As Congress approaches what is sure to be a contentious debate on spending for education programs, we are providing the attached letter template for you to consider using to convey your concern for a number of programs important to NCSS members.

The template outlines the council's broad concerns, although you should feel free to add detail related to your experiences with these programs and how they work at the school level. Lawmakers appreciate hearing how federal funds make a difference in schools.

As you finalize the content of your letter, complete the following:

• cite your affiliation in the first paragraph
• include your email/fax/phone number in the last paragraph
• add address information to the address block.

To complete the address block and finalize your letter, you can find information on your Senators and Representatives—who they are and how to contact them as follows:

For Members of the House of Representatives:

Visit www.house.gov and use the features at the top of the page to either find address information for your Representative or to enter your zip code to determine who your Representative is. Also, if your school is in a district other than where you live, feel free to send a letter to both Representatives. This page will direct you to the web site of the individual Member, and that site will have both address information so that you can complete that on the letter's address block, as well as a fax number for correspondence. (Since mail delivered to Capitol Hill is still subject to irradiation, faxing is the best way to correspond with your Members.) Complete the letter and fax away!

For Senators:

Visit www.senate.gov and use the feature in the upper right hand corner to find your state's senators. The results will give you office address information to complete the address block on the template letter, and web site information for you to determine the appropriate fax number for sending the letter to the office.

It is important for lawmakers to hear—repeatedly—how important these investments are!

Please send an electronic copy of your letters to NCSS staff at apost@ncss.org or fax to 301-588-2049 to Ana Post so we can gauge the impact of our advocacy.