Quality Education
Quality Education
Conservative policies gave us the false promise of "No Child Left Behind" and the national scandal of college students graduating with thousands of dollars of debt. The progressive alternative: Making world-class education from kindergarten through graduate school a top national priority. Instead of slogans, give public schools adequate resources, enable them to hire good teachers and let them set high standards. Offer college students who need financial support scholarships and low-interest government-backed loans. Give more financial support to universities and community colleges, knowing that doing so is an investment that will keep America globally competitive.
Blogs and Opinion
THE LATEST
BLOGS AND OPINION
Teacher Depreciation Week by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | May 11, 2012
Conservatives Again Risk Higher Student Debt To Protect The Wealthy by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | May 8, 2012
Tell The Senate To Act On Student Loan Debt by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | May 7, 2012
Free College? We Can Afford It. by Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Washington Post | May 1, 2012
What Makes Health-care And Education Costs Similar To Each Other — And Unlike Anything Else by Ezra Klein, The Washington Post | May 1, 2012
The Imperiled Promise of College by Frank Bruni, The New York Times | April 30, 2012
Voting Begins For This Year's Unsung Progressive Hero by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | April 27, 2012
URGENT: Call the House NOW and say "Vote NO" on the Sham Student Loan Bill by Roger Hickey , OurFuture.org | April 27, 2012
Making College Affordable by Rep. Charles Rangel, Huffington Post | April 27, 2012
Lower Student Loan Interest Rates by Sec. Arne Duncan, Huffington Post | April 27, 2012
Don’t Let Them Kill Student Loan Reform
March 11th, 2010
Something so simple, so easy: end tens of billions of dollars in bank subsidies to the private lending industry and return much of the savings back into the hand of students, with the Department of Education providing loans to students directly. A no-brainer right? Well reform may be a no-go, if six Senate Democrats have their way. more » Miller Harkin Act to Save Direct Lending
March 12th, 2010
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With word that Six Senators were expressing opposition to putting direct lending in the budget bill reconciliation -- which only requires sixty votes to pass the Senate -- Rep George Miller, Chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Tom Harkin, Chair of the Senate Education Committe, got to work. more » Pay Teachers More
March 14th, 2011
From the debates in Wisconsin and elsewhere about public sector unions, you might get the impression that we’re going bust because teachers are overpaid. That’s a pernicious fallacy. A basic educational challenge is not that teachers are raking it in, but that they are underpaid. If we want to compete with other countries, and chip away at poverty across America, then we need to pay teachers more so as to attract better people into the profession.
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The Last Obscenity: Will the Bank Lobby Succeed in Screwing Poor Kids?
March 11th, 2010
It is, as President Obama stated, a "no-brainer." Cut the $90 billion in subsides that go to banks to make risk-free student loans that are GUARANTEED BY THE GOVERNMENT, go to direct lending, and use the money saved to increase Pell grants and tuition tax credits for working families so more poor kids can afford college. $90 billion over 10 years isn't bubkas. more » Time to Reconcile Student Loan Reform
March 9th, 2010
If some members of Congress are going to stand with banks, instead of students, then why not pass student loan reform through reconciliation? Just like Americans and health care reform –students need relief now. It is time for Congress to act on behalf of students, and not banks. more » Bail Out Our Schools
March 8th, 2010
Any day now, the Obama administration will announce $4.35 billion in extra federal funds for under-performing public schools. That’s fine, but relative to the financial squeeze all the nation’s public schools now face it’s a cruel joke. The recession has ravaged state and local budgets, most of which aren’t allowed to run deficits. That’s meant major cuts in public schools and universities, and a giant future deficit in the education of our people.
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