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NCTE’s Response to Secretary DeVos’s Testimony

For Immediate Release

June 6, 2017

(Washington, DC) – Emily Kirkpatrick, Executive Director of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), representing more than 30,000 PreK-16 teachers, issued the following statement, in response to Secretary DeVos’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies today:

“NCTE appreciates the efforts of Senators Murray, Cochran, Leahy, and Schatz in today’s hearing with Secretary DeVos. They each demonstrated support for teachers and students. We urge Congress to appropriate the funds necessary to ensure that all students have the most highly qualified teachers, resources, and technologies available in classrooms from early childhood through high school.”

NCTE members know the power of continuous, high-quality, professional learning and the teaching of literacy across all disciplines in all grades. We are extremely concerned that the Administration has proposed a number of drastic cuts to public education funding, including the elimination of two essential provisions authorized in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)—Title II Part A and Literacy Education For All, Results for the Nation (LEARN). All other highly regarded professions invest in the ongoing development of their employees. Starving schools and districts of the critical funds necessary to promote the professional development of teachers will deprive students of the most current, creative, and engaging teaching practices and materials available, especially in high-need schools. It will accelerate the exodus of the very best teachers from this demanding profession. Further, it deprives high-needs schools of funding for literacy practices necessary for a skilled and talented workforce.”

Read NCTE’s FY 2018 recommendations for Congress. More information on NCTE can also be found at www.ncte.org.

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