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Who Can Democrats Trust About The Chicago Teachers Strike? by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | September 13, 2012
"So much for Democratic harmony," is the way Herold Meyerson chose to start his op-ed in The Washington Post analyzing the ramifications of the current Chicago teachers strike on the well being of the Democratic party. read more »In Chicago, A Democratic Civil War by Harold Meyerson, The Washington Post | September 12, 2012
So much for Democratic Party harmony. Just a few days after a convention that displayed the party as one big happy family, a civil war has erupted in Chicago between the Democrats’ disparate wings. Rahm Emanuel, the volatile, far-from-union-friendly mayor who is a mainstay of the national Democratic Party, and the almost-as-volatile Chicago local of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), itself a mainstay of the national Democratic Party, are at loggerheads over the future of Chicago’s schools and teachers. The school strike that began Monday should be an alarm bell in the night for Democrats everywhere. At stake in the conflict is not only the future of education reform but also the role of unions within the party and, by extension, the nation. read more »Progressive Breakfast by Isaiah J. Poole, OurFuture.org | September 12, 2012
MORNING MESSAGE: When It Comes to the DoJ and Wall Street, Don't Call It "Justice" read more »5 Facts You Need To Know About The Terrible State Of Chicago Schools by Zaid Jilani, boldprogressives.org | September 11, 2012
Chicago’s 29,000 public school teachers and support staff aren’t just on strike to defend their own wages and benefits. They’re also fighting for better schools for the communities they live in. Click here to learn about why Chicago’s teachers are on strike. Here’s five facts — from a well-researched early 2012 CTU report — that you need to know about the abominable state of the Chicago Public Schools system — facts that Mayor Rahm Emanuel would rather you didn’t know. read more »We Need Democrats To Act Like Democrats On Education by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | September 11, 2012
[My guest writer today is Cynthia Liu, PhD. Cynthia launched member-supported K12NewsNetwork.com to amplify grassroots education news and provide a national platform for people to use sophisticated online organizing tools to better improve and strengthen public schools. It's "MoveOn" for school communities. read more »Stand Against Rahm! by Rick Perlstein, salon.com | September 11, 2012
Chicago’s public schoolteachers are on strike against the city government and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. And while no one likes the budget crisis that forms the strike’s fiscal context, nor the fact that 350,000 students aren’t at school, much of Chicago is finding joy in the municipal impasse — which is why, anywhere within earshot of the schools where the Chicago Teachers Union’s 25,500 members are picketing in front of their workplaces, solidarity car horns are blasting away. Since Rahm Emanuel’s election in the spring of 2011, Chicago’s teachers have been asked to eat shit by a mayor obsessed with displaying to the universe his “toughness” — toughness with the working-class people that make the city tick; toughness with the protesters standing up to say “no”; but never, ever toughness with the vested interests, including anti-union charter school advocates, who poured $12 million into his coffers to elect him mayor. read more »Online Education's Lucrative Bottom Line by Sam Pizzigati, OurFuture.org | September 9, 2012
Corporate execs and billionaire ideologues are creating — at taxpayer expense — a network of schools where learning takes a back seat. And they've launched a political blitz to clear away any regulations that might stand in their way. read more »The Best Of The American Spirit? by Digby , OurFuture.org | September 6, 2012
Michelle Obama's speech last night got rave reviews. (If you didn't see it, you can watch it here.) It was a very well written and well-delivered speech, personal and yet political, subtly showing the differences between the Obama worldview and the Romney worldview. read more »The High Price Of Paying For College With Plastic by Catherine Ruetschlin, policyshop.net | September 6, 2012
Many Americans pay a lot more than the cost of student loans in order to attain a degree. Over the past year, as the nation’s student debt rolls hit $1 billion, policy makers, parents, and students took a hard look at the costs and benefits of a college education. But, as new data from the Demos household survey reveals, student loans are just the beginning of the story. Alongside the rising cost of education and simultaneous declines in need-based financial aid, households turned to credit cards as a means to finance their investment in a better economic future. Paying for college with plastic often means higher interest payments, rising debt burdens, and for some students, the inability to complete their degree under the strain of tightening household budgets. read more »Students, Beware: Private Student-Loan Companies Are Not Your Friends by Kay Steiger, The Nation | September 5, 2012
