Hello School Library Advocates,

 Please sign the petition to contact your elected officials in Congress to pass the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act (CCCERA).

 Use this automated petition form supplied by EveryLibrary and SaveSchoolLibrarians.org: https://www.saveschoollibrarians.org/cccera_petition

In July, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), introduced the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act (CCCERA). As described by the Alliance for Excellent Education, CCCERA is "the largest proposed congressional relief package for education yet, totaling $430 billion. On top of the $30 billion already provided under the CARES Act, Senator Murray's bill would infuse an additional $345 billion in stabilization funding for higher education and K–12 schools. Like CARES, funds would be split between three emergency relief funds for Governors ($33 billion), state departments of education ($175 billion), and institutions of higher education ($132 billion). Funds could be used for a number of activities to help districts reopen safely and improve remote learning, in addition to addressing learning loss and students' social and emotional needs.  

Besides providing more stabilization funds, the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act improves on the CARES Act in key ways. First, it would increase funding for K–12 programs for historically underserved students, including an additional $11 billion each for Title I and for IDEA, $1 billion for English learners, and $500 million for homeless children and youth. Second, Senator Murray's bill includes the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020, which would provide $4 billion to schools through the E-rate program to improve home internet access. Finally, CCCERA has stronger protections to ensure funds are spent equitably. In order to receive funds, states would need to promise to maintain their own education spending for three years and to use funds to supplement, not supplant, state and local dollars. These requirements would help make sure federal funds do more than backfill state cuts."  

More details at https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/CCCERA%20Fact%20Sheet%20062920.pdf