CFK Weekly -- April 12, 2004

Connect for Kids.org: Better Policies for Kids

The TABLE OF CONTENTS is now hyper-linked to take you quickly to areas of interest inside the newsletter. Please send any comments or suggestions to jan@connectforkids.org.

NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG
**Getting Serious About Teen Relationship Abuse
**From the President
**How Budget Trends Threaten Children's Programs

KIDS AND POLITICS
**Learn. Vote. Act.: The Public's Responsibility for Public Education
**Congress Tries to Reconcile Budget Plans
**Aid for Families Extended through June
**Child Care Funding -- Still on the Table

PAYING THE PRICE FOR RISING COLLEGE COSTS
**Congressional Proposal Raises Issue of Who Should Pay What for College
**Bush on Pell Grants: Mixed Messages?

** Expanding College Access: The Impact of State Finance Strategies
** The Quest for Equity: Class in American Higher Education
** Improving Lives: Ensuring Academic Success for Low-Income Adults
**Coming in May: National Scholarship Month

SPOTLIGHT ON MIDDLE SCHOOL
**More Math, Please
**National School Lunch Program Has Health Food but Middle School Students Choose Snack Bar
**No Time to Waste: Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy Among Middle-School Youth

IDEAS FOR FUNDING
**Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity in Targeted Areas
**Youth Transition into the Workplace Grants
**GEAR UP Grants

INCOME AND WEALTH
**Recovery Benefits Profits, Not Workers
**Hidden in Plain Sight: A Look at the $335 Billion Federal Asset-Building Budget
**A Piece of the Pie
**Taxes: April 15 Is Not the Whole Story
** For Welfare Reform to Work, Jobs Must Be Available

IMPROVING LEARNING: FINDING THE RIGHT DIRECTION
**Researchers Blast Policy of Flunking Kids
**Family Literacy: Family Involvement and School Success
**High Performance School Buildings for Every Child
**Smart Growth and School Reform: What If We Talked About Race and Took Community Seriously?

CONNECT FOR YOUTH
**Correction
**Youth Serving Ideas for Congregations
** Engaging With Families in Out-of-School Time Learning

FOCUS ON THE STATES
**Federal Aid for Poor Students Reduced in Eleven States
**State-by-State News
District of Columbia
Kentucky
Illinois
Maryland
Texas
Washington

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PRIVACY POLICY

We encourage distribution of this information! If reprinting in whole or part, please attribute it to Connect for Kids (www.connectforkids.org).

NEW ON CONNECTFORKIDS.ORG

**Getting Serious About Teen Relationship Abuse
With an estimated one in five female high school students reporting physical or sexual abuse by a partner, the need to offer teens the tools they need to stay safe and build healthy relationships is urgent. Joan E. Lisante reports on some promising approaches to a devastating problem.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**From the President
This week, Kate Mattos, the president of our board of directors, provides an inside look at Connect for Kids' support of childhood nutrition efforts.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**How Budget Trends Threaten Children's Programs
"Programs for children are suffocating mainly because they lose out to such political wants as retirement in middle age and low taxes," argues Urban Institute senior fellow Eugene Steuerle. "Is this a wise trade-off?"
http://www.connectforkids.org/benton_topics1544/benton_topics_show.htm?doc_id=220482

KIDS AND POLITICS

**Learn. Vote. Act.: The Public's Responsibility for Public Education
Voters rank public education second only to the economy and jobs, and ahead of terrorism, security, health care, prescription drugs, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- that's according to a new poll from the Public Education Network and Education Week. At least 80 percent of voters say they favor a presidential candidate who would fully fund Head Start, reduce class sizes, protect the federal budget from education cuts and increase teacher pay -- all of which are areas that require additional resources.
http://www.publiceducation.org/portals/learn_vote_act/default.asp

**Congress Tries to Reconcile Budget Plans
Congress is in recess this week, but House and Senate conference committee members continue to negotiate a budget plan, battling it out over differences in the House and Senate versions. The Alliance for Excellence in Education reports that the House budget plan, passed on March 25, rejects education funding increases -- and would reduce taxes by $138 billion over five years, raise military spending by 7 percent, devote $329 billion to domestic programs (slightly less than called for in the president's budget), and make an unspecified $13 billion cut to entitlement programs such as welfare and Medicare over the next five years. (Scroll down for, "On to Conference: House Passes Budget Plan, Does Not Allow Vote on $5.7 Billion Education Amendment.")
http://www.all4ed.org/publications/StraightAs/Volume4No6.html