Once again, student-loan season is upon us. As a new class of freshmen ships off for a hopeful first year of college or trade school, many are as busy figuring out financial arrangements as lining up classes This year, as these students prepare to sign away their futures, they would do well to consider a report released by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). On July 20, the agency designed by Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren released “Private Student Loans,” a devastating expose of the $150 billion private student loan industry, one of the banking world’s Goliaths. The report is both an official account of private lenders’ underhanded “subprime-style” tactics as well as a sharp warning against taking out private loans that put students at risk of financial ruin. read more »
The Latest
Stimulus May Fund Summer School, Teacher Pay, Associated Press | April 24, 2009
Education Secretary Arne Duncan has some suggestions for how schools can spend their windfall from the economic stimulus law, including summer school and extra pay for teachers to coach struggling colleagues. The nation's schools will get an unprecedented amount of money — about $100 billion, double the amount of education spending under President George W. more »
Subsidized College Loans Under Fire In Congress, npr.org | April 21, 2009
With Congress back from a two-week break, lobbyists of all stripes will be going to work on President Obama's proposal to do away with federal subsidies for privately sourced student loans. Whatever happens now will not affect college loans for next fall. But in the longer term, the question is whether Washington ought to keep on subsidizing the private loans, something it has done since 1965. more »
Student Loan Industry Pushes Back, The Washington Post | April 14, 2009
With the Obama administration proposing to overhaul the programs a majority of American students use to finance their college education, the student loan industry is fighting back. more »
White House Reaches Out to D.C. Schools, Associated Press | April 13, 2009
District of Columbia students are a familiar sight at the White House since Barack Obama became president on Jan. 20. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the White House is reaching out to support the efforts of Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and schools superintendent Michelle Rhee, who are taking aggressive steps to turn around Washington's struggling schools. more »
Community Colleges Gain Importance, | April 12, 2009
In Pennsylvania, all 14 community colleges are offering or finalizing plans for tuition assistance to locals who've lost jobs. More than 1,000 people are already signed up, says Diane Bosak, executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges. more »
School Aid Doesn't Always Match Needs, iht.com | March 22, 2009
In pouring rivers of cash into U.S. states and school districts, Washington is using a tangle of well-worn government formulas, some of which benefit states that spend more per pupil, while others help states with large concentrations of poor students or simply channel money based on population. more »
More Career Switchers Become Educators, USA Today | March 22, 2009
Plenty of people dream of leaving their jobs to become teachers. Today, more people are actually doing it. These teachers, with real-life experience and often with deep knowledge of their subjects, are answering a call to service that is part of a strategy to dramatically boost the size and quality of the teaching workforce. more »
Teacher 'Performance Pay' Considered., Christian Science Monitor | March 18, 2009
Performance pay is one of several areas getting attention right now as education reformers zero in on high-quality teaching as the key to helping students learn. The thinking goes like this: It takes good teachers to improve student achievement, and it will take better pay to lure and keep good teachers. Critics, including many unions, point to several issues. more »
College Study Finds Two-Year 'Penalty', USA Today | March 17, 2009
Most workers who have a degree from a community college can earn more than a person who had no formal training after high school. And even if they never complete a two-year degree, students who attend some community college can get higher-paying jobs. But what if that student goes on to earn a bachelor's? more »
School Wrestle With Spending Stimulus Funds, Christian Science Monitor | March 17, 2009
At the heart of President Obama's historic $787 billion economic stimulus program is a tough choice for educators: Do states and local school districts use the $100 billion spike in federal aid to do new things for kids or mainly to backfill the status quo? The Obama administration is calling on schools to do both. more »
