★CEC and DEC voices have been heard asking that the nomination of Betsy DeVos be delayed until she has responded to questions on the IDEA. The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions (HELP) has postponed the committee vote on the nomination of Betsy DeVos as the next U.S. Secretary of Education. Originally scheduled for January 24t, the vote has been moved to Tuesday, January 31st at 10am ET. The official reason for postponement, given by HELP Committee Chairman Senator Lamar Alexander, is to provide Committee members with additional time to review the Public Financial Disclosure Report released by the Office of Government Ethics on January 20th.
A special thanks to DEC members who responded to our call to action to request a postponement on this important vote, but our work is not yet done! Please see the Call to Action below!
★On Friday January 20th, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Later that evening, President Trump halted Obama Administration regulations that had not yet gone into effect, including one pertaining to how state plans and accountability will be handled under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This particular regulation was scheduled to go into effect January 30th, and at least 17 states had previously indicated they intended to submit their plans by early April. The regulation and any changes can now be delayed up to 60 days. It isn’t yet clear what will become of this regulation and other regulations that were delayed. President Trump also signed an executive order “minimizing the economic burden of the patient protection and affordable care act pending repeal”.
On January 23rd, the Democratic and Independent members of the HELP Committee sent a letter to Chairman Alexander asking for a second hearing on the nomination of Betsy DeVos. Our advocacy work is not done. CEC and DEC need you to send the revised letter on the CEC Legislative Action Center to ALL members of Congress.
Please activate your Unit/Division CAN Network to request that they write to ALL their members of Congress today using CEC's Legislative Action Center to:
ASSURE the provision of FAPE through IDEA.
DELAY vote on DeVos.
HOLD a second hearing.
Letters must be sent by Thursday, January 26th. The HELP Committee confirmation vote is scheduled for Tuesday, January 31st.
Share this message on social media (including Facebook and Twitter) as well. You can continue to use the hashtag #WeBelieve when sharing your thoughts on this critical issue.
Thank you for your advocacy to continue to guarantee the civil rights of all children and youth with disabilities and their families!
On January 19th, DEC launched the #WeBelievecampaign on Facebook and Twitter in order to send a public message, re-stating our firm commitment to advocate for the civil rights of all children and youth with exceptionalities and their families; ensuring high-quality, evidence-based practices including individualized specialized services to support children and youth in their development and education; and assist them in achieving positive educational, developmental and behavioral outcomes and results with the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Department of Education. The tweets and status updates from this campaign have been shared widely. Thank you and keep the campaign going!
DEC will announce the new Policy Council chair in the near future. Stay tuned!
Have an early childhood special education policy or advocacy story you would like to share?Whether you are a Subdivision leader/member or just an interested DEC member unaffiliated with a Subdivision, contact brittany@dec-sped.org to share what's happening in your state or Subdivision or just to bring awareness to an important policy or advocacy issue relevant to DEC.
Please note that all story submissions must be non-partisan in nature. If you are interested in guidance on how to craft your story and/or how to ensure it is non-partisan, DEC will be happy to help! Selected stories will be shared in a future issue of YES DEC CAN!
