Attempt by Republicans to Gut Title 1 Funding
Hurting Poor Students
Published: July 19, 2011 NYTimes
Extremists in Congress have long wanted to gut the spending restrictions in Title I, a federal law dating back to the 1960s that underwrites extra help for disadvantaged schoolchildren. A bill, approved by a House committee last week, would do just that, damaging one of most important civil rights programs in the country.
The State and Local Funding Flexibility Act would let school districts spend money earmarked for impoverished children on almost any educational purpose they chose. This would inevitably lead to money going from politically powerless poor schools to those without the same needs.
Title I was created during the Johnson administration in response to the failure of the states to offer access to equal education for all students as required by Brown v. Board of Education. The education law is based on a strict formula that drives federal aid to high-poverty districts, where large numbers of disadvantaged children often pose educational challenges. It is supposed to provide an added layer of federal money to high-poverty schools
More on ALEC: How Wisconsin Republicans Create Right Wing Legislation
July 13, 2011
In the midst of trying to balance the state’s multibillion-dollar budget, who had time to debate the state tax on moist tobacco products?
The American Legislative Exchange Council’s allies in the Wisconsin Legislature did.
Late in the budget debate, six Republican lawmakers – including four currently facing recall elections – sponsored a proposal to lower the overall price of moist snuff like Copenhagen and Skoal. Specifically, the provision would have altered the tax on smokeless tobacco products from one based on the price of the tobacco to one based on weight.
That stance on this obscure subject matches a model resolution approved by ALEC, a conservative outfit that