As reported in Gadfly several weeks ago, Teach for America has feared for some time that it would be wounded by the drastic funding cuts for the national service program AmeriCorps. [See http://www.edexcellence.net/gadfly/issue.cfm?issue=3#47.] This week, TFA's fears were realized, as the alternative teacher program was notified that 2,700 of its 3,300 corps members would not receive the $4,725 AmeriCorps education awards that TFA members have always earned - a shortfall of close to $13 million. TFA has mobilized its alumni to flood Capitol Hill with letters in anticipation of a House-Senate conference this week to negotiate a $100 million supplemental appropriation for AmeriCorps, which passed the Senate but was not included by the House. A coalition of AmeriCorps supporters from the business community is being led by Gap, Inc., chairman Don Fisher, a longtime Teach for America supporter.
"Teach for America shut out of the AmeriCorps national funding awards," Teach for America press release, July 15, 2003
"Executives urge Bush to save AmeriCorps," by Christopher Lee, Washington Post, June 29, 2003