In 2016, Magnet Schools of America (MSA) gave Congressman Joe Courtney its inaugural Champion of Magnet School Excellence Award. Demonstrating his continued leadership, the Congressman recently led an effort on Capitol Hill to build additional support for federal magnet school funding by circulating an appropriations request letter among his colleagues. The letter seeks the authorized funding amount for the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) during the fiscal year of 2019.
The letter was sent to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on March 19. It was signed by 33 influential Members of Congress including the Ranking Member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, Bobby Scott; the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Cedric Richmond; several members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; STEAM Caucus; and Appropriations Committee.
This type of formal letter is used in the annual budget process to gauge congressional support for different federal education programs. Through in-person meetings with congressional leaders, MSA members and staff were able to secure signatories to this letter. We are proud to announce that all three recipients of our Champion of Magnet School Excellence Award were signatories, including this year’s awardee Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Please see the list below to see if your Member of Congress pledged their support for magnet schools this year.
| Adams | Davis, D. (IL) | Larson | Schiff |
| Bonamici | Espaillat | Lee | Scott (VA) |
| Capuano | Gonzalez | Lipinski | Slaughter |
| Castor | Grijalva | McEachin | Soto |
| Clarke | Hastings | Murphy | Titus |
| Cohen | Himes | Raskin | Wilson (SC) |
| Costa | Kelly, R. (IL) | Richmond | |
| Courtney | Krishnamoorthi | Ros-Lehtinen | |
| Curbelo | Larsen | Rush |
Raise the level of performance consistent throughout school districts nationwide and creates a platform from which all magnet schools can flourish. Magnet Schools of America’s national certification process is designed to recognize the hard work of the best magnet schools in the nation and to help them as they grow.
