On September 8, President Obama unveiled his plan to create jobs, the American Jobs Act. You can find complete details here. The White House released a paper outlining the impact to each state. We obtained a copy from the Committee for Education Funding (CEF) . You can download the full report here. The excerpt below details the impact his plan would have on Nevada.

THE AMERICAN JOBS ACT: IMPACT FOR NEVADA

The American people understand that the economic crisis and the deep recession weren’t created overnight and won’t be solved overnight. The economic security of the middle class has been under attack for decades. That’s why President Obama believes we need to do more than just recover from this economic crisis – we need to rebuild the economy the American way, based on balance, fairness, and the same set of rules for everyone from Wall Street to Main Street.  We can work together to create the jobs of the future by helping small business entrepreneurs, by investing in education, and by making things the world buys. The President understands that to restore an American economy that’s built to last we cannot afford to outsource American jobs and encourage reckless financial deals that put middle class security at risk.

To create jobs, the President unveiled the American Jobs Act – nearly all of which is made up of ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans, and that Congress should pass right away to get the economy moving now. The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple: put more people back to work and put more money in the pockets of working Americans. And it would do so without adding a dime to the deficit. The American Jobs Act has five components:

1. Tax Cuts to Help America’s Small Businesses Hire and Grow

•             The President’s plan will cut the payroll tax in half to 3.1% for employers on the first $5 million in wages, providing broad tax relief to all businesses but targeting it to the 98 percent of firms with wages below this level. In Nevada, 50,000 firms will receive a payroll tax cut under the American Jobs Act.

2. Putting Workers Back on the Job While Rebuilding and Modernizing America

•             The President’s plan includes $50 billion in immediate investments for highways, transit, rail and aviation, helping to modernize an infrastructure that now receives a grade of “D” from the American Society of Civil Engineers and putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job. Of the investments for highway and transit modernization projects, the President’s plan will make immediate investments of at least $250,800,000 in Nevada that could support a minimum of approximately 3,300 local jobs.

•             The President is proposing to invest $35 billion to prevent layoffs of up to 280,000 teachers, while supporting the hiring of tens of thousands more and keeping cops and firefighters on the job. These funds would help states and localities avoid and reverse layoffs now, and will provide $258,300,000 in funds to Nevada to support up to 3,600 educator and first responder jobs.

•             The President is proposing a $25 billion investment in school infrastructure that will modernize at least 35,000 public schools – investments that will create jobs, while improving classrooms and upgrading our schools to meet 21st century needs.  Nevada will receive $168,400,000 in funding to support as many as 2,200 jobs.

•             The President is proposing to invest $15 billion in a national effort to put construction workers on the job rehabilitating and refurbishing hundreds of thousands of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. Nevada could receive about $585,600,000 to revitalize and refurbish local communities, in addition to funds that would be available through a competitive application.

•             The President’s plan proposes $5 billion of investments for facilities modernization needs at community colleges. Investment in modernizing community colleges fills a key resource gap, and ensures these local, bedrock education institutions have the facilities and equipment to address current workforce demands in today’s highly technical and growing fields. Nevada could receive $39,100,000 in funding in the next fiscal year for its community colleges.

3. Pathways Back to Work for Americans Looking for Jobs.

•             Drawing on the best ideas of both parties and the most innovative states, the President is proposing the most sweeping reforms to the unemployment insurance (UI) system in 40 years help those without jobs transition to the workplace. This could help put the 88,000 long-term unemployed workers in Nevada back to work.

•             Alongside these reforms, the President is reiterating his call to extend unemployment insurance, preventing 35,200 people looking for work in Nevada from losing their benefits in just the first 6 weeks.  And, across the country, the number saved from losing benefits would triple by the end of the year.

•             The President is proposing a new Pathways Back to Work Fund to provide hundreds of thousands of low-income youth and adults with opportunities to work and to achieve needed training in growth industries. Pathways Back to Work could place 1,400 adults and 3,300 youths in jobs in Nevada.

