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Teachers Aren’t The Problem by Paul Tough, salon.com | September 5, 2012
Liberals and conservatives differ sharply on what the government should do to aid families in poverty, but just about everyone agrees that it should do something. Helping to alleviate the impact of poverty and providing young people with opportunities to escape it: that has historically been one of the essential functions of any national government, right up there with building bridges and defending borders. But while Americans remain as committed as ever to helping their less fortunate neighbors succeed, something important has changed in the past few decades: what was once a noisy and impassioned national conversation about how best to combat poverty has faded almost to silence. It is not that poverty itself has disappeared. Far from it. Something else has happened in the past decade or so that also helps explain why the poverty debate disappeared: it merged with the education debate. read more »A Growing Problem for All Families: Student Loan Debt by Jessica Camacho, aflcio.org | August 23, 2012
As a low-income and first-generation college student in my family, the subject of student loans has been a matter of acute concern to me. High school counselors constantly told me that student loans are “good debt.” This type of information made it justifiable for peers in similar socioeconomic situations to borrow federal and private loans. But lenders take advantage of first-time borrowers by failing to explain in full detail future payment plans, which may cause individuals to be fiscally unprepared for post-graduate life. Current student debt trends must be fixed in order to stop setting up graduates for a lifetime of financial struggles. While the nation engages in debate about the country’s financial future, the topic of student debt must be recognized as an important issue and for its potentially crippling impact on the lives of young college graduates and as an effect of the strength of our economic recovery. read more »To End the Jobs Recession, Invest an Extra $20 Billion in Public Education by Salvatore Babones, inequality.org | August 22, 2012
Over the past three years, the economy has grown at an average rate of 2.2 percent per year. The economic recession is economic history. But the jobs recession is reality. The U.S. economy may have gained 2.7 million jobs over the past three years, but it still employs 4.8 million fewer people than it used to. Many of those lost jobs were in public education. Education employment fell by 306,000 in the three school years following the end of the recession in June 2009. It’s set to fall even further this year. If the economy is expanding and job creation is our top priority, why are local school districts laying people off? Governments at all levels are cutting back their investments in public education. The problem isn’t a lack of money. The problem is where the money is going. read more »School Choice Is the Tip of a Titanic Iceberg by Steve Nelson, Huffington Post | August 22, 2012
Today's SAT prep question (and answer): Ayn Rand:philosophy as Chuck E.Cheese:fine dining. Even at age 16, when I waded through Atlas Shrugged out of curiosity, I experienced her worldview as cartoonish, filled with absurd caricatures, and about as philosophically sophisticated as a Batman episode. Complex human issues cannot be effectively addressed by seeing the world in heroes and villains, black and white, absolute right and wrong. The direst threat to our national well-being is posed by the Romney/Ryan highly selective embrace of Ayn Rand's so-called philosophy. While avoiding her atheism and other inconvenient dimensions of her amateurish objectivism, the GOP ticket embodies the Randian notion of rugged individualism. This election may present the most profound political choice of our lifetime. Nowhere is this threat more acutely realized than in education. read more »Segregation, The Black-White Achievement Gap, And The Romneys by Richard Rothstein, epi.org | August 22, 2012
We cannot remedy the large racial achievement gaps in American education if we continue to close our eyes to the continued racial segregation of schools, owing primarily to the continued segregation of our neighborhoods. We pretend that this segregation is nobody’s fault in particular (we call it “de facto” segregation), and that therefore there is nothing we can or should do about it. Instead, we think that somehow we can devise reform programs that will create separate but equal education. One after another of these programs has failed — more teacher accountability and charter schools being only the latest — but we persist. The presidential campaign can be a reminder, though, of the opportunities we’ve missed and continue to miss. read more »Six Reasons Teachers Unions Are Good for Kids by Kristin Rawls, alternet.org | August 20, 2012
Once upon a time, labor unions enjoyed a fair amount of political legitimacy among both the public and political elites. Yet over the last three decades, the power of unions has decreased steadily -- especially as a result of the hostility to business regulation that characterized Reagan-era politics of the 1980s, and the anti-communist Cold War propaganda of the time that made the general public more suspicious than ever of labor activism. But if unions as a whole have taken a reputational hit over the last 30 years, teachers unions in particular have found themselves especially demonized. Yet by a number of important measures, there is no doubt that teachers unions continue to play a vital role in the health and well-being of our schools, the teachers who work in them and the children they serve. Here are six reasons teachers unions continue to be good for America’s kids. read more »Washington, Are You Listening? by Mattea Kramer, otherwords.org | August 20, 2012
Patrick Pylvainen grew up in a small town outside Minneapolis. The Minneostan college student has seven siblings, so he borrows money for his tuition. Now, those more affordable federal loans are in jeopardy. The cascade of federal budget cuts expected to begin in January would slash every single program the government classifies as "discretionary," including funding for education. That's heartbreaking, since public investment in education was a driving force behind historic U.S. prosperity. But this isn't how it has to be. One of the most heated debates this election season is what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Those tax cuts aren't often mentioned in the same breath as education funding, but they should be. That's because the Bush tax cuts siphon off money that could fund education and other crucial programs. read more »The Walmart Model for Education by Josh Eidelson, commondreams.org | August 16, 2012