**Aid for Families Extended through June
Pleased with the Senate's approval of a child care amendment that provides states with $6 billion more in guaranteed federal funds for child care, advocates are pushing for other improvements in the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) bill. The Children's Defense Fund, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and the Legal Action Center are circulating a sign-on letter to build momentum for the Smith-Jeffords Amendment, a measure that would allow disabled parents flexibility to address barriers and help them move towards?work and greater independence. For more information, e-mail Rutledge Hutson by Friday,?April 16.
http://jeffords.senate.gov/~jeffords/press/04/03/033004childcare.html

**Child Care Funding -- Still on the Table
The National Association for the Education of Young Children reminds advocates that child care assistance comes in two different funding streams: 1) mandatory funding set under TANF reauthorization, and 2) discretionary funding included in the appropriations process. The Senate's child care funding increases, passed as part of the Senate TANF reauthorization, are on hold at least through June -- which means now is the time for advocates to let lawmakers know that children, families and providers can't keep waiting for help.
http://capwiz.com/naeyc/home/

PAYING THE PRICE FOR RISING COLLEGE COSTS

**Congressional Proposal Raises Issue of Who Should Pay What for College
The New York Times reports that the Congressional Research Service has found that proposed changes to the rules on college loans -- taking away the opportunity for students to consolidate them at low fixed rates -- will cost the average graduate an extra $3,115 to $5,484 in interest over the life of the loans. This issue is the center of a highly contentious debate in the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. (Free registration required).
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/09/education/09COLL.html

**Bush on Pell Grants: Mixed Messages?
The Washington Post reports that President Bush has renewed his proposal to cut funding for Pell Grants, which provide financial aid to needy college students. His budget plan would take money from the Pell Grant program and abolish the Perkins vocational education program to put more than $1 billion annually into new programs to encourage technical studies. In addition, the President would limit the number of years in which low-income students can receive Pell Grants to eight years for a four-year degree and four years for a two-year degree. (See, " Bush Endorses Testing Of 12th-Grade Students.")
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55871-2004Apr6.html

At the same time, while Bush's FY2005 budget proposal sets aside little new money for student aid, it does add $45 million for a once-obscure Texas program called State Scholars, for students who take rigorous courses. Under the proposal, 36,000 financially needy students who participate in the State Scholars program would get up to $1,000 in extra Pell Grant money. (The current annual maximum Pell Grant is $4,050, an amount that hasn't changed in two years.)
http://www.centerforstatescholars.org/

** Expanding College Access: The Impact of State Finance Strategies
How can states counter disparities in college opportunities for teens in the face of rising college costs and decreasing scholarship aid? The most efficient way, according to the Lumina Foundation, is to increase investments in need-based grant aid.
http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/illuminations/Fiscal_Illuminations.pdf

** The Quest for Equity: Class in American Higher Education
In a lecture at the University of Virginia, William G. Bowen, head of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, called on top colleges and universities to give low-income students admission preferences akin to those granted to recruited athletes, minorities, and the children of alumni. Such affirmative action, he said, is necessary if the top colleges are to be "engines of opportunity" rather than "bastions of privilege."
http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases/headlines.html

** Improving Lives: Ensuring Academic Success for Low-Income Adults
Without a college degree, many workers find themselves stuck in low-wage jobs that don't provide health benefits or advancement opportunities. In 2000, sixty percent of workers between ages 25 and 64 lacked a college degree (and few had ever taken a college class). When these adults sign up for college classes to help them advance, they do so with a mix of challenges, including family and work responsibilities. But, according to a report from the American Council on Education, low-income adult students earn slightly better grades on average than traditional students -- and can succeed when there are supportive policies to help.
http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pubInfo.cfm?pubID=310

**Coming in May: National Scholarship Month
National Scholarship Month events engage the community to bring attention to the need for increased and continued support for students attending postsecondary education.
http://nationalscholarshipmonth.org

SPOTLIGHT ON MIDDLE SCHOOL

**More Math, Please
Algebra is a gateway course for getting on the path to college, and top business leaders embrace math skills as important for today's jobs. According to this poll in Washington and Massachusetts, residents in both states wholeheartedly agree and they reject the peculiarly American notion that they ? or our schoolchildren ? can't do the math. (See the link in the left sidebar).
http://www.massinsight.org

**National School Lunch Program Has Health Food but Middle School Students Choose Snack Bar
It's no surprise that kids reach for fries and soda before salads, fruit or milk. According to research published in the American Journal of Public Health, snack bars are part of the problem. In middle schools with snack bars, one-third of students surveyed said they generally bypassed the food offered by the National School Lunch Program in favor of (typically fried or sweetened) snack bar foods during the two-year period of the study.
http://www.asfsa.org/newsroom/sfsnews/ajphsnackbar.asp

