May 8 Coalition Letter to Congress supporting emergency funding to support professional development for educators during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

We write today in support of substantial investments in the next COVID-19 relief package that would support professional learning opportunities for K-12 educators on online education and other strategies necessary to support new ways of keeping learning going. In order to support student learning such an investment must meet the stringent criteria found in the Every Student Succeeds Act’s (ESSA) definition of professional development, that it be: sustained, intensive, collaborative, job-embedded and data-driven. We appreciate your leadership in ensuring that the CARES Act included immediate, short-term relief for the nation’s educational system, but believe Congress needs to make far greater investments to stabilize K-12 education in general and that a portion of that new funding should be directed to professional development specifically. Towards that end, we support the provision of at least $200 billion in additional funding for K-12 education through the existing Education Stabilization Fund, with at least $2.13 billion of that sum flowing to professional learning with a particular emphasis on delivering and developing educator skills in an online environment and other strategies to keep learning going. This specific sum equals the FY2020 appropriation for Title II-A of ESSA.