staff.
Monday, April 27: Morning Session on School Conditions, Funding, Nutrition Programs, Healthcare
After enjoying a quick breakfast Monday morning, the members settled in to hear from four different speakers on a wide variety of education issues. They were to hear first from Mary Filardo, Executive Director of the 21st Century School Fund on “The Physical Conditions of our Nation’s Schools: What will the President and Congress do?” The AACSE discussed their position to support increased funding for school construction and modernization with Ms. Filardo.
Following Ms. Filardo was John Laughner, the Legislative and Communications Manager for the Committee for Education Funding. He gave an informative talk on the FY10 Education Budget and what appropriations can be expected when the President releases his budget. The AACSE discussed their concern for the small portion of the National budget that funds education.
After the morning break, members attended a revealing information session by the Senior Policy Analyst for the Food Research and Action Center, Madeleine Levin, on the Reauthorization of the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program. Founded in 1970, FRAC is one of the country’s largest non-profit organizations working on eliminating malnutrition and hunger through research, advocacy, and policy and legislation. Ms. Levin informed members on the importance of reauthorizing the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program in order to help reduce hunger, improve children’s health, reduce child obesity, and enhance school readiness. She also explained that the bill must strengthen access to the program, increase nutrition quality and technology, and increase funding for programs like the Child and Adult Care Food Program in school lunch programs, out of school programs, and at home programs like WIC. After emphasizing the importance of the reauthorization of this bill, she opened the discussion up to questions from members which led to a lively debate and to members sharing their first hand experiences with this issue in their schools. The AACSE would like to see greater access to the program and increased funding.
The morning was concluded when Bill Cunningham, a healthcare expert from American Federation of Teachers (AFT), gave a valuable presentation on national healthcare. He detailed AFT’s hopes for healthcare reform, as an affordable and accessible program. He identified affordability, appropriate benefits, and tools to control costs as AFT hopes for reform. He continued on by detailing additional key elements necessary to achieve such goals in healthcare reform, explaining that public health insurance plans should be made accessible to everyone, employers should contribute to the system, Medicare needs to be improved upon, and that other security measures needed to be put in place. He went on to outline who in the 111th Congress would be taking the lead on this issue, but he also acknowledged that it will be difficult to forecast how the Congress will tackle this complex issue.
Monday April 27: Afternoon Session on Capitol Hill, “Motorcoach Safety Panel Discussion”
The morning of policy sessions were followed by an afternoon on Capitol Hill devoted to AACSE’s signature issue for 2009, “Motorcoach Safety”. The AACSE in conjunction with the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety conducted a briefing on Capitol Hill for Congressional staff to delve further into legislation proposed on motorcoach safety. Moderating the panel was Jackie Gillan, the Vice President for the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and she began things by introducing her fellow panelists which included: Jamila Thompson, legislative aide to Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) who sponsors the Motorcoach Enhanced Safety Act in the House (H.R. 1396); Jonathan McCracken, legislative aide to Senator Sherrod Brown (D OH) who sponsors the same bill in the Senate (S. 554); Karen Barnes, an AACSE member and School Bus Trainer with the Austin, TX Independent School District; Henry Jasny, General Counsel for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety; and finally, John Betts, father of David Betts, who died March 2, 2007 in a motorcoach accident in Atlanta, GA.
Because each panelist has a unique perspective on this issue, they provided the AACSE members and the Hill staffers in attendance a full overview of the issue. Jackie Gillan began the discussion by enlightening the group to the widespread use of motorcoach buses across the country, explaining that over 160 million trips are made each year, yet the industry is not subject to the strict oversight and safety regulations that is required of air travel. She emphasized that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a study nearly 10 years ago recommending the changes that need to be made to these buses and their oversight, but nothing has been done. She turned it over to her colleague, Henry Jasny who explained in detail what the NTSB has recommended and what the legislation would require. Both call for seatbelts, enhanced passenger compartmentalization, improved resistance to roof failure and to occupant ejection, as well as measures to improve crash avoidance, fire protection, oversight of providers and driver training. Jonathan McCracken and Jamila Thompson explained why their bosses became passionate about the issue. Senator Brown sponsored the bill in the Senate after John Betts reached out to him after the Bluffton University baseball team from Ohio was in a fatal crash. The crash occurred in Congressman Lewis’ district in Atlanta thus involving him in the issue as well. Both members realized many of the deaths could have been prevented had the recommendations of the NTSB been implemented. Karen Barnes, an AACSE member, provided the perspective of a school bus driver to the panel. She made a compelling argument on the safety difference between a motorcoach and a school bus. She explained in detail what makes a school bus so safe and how motorcoaches cannot compare to school bus safety standards, yet school districts are continuing to use motorcoaches buses as activity vehicles to transport students.
Special Guest Speaker: John Betts
However, no one can speak to this issue more passionately than John Betts, whose son, a member of the Bluffton University baseball team, was killed in the motorcoach accident in Atlanta in March of 2007. He has been active in bringing forth this safety legislation and testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee last fall on the issue. His emotional and compelling story about the death of his son and the other passengers, and how those deaths could have been prevented, moved everyone in the audience. As he explained the chain of events following his son’s death, it became clear that this issue was reaching the audience on a more personal level, especially when Mr. Betts expressed his deep frustration and sadness when just a few days after his son’s death, he found the near decade old NTSB study calling for seatbelts and other safety measures that could have saved his sons life. His compelling personal story, when combined with the technical explanation of safety problems and lack of oversight of the motorcoach buses, made the panel discussion a very informative and enlightening event.
The culmination of the conference came on Tuesday when AACSE members headed to Capitol Hill to meet with members of their staff delegation. The AACSE brought forward their legislative priorities and worked hard lobbying their Senators and Congressman resulting in incredibly positive results. The members of AACSE do not end their lobbying in Washington at the end of their legislative conference. They return home and become a valuable resource for the Washington and District offices of their delegations.
Special Conference Follow Up News!--U.S. DOT Orders Full Review of Motorcoach Safety
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on April 30, 2009 ordered a full departmental review of motorcoach safety. A Departmental Motorcoach Safety Action Plan will be created from the review’s findings. The plan will outline the additional steps needed to improve motorcoach safety for the millions of Americans who rely on these vehicles for safe transportation.
“Motorcoaches have been a safe form of transportation in the United States for many years, but even a single crash or accident is unacceptable” said Secretary LaHood. “We will continue our efforts to make them as safe as possible. As Secretary of Transportation, safety is my top priority.”
U.S. DOT agencies participating in the creation of the Action Plan include the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Federal Highway Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The review will also consider outstanding recommendations to U.S. DOT from the National Transportation Safety Board.
The full departmental review follows a recent NTSB hearing concerning the motorcoach crash in Utah in January 2008 that resulted in nine fatalities. The report is expected to be completed and released by August 2009.
Documents Available Upon Request:
- 2009 Conference Agenda
- Political Update Power Point
- Education Issues Update and the 2009 Legislative Agenda
- Child Nutrition Forum
- “Our Families our Future: Federal Support for School Infrastructure”
- FRAC 101: Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization
- About Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
- Committee for Education Funding Materials
- Healthcare Materials
- Motorcoach Safety Materials
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