**No Time to Waste: Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy Among Middle-School Youth
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy examines after-school programs for middle-school youth that have a proven positive impact on adolescent sexual behavior.
http://www.teenpregnancy.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1

IDEAS FOR FUNDING

**Grants to Expand Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity in Targeted Areas
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment offers FY 2004 funds to expand and/or enhance communities' ability to provide a comprehensive response to a well-documented substance abuse treatment capacity problem, or improve the quality and intensity of services. Deadline: May 25
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops136.asp

**Youth Transition into the Workplace Grants
CSAP has FY 2004 funds for Youth Transition into the Workplace Grants to provide funds to document and evaluate innovative practices that address critical substance abuse and mental health service gaps, but have not yet been formally evaluated.
http://www.healthinschools.org/grants/ops137.asp

**GEAR UP Grants
The National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP) and the SBC Foundation are launching a new competitive special grants program to supplement GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) projects and to support community education partnerships for instructional technology, academic enrichment programs, and data-driven decision-making. Deadline: May 14, 2004.
http://www.edpartnerships.org/events/sbc_rfp.cfm

INCOME AND WEALTH

**Recovery Benefits Profits, Not Workers
In "The Rising Tide of Corporate Profits and the Ebbing of Labor Compensation," Northeastern University analysts argue that the benefits from the current recovery are off balance -- with corporate profits and proprietors' income rising while the wage and salary workers' earnings have risen only modestly or not at all, despite rising productivity. This pattern is unprecedented for a post-World War II recovery.
http://www.nupr.neu.edu/4-04/corporate_profits.pdf

**Hidden in Plain Sight: A Look at the $335 Billion Federal Asset-Building Budget
The idea that the federal government could play a role in helping low-income families accumulate assets to educate their children, buy a home, or plan for their future may be new, but the federal role in helping other households accumulate assets is well established -- primarily through tax breaks for home ownership, retirement savings and other investments. According to this Corporation for Enterprise Development study, federal subsidies for asset development total $335 billion a year (nine times the annual highway/transit budget) -- but heavily favor already-wealthy families. In fact, over a third of the asset-building benefits go to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans (those who typically earn over $1 million per year). Less than 5 percent of the benefits go to the bottom 60 percent of American taxpayers.
http://www.cfed.org

**A Piece of the Pie
This January report from Connect for Kids explores a pilot asset-building program for low-income families.
http://www.connectforkids.org/resources3139/resources_show.htm?doc_id=203196

**Taxes: April 15 Is Not the Whole Story
April 15 is looming, and so are the stories about the income tax burden on working families -- but the reality is that low-income families lose more money to the regressive payroll tax than income tax. NPR's Marketplace commentator says the payroll tax also cuts into the job market by discouraging businesses from hiring more workers.
http://www.marketplace.org/play/audio.php?media=/2004/03/18_mpp&start=00:00:06:20.0&end=00:00:08:40.0

** For Welfare Reform to Work, Jobs Must Be Available
This Center for Economic and Policy Research report finds that during the recession and recovery from 2001 to the present, job growth has been slow and wage growth has been negligible in industries where former welfare recipients m are able to find jobs.
http://www.cepr.net/labor_markets/welfarejobshit-2004april01.htm

IMPROVING LEARNING: FINDING THE RIGHT DIRECTION

**Researchers Blast Policy of Flunking Kids
The majority of students were not hurt by Chicago's high-stakes testing policy of retaining failing eighth-grade students -- but for some, it was the deciding factor that ultimately led them to drop out. In addition, because retention delayed students' entry into high school, students who were held back had less time to accumulate high school credits before dropping out, making recovery more difficult for those dropouts who eventually attempt to return to school.
http://www.consor tium-chicago.org/publications/p70.html

**Family Literacy: Family Involvement and School Success
Family literacy programs can serve as models of family-school involvement, showing how families can build on the work of the school and also provide opportunities for educational success for parents and children.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/ed_lead/200403/holloway.html

**High Performance School Buildings for Every Child
One half of the nation's 115,000 schools report unsatisfactory indoor air quality. Declaring the health of school buildings an educational and a public health issue the 21 st Century School Fund is sponsoring a sign-on letter to demand high performance learning environments for every child.
http://www.21csf.org/csf-home/Documents/BEST/WINGSPREAD.pdf

**Smart Growth and School Reform: What If We Talked About Race and Took Community Seriously?
If we want to manage suburban sprawl and stem "white flight" from inner cities , we must make city schools work, according to this hard-hitting analysis by Smart Growth analyst Howell Baum. Ensuring long-term improvement requires regional cooperation?not just to redistribute money, but also to build social relations across racial and city/suburb lines. It also requires deliberate public leadership and reversing market-choice solutions where white and affluent families have many choices that are out of reach for low-income and minority families.
http://www.planning.org/japa/pdf/baum.pdf

