October 31, 2023

AESA's newest advocacy resource, the State Examiner, covers four topics including Legislative Issue Monitoring, Statehouse News, National Reports, and Advocacy Tips. Check out October's edition!

AESA is led by a group of educational service agency leaders who are elected by region to serve on the AESA Executive Council. AESA's four regions are Eastern, Western, Southern, and Central. This year, the Central region has a bye. There are two candidates for the Eastern region, and two candidates for the Western Region.

Review the candidates biographies here.

Who can vote?
The CEO of a member organization that has a paid-in-full membership will receive a ballot for that organization to cast its vote. The election will be held by electronic ballot beginning Monday, December 11, 2023, and closing on Monday, January 8, 2024.

No election is necessary in the Southern Region!
Armando Aguirre, Texas, is the only candidate for the Southern Region: there is no election necessary. Therefore, Armando was appointed by the members of the executive council at its fall meeting.

The AESA Executive Council and AESA staff are grateful that these candidates have expressed their interest in representing each region. AESA thrives because of individual members who step forward to lead!

After a whirlwind-nearly three weeks without a leader, the House of Representatives elected Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) to serve as the chamber’s Speaker.  Lawmakers got back to work and approved a resolution saying the House “stands with Israel” and “condemns Hamas’ brutal war.” With a leader in position, the chamber is expected to pick up regular business. Looming large on the horizon: the quickly approaching November 17 deadline for the current continuing resolution. Congress will need to decide if they want a shutdown, another short-term extension, or to pass final appropriations bills.

Earlier in the week, the Senate announced a bipartisan agreement to proceed with amendment votes and final passage of the Senate FY24 appropriations minibus that includes Military Construction/Veterans' Affairs, Agriculture, and the Transportation/Housing and Urban Development bills.  The agreement includes dozens of amendments, so voting is expected to continue into next week. Our slice of the pie is NOT included, so we would either move in a separate package or get a short term CR. Senate-proposed funding levels are aligned with the funding caps established in the deal to raise the debt ceiling, whereas the House Republicans have advanced a budget for education that reduces investment to USED by 28% overall (including an 80% cut to Title I - more on their proposal here).  We will continue to update the you as we learn more.

President Biden followed up his request for supplemental aid to support Ukraine and Israel/Palestine with a request for funding for domestic priorities, a package totaling $56 billion, including funding for natural disasters, school disaster recovery efforts, childcare, and internet access. This domestic supplemental aid will take a backseat to the broader FY24 funding conversations as well as the foreign aid conversation.

AESA's Annual Conference is the not-to-miss event of the year for ESAs.  We especially don't want you to miss out on the group hotel rate.

Here's how to get the group rate: First register you and your team for the conference. Then, you will receive the hotel link in the confirmation email. Hurry - the deadline for the hotel rate is fast approaching!

The AESA Foundation will once again be conducting both a Silent and Live Auction at the AESA Annual Conference in Anaheim. The silent auction will begin when the Exhibit Hall opens on Wednesday afternoon, November 29, and will conclude with the live auction being held at the Members' Reception late Thursday afternoon, November 30.

The AESA Foundation hopes you will consider providing an item(s) for either the silent or live auctions.  To learn more about how to donate, please read this invitation from Foundation Chair Jerry Maze.

USAC is offering a series of online Webinar sessions for E-Rate program participants, including Tribal applicants. The one-hour webinars (from 2 - 3 p.m. ET) will be recorded and available on the USAC Webinars page.

Find the full list of available sessions and registration links in the Upcoming Trainings section of the E-Rate Webinars page. The slides and recordings will also be published on the Webinars page.

On-demand recordings of previous webinars and accompanying slides are also available.