Good Morning:
With the budget crisis looming, it is imperative that everyone call their legislators to urge them to compromise and vote for a balanced budget by June 30, 2009. Education is especially significant as it accounts for one-third of the budget. It has never been as contentious such as this in many years. We can't allow politics to enter into the conversation about children and education. We need you to simply encourage your legislators to get serious about a compromise and make sure the vote gets done by 6/30, as dictated by state law.

Please, please call your legislators this week. You can find your legislators at the bottom of this message from Lt. Governor Matt Denn.

Thanks,
Bud Mullin - Delaware PTA President

This morning Lt. Governor Denn sent out a news release that went over his Children’s Legislative agenda as session draws to a close. We wanted to provide you with the same update on where these bills stand currently, as they take significant steps in improving our public schools, expand children’s health insurance by covering all kids, and will mandate insurance companies cover screening for developmental delays of infants and toddlers. Below is text from the news release:

Four important bills affecting Delaware children were passed by houses of the General Assembly this week. Each of the bills will now be sent to the other chamber for consideration during the last two weeks of the General Assembly session.
Three of the bills (S.B. 151, H.S. 1 for H.B. 119 and S.B. 68) make up the education reform agenda advocated by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor. The fourth bill (H.B. 139) would allow parents of children whose income exceeds 200% of the federal poverty level to purchase health insurance coverage for their children from the state’s CHIP program, by paying a premium reflecting the actual cost to the state of providing that coverage.

These four bills make up four of the five bills that Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn has advocated as part of his children’s legislative agenda. The other bill (House Bill 199) is scheduled to be before the House on Tuesday of next week.

“These are tough budgetary times for our state,” said Denn, “but I am glad to see that in spite of our financial challenges, we are moving ahead on these issues that are so important for kids. If these bills are passed by the full General Assembly, we will make significant progress on educating our kids and ensuring that they get the health care they need.”

The five bills on the Lieutenant Governor’s Children’s Agenda are:
· Senate Bill 68 (sponsored by Senator Sokola): replacing the Delaware State Testing Program with a statewide test that will be more useful to teachers, less stressful for students, and more helpful in charting student progress. Senate Bill 68 passed the Senate yesterday and is expected to be heard in the House Education Committee on Wednesday.

· Senate Bill 151 (sponsored by Senator Sokola), creating a pilot Academic Achievement Awards program that gives large financial rewards (paid for by federal stimulus dollars) to the schools that make the most progress in educating at-risk kids. This will be Delaware’s first state run program where schools receive substantial financial rewards for excellence in educating students. S.B. 151 passed the Senate on Tuesday, and is expected to be heard in the House Education Committee on Wednesday.

· House Substitute 1 for House Bill 119 (sponsored by Representative Schooley), putting procedures in place to direct more public dollars into the classroom and less into administrative overhead, while simultaneously giving schools more financial flexibility. H.S. 1 for H.B. 119 passed the House on Tuesday, and has been sent to the Senate for consideration.

· House Bill 139 (sponsored by Representative Schooley), allows parents whose income exceeds the current limits for the Children’s Health Insurance Program to purchase coverage for their children by paying a premium that reflects the actual cost to the state of covering those kids. The program has no cost to the state, but will provide an opportunity for many parents with uninsured kids to get their kids insured. H.B. 139 passed the House on Thursday and has been sent to the Senate.

· House Bill 199 (sponsored by Representative Schooley), which will require insurance carriers to cover developmental screening for infants and toddlers. This has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, to improve our early detection of developmental problems in small children and allow for more effective treatment. H.B. 199 will be heard by the House on Tuesday.

These bills were drafted after Lt. Governor Denn and Secretary of Education Lillian Lowery hosted a dozen "Back to School" briefings to get public input across the state, and drew hundreds of participants in person and online. The briefings started a statewide dialogue on education reform that has now resulted in significant progress forward. But we need your help to keep the momentum going.

Please get involved in pushing these bills forward and make two calls today, one to your State Representative and one to your State Senator and tell them you support Lt. Governor Denn’s Children’s Agenda – you can find your legislators on this site:

Find your legislator here:
http://legis.delaware.gov/legislature.nsf/Lookup/Know_Your_Legislators?o...

You can find more information on these bills and track their progress forward on Lt. Governor Denn’s blog, http://mattdenn.blogs.delaware.gov/.