CONNECT FOR YOUTH

**Correction
Last week, the Connect for Kids Weekly reported on a looming summer jobs crisis for teens. The crisis may be real, but the report we cited is a year old -- a 2003 report from the Center on Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University. We have not been able to find an updated report for 2004.
http://www.connectforkids.org

**Youth Serving Ideas for Congregations
With National Youth Service Days just around the corner (April 16-18) many congregations are planning summer service projects for young people. Serving others is not only a core mandate of faith for people in all religious traditions, it is also a critical developmental experience for young people. This Search Institute newsletter has information, ideas, and opportunities designed to help congregations find ways to engage young people in serving others as part of youth asset-building efforts.
http://www.search-institute.org/congregations/newsletter/april2004.html

** Engaging With Families in Out-of-School Time Learning
Out-of-school programs serve many children while their parents work, but there are still ways these programs can involve parents to the benefit of the programs and the children, reports the Harvard Out-of-School Time Evaluation project.
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/snapshot4.html

FOCUS ON THE STATES

**Federal Aid for Poor Students Reduced in Eleven States
CNN reports that eleven states will get less federal money for poor students next school year, while the 39 other states and the District of Columbia will get more.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/04/06/schools.money.ap/index.html

**State-by-State News

District of Columbia
Young people aged 14 to 21 must register for summer jobs through the Department of Employment Services before April 30.?Youth must bring documentation to verify their date of birth, citizenship or alien status, selective services status (for males 18 to 21 years old), social security number, District residency, and?family income. Sign up by going to the Office of Youth Programs, 625 H St NE, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (9:00 am - 4:30 pm)?and Wednesday (9:00 am - 6:00 pm).?Direct questions to the Office of Youth Programs at 202-698-3991.

Kentucky
The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence reports that there are striking exceptions to the generally lower levels of student achievement in elementary schools with large populations of low-income students. A team of educators, school administrators and parents trained in conducting scholastic audits will be visiting schools that are the exception of identify patterns and practices that correlate with higher achieving students. For more information, email Robert Sexton (rsexton@prichardcommittee.org).

Illinois
The Governor's proposed fiscal year 2005 budget closes an estimated $1.7 billion shortfall and generally maintains investments in important programs for children and families, with increases in education and health care, reports Illinois Voices for Children. However, the proposed budget includes a variety of cuts and fails to fund education at the level the Governor acknowledges is necessary.
http://www.voices4kids.org/05budgetbrief.pdf

Maryland
The stakes surrounding Maryland's "English-language learners" -- 28,000 students and counting -- are higher than ever, as schools for the first time face federally mandated sanctions if ESOL students do not meet the same targets on standardized tests as the general population. Local administrators face staff shortages, a lack of understanding about the work of ESOL teachers and even anti-immigrant sentiment among some staff members, according to the Baltimore Sun article, "Immigrant Students Challenge Schools."
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-te.ar.esol05apr05,0,3249383.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

Texas
"In Texas, we pride ourselves on taking care of our own. Today, we are failing at this task. Some Texas foster children receive the compassion and care they deserve, but many do not. The heartbreaking truth is that some of these children are no better off in the care of the state than they were in the hands of abusive and negligent parents," Comptroller Strayhorn noted in her new foster care report, which calls for privatization of the state foster care system.
http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/forgottenchildren

Houston schools are celebrating National Poetry Month with workshops, readings and other activities. A resource guide filled with ways to encourage children's appreciation of poetry is available to teachers, parents, and the public. (Select the, "Celebrate Poetry Month with a Poem a Day" star).
http://www.writersintheschools.org

Washington
State advocates say a minimum paid leave policy to ensure that working families can have paid sick leave to care for sickness in their families is good for families and good for business. (See the January 2004 document, "The Case for Minimum Paid Leave for American Workers.")
http://www.eoionline.org/MinimumWage/Minimum%20LeaveBlueprint2004.pdf

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PRIVACY POLICY

In an effort to better serve the subscribers of our electronic newsletters, the Connect for Kids Weekly and Connections, periodically we may employ tracking software that lets us know how subscribers move from the e-mail newsletter to our Web site. The information we gather is strictly intended for internal evaluation and will not be shared with any individual or organization.
http://www.connectforkids.org/information1537/information_show.htm?doc_id=9207

May is National Foster Care Month -- time to get ready, everyone!

Jan
Jan Richter and the Connect for Kids team
Jan@connectforkids.org