[Arizona-students] Fact Sheet for upcoming NFB rally May 26 in DC

[David Andrews]

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><<FACT SHEET, Dept of Edn Rally May 26.doc>> 
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>Fact Sheet:  Department of Education Planning to Dismantle RSA
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>Prepared by the National Federation of the Blind (April 25, 2005)
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>Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and her staff at ED have failed to listen to their experienced career employees, to the trade organizations of the agencies with which it partners, and, most importantly, to the consumers that it serves.  The devaluing of persons with disabilities is prominently evident in the following actions of the Department of Education under the Bush Administration, as ED is now planning to systematically dismantle Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the single most important program in history for persons with disabilities.  ED explains this under the guise of updating programs and saving money by consolidating services, especially employment services, in one place.   The current Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program is NOT just a job placement service, but a comprehensive rehabilitation program that changes people’s lives. It prepares people for work and for independent living.
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>The ED proposal would: 
>·       Cut the number of RSA staff persons in half by closing the regional offices that provide support, assistance, and oversight to state VR agencies and grantees; 
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>·       Unilaterally direct these major staff cuts at RSA; ·       Eliminate 43% of the sixty-five positions-all 43% are held by persons with disabilities. ·       Promote WIA Plus super waiver authority which effectively allows Governors to consolidate programs;  ·       Allow governors, under WIA Plus super waiver authority, to raid the funding of the VR program to provide support for a struggling Workforce Investment System of One-Stop Centers, many of which are not programmatically or physically accessible;
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>·       “Consolidate” all job placement under One-Stop Centers which lack the expertise to provide the comprehensive and specialized services needed by persons with disabilities in order to go to work;
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>·       Consolidate and reorganize RSA to dissolve specialized services for the blind; and ·        Downgrade the position of the “Commissioner” of RSA (a presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate) to that of “director” of RSA, despite the nationwide protests by persons with disabilities who have advocated for an increased profile within ED.
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>People with disabilities have worked too hard to build a successful partnership with the federal government for a handful of powerful and misguided individuals to tear it down for their own purposes.  Rest assured that we will not stand silent on these assaults.  
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>Join us May 26 for a peaceful but determined rally in front of the ED, 400 Maryland Avenue, Southwest, Washington, DC, from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM.  (Preliminaries begin 9:30 AM behind the ED at the Holiday Inn Capitol, 550 C Street, Southwest.)
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>Call, Email, or Fax a letter to Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and send a copy to your elected officials in the Congress. 
>·       Email Margaret.Spellings at ed.gov <<mailto:Margaret.Spellings at ed.gov>mailto:Margaret.Spellings at ed.gov>, and her secretary, Christina.Wilson at ed.gov <<mailto:Christina.Wilson at ed.gov>mailto:Christina.Wilson at ed.gov>.  ·       Or Fax Secretary Spellings:  (202) 401-0596.   ·       Call Secretary Spellings: (202) 401-3000. 
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>Get personal.  Tell Secretary Spellings how the proposed changes would negatively affect your life and the lives of other persons with disabilities.  Tell her it is proper that “No Child Is Left Behind,” but tell her, “You are leaving US behind!”
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>For more information: call the Rally Coordinator at (410) 659-9314, 
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>or email to nfb at nfb.org <<mailto:nfb at nfb.org>mailto:nfb at nfb.org>, Subject line: ED Rally May 26.
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