The world’s largest private-sector employer and the country’s most prominent conservative entertainment company have teamed up to sponsor a fundraiser called “Teachers Rock.” Backed by Walmart and Anschutz Film Group, the August 14 event will feature live performances from musicians like Josh Groban and appearances from actresses like Viola Davis; it will be broadcast August 18 as a CBS special with messages from actresses like Meryl Streep. And it will promote the upcoming feature film Won’t Back Down, Anschutz’s entry in the “education reform” wars. Won’t Back Down is reportedly a highly sympathetic fictional portrayal of “parent trigger” laws, a major flashpoint in debates over education and collective bargaining. read more »Paying Off Student Debt With Social Security by Anna Pycior, policyshop.net | August 14, 2012
Social Security turned 77 today. Unfortunately, it's not a happy day for the historic program: new data compiled by the U.S. Treasury Department for Smart Money reports: "From January through August 6, the government reduced the size of roughly 115,000 retirees' Social Security checks on those grounds. That's nearly double the pace of the department's enforcement in 2011; it's up from around 60,000 cases in all of 2007 and just 6 cases in 2000." So, we're garnishing Social Security checks. This development can't be blamed on poor personal finance and bad life choices. Most of these retirees took on this debt later in life to help others (mainly family members) pay for increasingly expensive and necessary higher ed degrees. read more »The For-Profit Higher Education Industry, By the Numbers by Suevon Lee, propublica.org | August 9, 2012
The for-profit higher education industry was the target of a bruising report issued last week. Based on a two-year effort, the report detailed high rates of loan default, aggressive recruiting, higher than average tuition, low retention rates, and little job placement assistance. It was spearheaded by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, a longtime critic of the industry. The report has provoked some pushback. The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, a membership organization composed of accredited for-profit schools, issued a statement criticizing what it saw as "continued political attacks" on the for-profit sector. Saying the report "twists the facts to fit a narrative," it went on to challenge several figures. It didn't contest the following numbers. read more »
The Latest
Will The GOP Senators Whose States Face Thousands Of Teacher Layoffs Vote Against Teacher Funding? , wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | August 3, 2010
Today, the Senate will be taking a procedural vote on a bill providing $26 billion in aid to state and local governments, $10 billion of which is dedicated to preventing teacher layoffs. This particular batch of funding has been included in, and then cut from, multiple bills, as each time conservatives have objected. read more »
Senate Vote on Medicaid, Education Funds Delayed, thehill.com | August 3, 2010
The Senate tabled a jobs measure Monday because Democrats underestimated the package’s cost. Democrats had scheduled a vote to end debate on their proposal to send $10 billion in funding to states and local governments to prevent public teacher layoffs. The package contains another $16.1 billion to help states with Medicaid obligations.
Education Funds Out of Senate War Bill, Politico | July 23, 2010
The Senate sent back to the House Thursday night a stripped-down $59 billion war funding bill, after striking all of the added education assistance which Democrats had wanted to avert threatened teacher layoffs in the fall. read more »
American Graduates Finding Jobs in China, The New York Times | August 11, 2009
Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home. Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States. read more »
Teachers Could Earn More Under Obama Plan, USA Today | July 24, 2009
States that want a piece of the Obama administration's $4.35 billion Race to the Top Fund for schools must hew to internationally benchmarked academic standards and let schools pay teachers and principals more if they work in hard-to-staff schools — or if student scores improve on basic skills tests. read more »
Student Loan Measure Clears House Panel, The Washington Post | July 22, 2009
A bill that cleared a House committee would largely remove private lenders from the federal student loan industry, generating an estimated $87 billion savings over 10 years to fund more government grants and loans. read more »
Black-White Student Achievement Gap Persists, MSNBC News | July 15, 2009
Despite unprecedented efforts to improve minority achievement in the past decade, the gap between black and white students remains frustratingly wide, according to an Education Department report. There is good news in the report: Reading and math scores are improving for black students across the country. read more »
Obama Plans $12 Billion Boost To Community Colleges, USA Today | July 14, 2009
President Obama is expected to announce a $12 billion proposal today that will put the nation's community colleges front and center in his economic recovery plan. Among his goals: to modernize community college facilities, to increase the quality of online courses and to ensure that more students complete their programs. read more »
For Colleges, Small Cuts Add Up to Big Savings, The New York Times | June 19, 2009
College life may look different in the not-so-distant future: Students squinting out dirtier windows, faculty offices with full wastebaskets and no phones, sporting events in which opponents never meet, and paper course catalogs existing only as artifacts of the wasteful old days. read more »
School Systems Juggle Cost of Free Lunches, USA Today | June 11, 2009
School systems nationwide are trimming lunch menus, buying more food in bulk and delaying purchases of kitchen equipment to offset the costs of serving free or reduced-price lunches to millions of newly eligible students from cash-strapped families. read more »
