NEF Chairman’s Message to All 50 State QZAB Directors on 9/11/17

NEF Chairman’s Message to All 50 State QZAB Directors on 9/11/17

September 11, 2017

Re: QZAB Update: Beware of Fake QZAB Match & Fake QZAB Academies

Dear State QZAB Director,

As you may know, the Trump Administration is not in favor of extending QZAB.

So, we had a series of discussions with key Congressional leaders explaining the benefits of QZAB, especially in view of the recent hurricanes in TX and FL. They are willing to renew QZAB under 3 conditions:

• NEF, our Foundation, the national non-profit leader in QZAB and STEM education, and our QZAB Academy partner SUNY (State University of New York), the largest U.S. university, must set aside $40 million annually to meet the QZAB Match mandate legitimately, meeting the 3 IRS requirements- match documented to be below fair market value, relevant to the QZAB Academy, and without using discounts.
• The QZAB Academy must be set up with the assistance of an accredited university, and the required Academy education plan, certified by the university and attached to the QZAB application “must specify how many students will be in the Academy, how they will be trained in which academic areas using what resources, when the Academy program will be implemented, who will direct the implementation and evaluation (pre- and post-tests), and how the evaluation (pre- and post-tests) will be accomplished.” The best way to accomplish this easily is to include the above statement in your QZAB Application as FLORIDA and some other states have already done.
• Most of the $380 million QZAB allocations currently available must be issued by November 30, 2017 meeting the above 2 QZAB Match and QZAB Academy conditions.

Congress is very concerned that U.S. is outsourcing 8 million STEM (Science. Technology, Engineering, Math) jobs annually, and would like LEAs to focus on “preparing the students better for college and the rigors of the workforce,” with emphasis on STEM in the QZAB Academy mandated by the QZAB law. Remember, a high school graduate with STEM skills will make $2 million more than one without STEM skills in his/her lifetime.

Let us make sure that the “A” in QZAB stands for an effective QZAB Academy, and not a fake Academy with fake Match, offered by some unscrupulous entities, who seem to have no interest in “preparing our students better for college and workforce”, as mandated by the QZAB law. Let us NOT shortchange our students at this critical time in our nation’s history!

NEF and SUNY can meet the first 2 Match and Academy conditions above, as we have done for years. But we need your help to meet condition 3 above. So, please let us know of any LEAs in your state interested in QZAB. We can provide them the QZAB Match and QZAB Academy fully meeting the QZAB law mandates.

Working together, we CAN help your LEAs get QZAB funds, and more-importantly help “prepare students better for college and workforce,” as mandated by the QZAB law—our Mission!

I will keep you posted on the progress of the QZAB Extension discussions with Congress. Please feel free to call me with any questions. Have a great day!