Call Your Senators Now To Stop More Deaf School Budget Cuts!
The 13 Billion dollars to finance the IDEA program may be subjected to elimination by the Senators during their quest to whittle down the size of the Economic Stimulus Plan. Today is the last day as they will make an announcement tomorrow.
Special Education – $13 billion for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), enabling essential services to be provided to deaf and hard of hearing children covered by the Act. Plus, $600 million for Part C of the IDEA to assist states in implementing coordinated systems of comprehensive programs and make early intervention services available to children and their families.
Individual with Disability Educational Act (IDEA) protects the rights of the disabled students to appropriate and equal education. This enables the operations of both the residential and day Deaf schools and the mainstreaming of Deaf and HoH students with interpreters, note taking, and other auxiliary services.
If they remove the financing of IDEA, then the Deaf schools will face more severe budget cuts than already proposed. It will mean more lay off of educators and possibly lead to further state school closings.
Find your Senators’ phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
or
Call 202.224.3121 to be connected to the Capitol Switchboard.
Tell them the name of your Senator and they will connect you to their office. When you call your Senator, your call will be answered by a receptionist (often an intern). Tell him or her:
“Hello, my name is ____ and I am a constituent, from [include your state and town].”
“I urge Senator [last name] to reject any elimination of IDEA funding from the Economic Stimulus Plan.
For more information, check NAD Action Alert – Call Your Senators Now | NAD Advocacy Blog
Addional notes:
For ASL users, Karen Mayes vlogged about this yesterday and she did an excellent job explaining in details about IDEA and the economic stimulus bill. http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/40796/
More and more people are encountering problems reaching their senators via phones. Enclosed is the link for their e mail address. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Keep up with the good work. Deaf Children need you to speak for them. 
MZ
The 13 Billion dollars to finance the IDEA program may be subjected to elimination by the Senators during their quest to whittle down the size of the Economic Stimulus Plan. Today is the last day as they will make an announcement tomorrow.
Special Education – $13 billion for Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), enabling essential services to be provided to deaf and hard of hearing children covered by the Act. Plus, $600 million for Part C of the IDEA to assist states in implementing coordinated systems of comprehensive programs and make early intervention services available to children and their families.
Individual with Disability Educational Act (IDEA) protects the rights of the disabled students to appropriate and equal education. This enables the operations of both the residential and day Deaf schools and the mainstreaming of Deaf and HoH students with interpreters, note taking, and other auxiliary services.
If they remove the financing of IDEA, then the Deaf schools will face more severe budget cuts than already proposed. It will mean more lay off of educators and possibly lead to further state school closings.
Find your Senators’ phone numbers at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
or
Call 202.224.3121 to be connected to the Capitol Switchboard.
Tell them the name of your Senator and they will connect you to their office. When you call your Senator, your call will be answered by a receptionist (often an intern). Tell him or her:
“Hello, my name is ____ and I am a constituent, from [include your state and town].”
“I urge Senator [last name] to reject any elimination of IDEA funding from the Economic Stimulus Plan.
For more information, check NAD Action Alert – Call Your Senators Now | NAD Advocacy Blog
Addional notes:
For ASL users, Karen Mayes vlogged about this yesterday and she did an excellent job explaining in details about IDEA and the economic stimulus bill. http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/40796/
More and more people are encountering problems reaching their senators via phones. Enclosed is the link for their e mail address. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Keep up with the good work. Deaf Children need you to speak for them. MZ
February 9th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Amen.
I also vlogged about this, in DVTV… you could check out my vlogs under my name kmayes1965.
February 9th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Thanks, Karen.
Here is the link to Karen’s vlog: http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/40796/
I added it to the post, too, as Karen did an excellent job with her vlog
February 9th, 2009 at 8:05 am
Thank you for the important reminder! Thanks, Karen, for doing this in ASL version.
I also want to thank Peter aka CoolPJR for alerting me via YT.
I will make the phone calls today and alert others here as well.
February 9th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Thanks, I gotta do it. This is so important to be called out to everyone! I copied and pasted it in my email and forwarded it on to all of my friends and asked them to pass it to everyone they know!
February 9th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I emailed both of my senators here in MI… Senator Levin’s phone line was timed-out several times. Senator Stabenow’s voicemail was full.
Just to let the Michiganders know!
Try calling them anyway and if that fails,
go here at:
For Senator Levin: http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
For Senator Stabenow: http://stabenow.senate.gov/email.cfm
I chose the topic “Economy” in the drop down field.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
For Hoosiers (people who live in Indiana):
Senator Evan Bayh: http://bayh.senate.gov/contact/email/
Senator Richard Lugar: senator_lugar@lugar.senate.gov
When I called them yesterday, both of their voice mails were full. So I emailed instead.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
For Coloradoans:
Bennet, Michael F. – (D – CO) Class III
702 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5852
E-mail: senator_bennet@bennet.senate.gov
Udall, Mark – (D – CO) Class II
B40E DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5941
February 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
All right.
The Senate made a decision, to our dismay. The $13 billions was trimmed off, as well as other needed $$ for education.
So, the next round is to see which version is more desirable… House version or Senate version. The goal is to have the stimulus budget on Obama’s desk by George Washington’s birthday.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Huh?
Already made a decision? They voted? Is it on the news? You are quick!
Oh man… what should we do next?
Amy
February 9th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I did it. Thank you.
February 10th, 2009 at 4:49 am
http://www.deafvideo.tv/video/watch/40913/
That’s why some of us Deaf are confused and do NOT know how to say to the Senators.. NAD should vlog!
February 10th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
ASLforLife. I relate to you. It can be so exhausting explaining very simple concepts in contacting lawmakers. That tells lots about our society. However, I do see very similar concerns in the mainstream.