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We’ve all heard about the fiscal cliff that the nation will go over in January unless Congress takes action. Included in that cliff: Sequestration, 8.2% budget cuts to all federal discretionary spending programs – including education programs like Title I (which targets money to low-income students), IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which sends money to special education students), Title II (which provides money to improve teacher quality) and the Rural Education Achievement Program (which helps small, rural school districts).

According to a July survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), school administrators are planning for these budget cuts in a variety of ways. If the cuts come through, they will be reducing professional development, increasing class size, reducing academic programs (enrichment, after-school, interventions and so on), deferring technology purchases, laying off staff (both non-instructional and instructional), cutting bus transportation and more.

These cuts would be devastating to schools and students. But they would not be shared equally: New data from AASA shows that sequestration would disproportionately impact disadvantaged youth. ...

Since the election earlier this month, political conversation has moved to a new issue: sequestration, part of the across-the-board federal budget cut of $1.2 trillion that will occur in January 2013 unless Congress acts.

Sequestration became law as a result of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which raised the U.S. debt ceiling limit and established caps on discretionary spending (including spending on education, national parks, defense, medical and scientific research, infrastructure and more) that would reduce spending on these programs by $1 trillion through 2021. This Act also created the “Super Committee,” a bipartisan committee that included members from both the House of Representatives and the Senate and was charged with identifying an additional $1.2 trillion in budgetary savings over ten years. Their failure would trigger the sequester.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the toxic political climate in Washington over the past few years, the Super Committee did in fact fail. And we are currently waiting to see if Congress will replace sequestration with a balanced approach to deficit reduction.

If Congress fails to act, it will impact virtually every aspect of American life, including education. While the numbers aren’t final, estimates show that sequestration will result in a loss of nearly $5 billion to education. The National Education Association estimates that it will impact 9.3 million students ...

By Nora L. Howley, Manager of Programs, NEA Health Information Network

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that students missed over 38 million school days a year because of influenza (flu). 

While there are no figures available for adults that work in schools, CDC also reports that flu causes 100 million lost work days each year.

Help students—and yourself—by taking action.  CDC recommends some simple actions to fight the flu.  Many schools already do a great job of helping to prevent the spread of germs through routine hand washing and other basic hygiene strategies. 

CDC notes that the most important step most of us can to take in preventing flu is to get a flu vaccine. This year flu vaccines have been available since September, but many people still have not gotten their shot.  And many parents may not be aware that ...

Each generation has a personality, characteristics and preferences that define their behavior and their views of the world. Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2000, are no different. Their arrival in the professional world has significant implications for the workplace, across sectors but including – and perhaps especially – education.

The October issue of Learning Forward’s JSD features “Boomers and Millennials: Vive La Difference,” an article by Suzette Lovely that examines ways to blend different generational styles in the learning environment. The article poses five suggestions for creating a generationally friendly culture. They pay homage to the distinct differences between generations in the same workplace. What’s more, they aim to foster a more collaborative learning environment, helping ensure that an older, more experienced generation of teachers can pass on their knowledge to a new energetic teaching force. This new generation of professionals, in turn, must feel embraced by their older colleagues and respected for their ideas, innovation and energy. ...