To All STEM Education Stakeholders,
We need you to take action to support STEM education funding!
The STEM Education Coalition is participating in a National Day of Action this Wednesday, October 26, and I am asking you to send an email, call, or tweet to your member(s) of Congress to request the highest possible funding for Title IV Part A, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) Grant, under the newly authorized bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
95% of the SSAE money will be distributed directly to districts, where they can use the money for numerous STEM related activities including:
Expanding high-quality STEM courses;
Increasing access to STEM for underserved and at risk student populations;
Supporting the participation of students in STEM nonprofit competitions (such as robotics, science research, invention, mathematics, computer science, and technology competitions);
Providing hands-on learning opportunities in STEM;
Integrating other academic subjects, including the arts, into STEM subject programs;
Creating or enhancing STEM specialty schools;
Integrating classroom based and afterschool and informal STEM instruction; and
Expanding environmental education.
We are asking you to contact your members of Congress and urge them to support a full $1.65 billion funding in the final FY2017 appropriations bill.
Send a pre-written letter to your Member of Congress via the STEM Education Coalition Congressional Action Center.
Call or email your Member's office. Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your member of Congress. A sample script can be found here.
Send a tweet to your members of Congress.
Read the press release on the Title IV/A National Day of Action here.
If SSAE is not funded to its full, legally authorized level, teachers and districts in your state will be forced to make difficult choices about how to prioritize their funds. It's imperative that Congress sets up this program and our nation's children to succeed.
Please contact Lindsey Gardner (lgardner@stemedcoaltion.org) with the STEM Education Coalition if you have any questions.
Thank you for your continued support of the STEM Education Coalition.
Respectfully,
James F. Brown
Executive Director
www.stemedcoalition.org
(202) 400-2192