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Public Education Is A Labor Issue, Even If You Don't Care About Teachers by Laura Clawson, dailykos.com | July 9, 2012
This year's students are the workers of five or 10 or 15 years from now. There's an obvious statement for you, but it's one that is too rarely considered in discussions of education policy as hedge funders and corporate billionaires try to claim the mantle of doing what's right for kids, implying or saying straight out that teachers are too self-interested to represent kids and should be left out of the discussion altogether. The fundamental question is this: If you don't trust Wall Street or the Walton family to do what's in your best interest as an adult in the American workforce, why would you trust them to do what's in the best interest of the next generation of workers? read more »Doesn’t “Religion” Mean “Conservative Christian?” by Ed Kilgore, Washington Monthly | July 6, 2012
The ongoing fiasco of Bobby Jindal’s “let the parents decide” voucher program in Louisiana is finally beginning to get some national media attention, for the simple reason that its logic is carrying it in directions that horrify its strongest proponents and intended beneficiaries. So down plunges the Pelican State into the political and constitutional thicket of how to shovel money to conservative evangelical schools without looking too closely at what they are teaching, while at the same time keeping away schools that conservative evangelicals hate and fear. read more »Conservatives: Saving America's Youth From "Overeducation" by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | June 29, 2012
Now that our "do nothing" Congress is finally set to "do something" to stop interest on student loans from doubling, I think I’ve finally figured out what motivates conservatives on education in general, and conservative opposition to student loans in general. Conservatives are fighting to save our children - your children, my children, America’s children - from a fate worse than collective bargaining. Conservatives are fighting to save America’s youth from being "overeducated." Say what? "Overeducated"? What does that even mean? I used to think it meant having more education than available jobs require; like the students graduating off a cliff, into a market where most of the jobs being created are low wage jobs, as jobs in the middle of the income and skill spectrum are hollowed by the recession. In other words, I used to think "overeducated" was the flip-side of "underemployed." Then, Rush Limbaugh set me straight. read more »Public Education's 'Shock Doctrine Summer' Rolls Out, Part 2 by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | June 28, 2012
With the glow of high school graduations still lingering in many American families, and analysts predicting that an"economic recovery" is on the way, this is a time when you'd expect to start hearing more positive news about the state of US public education. You'd be wrong. read more »Conservatives to Students: Drop Dead! by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | June 25, 2012
Never mind "class warfare." Generational warfare continues apace, this time in the editorial pages of the Washington Post, which echoed the conservative message to young (and older) Americans struggling with student debt: Drop dead. read more »The Technocratization of Public Education by Prof. James F. Tracy, globalresearch.ca | June 18, 2012
In modern America the ability of working and middle class people to think for themselves and articulate ideas in opposition to a genetically, financially and demonstrably superior elite is not required. Discuss read more »Death and Student Debt by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | June 15, 2012
Collection agencies do not make condolence calls. I understand this, believe me. But there are certain events in life during which people deserve to be treated with more than standard human decency. (Yes, I realize I'm pretending that treating people with human decency is standard these days. Humor me.) A death in the family — especially the death of a child — is one of those times. Or at least it used to be. The story of Francisco Reynoso's struggle to pay off his dead son's student loans, while dealing with collection agencies in the midst of his grief, suggests that times are changing. And not for the better. read more »Democrats Must Oppose Republicans On Education by Jeff Bryant, OurFuture.org | June 15, 2012
A funny thing happened on the way to the news cycle the past two weeks when the issue of education -- specifically, public schoolteachers and student loan relief -- maintained a presence on the political stage. read more »Romney’s Educational Tax Raid by Ed Kilgore, Washington Monthly | June 13, 2012
I was remiss in not writing earlier about Mitt Romney’s big K-12 education initiative, which basically just involves taking all the existing federal money spent for this purpose and tossing it out there as a hand grenade designed for the destruction of public schools. While the Obama administration has committed itself (to its own political peril) to the standards-and-accountability movement aimed at using federal dollars to leverage measurable improvements in low-performing public schools—a movement once championed by Republicans—Romney is moving in the opposite direction, proposing to turn over all those highly conditional taxpayer dollars to parents for use however and wherever they want, with zero accountability for results other than via abstract market forces. The primary beneficiaries, of course, will be private schools that will pocket public subsidies and do whatever they choose. read more »Hey Mitt, Leave Our Teachers Alone by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | June 13, 2012
Yesterday was the last day of school for public school students in Montgomery County, Maryland, where we live — including our nine-year-old son, who just completed the third grade. I began the morning by sending a one last email to his teacher. I asked her about the summer reading and math packets we were expecting our son to bring. I also thanked her for all the work she'd done to help our son this year. As I thought about how much our son has grown and improved over the past year, and how very much the dedicated teachers and staff at his school had to do with those changes, I couldn't help being mystified at Mitt Romney's assertion that our children need fewer teachers. Mystified, that is, but not surprised. read more »
The Latest
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. 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. more »
Caps and Gowns Too Costly For Some Graduates, MSNBC News | May 22, 2009
Across the nation, school staffers privy to teen problems say more students are having a hard time footing the costs of graduation. From Florida and Texas to Indiana and California, education officials are soliciting donations, recycling old gowns and, in some cases, ponying up the money themselves. more »
Economic Slump Slows Down Summer Schools, npr.org | May 21, 2009
New GI Bill Could Open Education Doors For More Vets, | May 18, 2009
The new G.I. bill takes effect Aug. 1. The law, which could potentially more than double the amount covered in the current GI Bill, could open college doors to thousands of veterans, many of whom would not otherwise have considered college because of the expense. more »
House OKs $6.4 Billion To Make Schools Greener, CNN | May 15, 2009
The House on Thursday passed a $6.4 billion school modernization bill that would commit funds for the construction and update of more energy-efficient school buildings. The measure passed 275-155 in a largely party-line vote, and will now move to the Senate for further review. more »
College Graduates Stuggle to Repay Loans, USA Today | May 13, 2009
Thousands of college graduates are facing a student loan crisis. The job market is shrinking, and the sour economy is preventing employers, parents and relatives from helping those who are behind on payments. Student loan defaults are at their highest rate since 1998, and likely will go higher. more »
Obama Seeks to Turn Around 5,000 Schools, Associated Press | May 12, 2009
President Barack Obama intends to use $5 billion to prod local officials to close failing schools and reopen them with new teachers and principals. The goal is to turn around 5,000 failing schools in the next five years, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Monday, by beefing up funding for the federal school turnaround program created by the No Child Left Behind law. more »
Sallie Mae Flips on Subsidies, The Washington Post | May 11, 2009
For the past two decades, Sallie Mae has opposed every attempt to overhaul the $85-billion-a-year student loan industry by eliminating subsidies to lenders. But in a dramatic reversal, the lending behemoth now supports President Obama's efforts to kill the subsidies it has tried to protect for so long. more »
House Democrats Clear Budget Bill for Passage, The Washington Post | April 29, 2009
House Democrats resolved an internal squabble over a $3.5 trillion fiscal 2010 budget plan, clearing the way for final passage of the blueprint, to mark President Obama's 100th day in office. The blueprint preserves all of Obama's major domestic policy priorities while seeking to cut the deficit in half by 2012. more »
