Teaching American History Grant Program Funding Update

It is a critical time for us to act to save the Teaching American History Grant program. The 2012 federal budget is still in a state of flux. By May 20th, House members must have submitted to their chairman and the ranking members on the subcommittee that writes the education budget a list of programs that they want funded for 2012.

Those leaders are Rep. DeLauro--Dem from 3rd district of Connecticut and Rep Rehberg--Repub. at large from Montana.

This is a critical moment as we must approach ALL House members to get them to advise their respective leadership -Rep. Rehberg and Rep. DeLauro- that TAH needs to be funded at least to the 2011 level of $47 million.

The entire program is vulnerable again to elimination. A strong message to the House leadership about the program is critical.

Therefore, we need you to either call or email your House members about this issue. The key messages are this:

1) The Teaching American History grant program is the only federally funded program (NOT AN EARMARK) to provide professional development for history educators.

2) TAH has had an economic impact in every state (please contact me if you need specifics about your state from a dollar perspective). That translates into jobs and local revenues where grants are funded and programs occur.

We recommend that you make your appeal personal. Convey in your email or to the staffer about why this program is important to you, to teachers of history, and so forth.

The deadline is May 20th for all the legislators to report back to their respective budget leaders about programs they care about. Lets make sure they care about keeping TAH alive and funded!