4. Tax Relief for Every American Worker and Family

•             The President’s plan will expand the payroll tax cut passed last December by cutting workers payroll taxes in half next year. A typical household in Nevada, with a median income of around $51,000, will receive a tax cut of around $1,580.

5. Fully Paid for as Part of the President’s Long-Term Deficit Reduction Plan.

•             To ensure that the American Jobs Act is fully paid for, the President will call on the Joint Committee to come up with additional deficit reduction necessary to pay for the Act and still meet its deficit target. The President will, in the coming days, release a detailed plan that will show how we can do that while achieving the additional deficit reduction necessary to meet the President’s broader goal of stabilizing our debt as a share of the economy.

COABE 2011 Conference

The Commission on Adult Basic Education and the National Coalition for Literacy are pleased to bring you the following two half-day advocacy preconferences. To add a preconference to your existing registration modify your registration or contact the COABE office if you need assistance (888-442-6223 or info@coabe.org).

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8:30 – 11:30 am

Effective Advocacy Strategies

Featuring practical strategies for planning and implementing a successful grassroots advocacy program. Join this session to hear how advocates have run successful campaigns to increase funding and save adult education from cuts. Explore effective advocacy strategies and leave with resources and a plan to implement when you return home. Workshop format.
Presenters:
• Kathi Medcalf, Past President, Maine Adult Education Association and Director, Sanford Adult & Community Education
• Marsha L. Tait, National Coalition for Literacy Grant Manager
• Jackie Taylor, Advocacy Chair, National Coalition for Literacy and Incoming President-Elect, COABE

Room: Union Square 21

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12:30 – 3:30 pm

Leveraging Social Media for Grassroots Advocacy

Join this hands-on interactive session on using social media to advocate for adult education. Based on new research in adult education, see how to engage social media activists and impact adult education policy on the Hill. Get peer and expert coaching. Develop your own social media strategy you can use not to advance your advocacy goals.
Presenters:
• Cheryl Contee, Partner, Fission Strategy
• Jackie Taylor, Advocacy Chair, National Coalition for Literacy and Incoming President-Elect, COABE
• Marsha L. Tait, Dollar General Grant Manager, National Coalition for Literacy
• Cassandra M. Brown, Senior Specialist, Communications & Marketing, GED® Testing Service
• Laura Porfirio, Civics Program Advanced Program Coordinator , Pima Community College Adult Education
• Regina Suitt, Pima Community College, Advanced Program Manager, Adult Education Services
• John Segota, Director of Advocacy, Standards and Professional Relations, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.

Room: Union Square 21

• Success Stories from Nevada Adult Education (ABE/ESL/GED programs) – Issues 1,2 & 3
  
• New Beginnings Quarterly from Clark County School District Dept. of Adult Education

Signature Petition Drive

If you believe that funding cuts to K-12 and the Nevada System of Higher Education are not solutions for the state’s budget crisis, then consider adding your name to Fight for Nevada: A Petition in Defense of Education.

The Fight for Nevada website is sponsored by The Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) and has collected thousands of signature from alumnus, alumna, students, faculty, staff, and supporters of Nevada’s institutions of higher education.

Truckee Meadows Community College’s ESL and GED students undertook a letter-writing campaign this spring and summer to thank their legislators for their support of Adult Basic Education. Over 200 thank you letters were sent to state and national representatives. Click here for a recent response from U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus.

Dean Heller

DC Office:
1023 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6155 (Office)
202-225-5679 (Fax)

Dina Titus

DC Office:
319 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-3805
Phone: (202) 225-3252
Fax: (202) 225-2185

Shelley Berkley

DC Office:
439 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4708
Phone: 202-225-5965
TollFree: 877-409-2488
Fax: 202-225-3119

Earlier in the Nevada Legislative session, BDR 746 was introduced that proposed moving adult education services to higher education. The Senate has filed a concurrent resolution (SCR22) that effectively continues adult education services in Nevada as they presently are relative only in terms of supervision. The funding of adult education is a totally separate issue and continues to be discussed in the legislature.

Please read the attached resolution. It contains valuable information for you and your students to know. It is complimentary of your efforts as adult educators in Nevada.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 22 (SCR22) (PDF)