Education Secretary Arne Duncan says the Race to the Top education reform competition is about recognizing excellence in educational improvements in the states. He says teachers “don’t go into education to make a million dollars,” and that the program is intended to highlight those school systems that are making a difference. (0:21)
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) believes that the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee’s version of health care reform legislation, which includes a public option, is right. (0:29)
Texas based Superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg talks about what the Broad Prize Scholarship, stressing that it is often time the only chance impoverished students have at receiving a substantial education. (0:22)
By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
While Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is certainly pleased over the strides made by many schools, he concedes that more needs to be done to improve education.
During an award ceremony Wednesday honoring Texas’ Aldine Independent School District (ASID), Duncan noted that only seven out 10 public school students finish high school, and that only one in four college students can do college work.
“This simply isn’t just a personal failure. It’s a national failure,” Duncan said.
An additional $100 billion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds has recently been allocated for education reform.
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation awarded the Aldine Independent School District (AISD) from outside Houston the 2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education. This award is the largest education award in the country, and the school district will receive $1 million in college scholarships.
Superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg Ed.D., accepted the award.
Aldine has shown some of the most consistent student achievement gains nationally in the last decade and has been recognized as one of the top five most improved urban American school systems in four of the last six years.
The four finalists were Broward County Public Schools in southern Florida; Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta; the Long Beach Unified School District in California; and the Socorro Independent School District in Texas. Each finalist will receive $250,000 in college scholarships.
Dr. Bamberg said Aldine is 84% economically disadvantaged, and have watched their college students and college participation numbers decline in the past few years. She said the scholarship is truly the only way students can further their education.
“When you see the conditions that our students live, and understand that they truly do live in poverty in some places, then this doesn’t just represent a scholarship opportunity, it doesn’t just represent four years at school, it represents a future and a complete change of life for that individual student and, in many cases, the family of that student,” Bamberg said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said excellence is what the Broad Award has always been about. She said the nation’s children success is essential to the success of the U.S.
“Those blessed with the most serve all of us,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi said that while a high school diploma may gain entry into the workforce, but a college degree is a ticket to higher wages, more job security and a brighter future.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says that colleges should focus more on making sure students leave with degrees. (0:41)
Congressman George Miller (D-CA) said Tuesday the House will consider an $87 billion piece of legislation aimed at making college more affordable.
“The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act … will allow us to invest $87 billion dollars to make college more affordable, to build a world class community college system, to improve opportunities for our youngest students to succeed and to pay down our deficit,” Miller said during a press conference.
According to Miller, the Act represents the single largest investment of federal college aid in history. Miller said it would give students more help in covering their tuition and expenses, including a historic investment in the Pell Grant Scholarship program, better opportunities to prepare for 21st century jobs and improved financial aid programs.
Miller stressed that Congress will be able to do this with no cost to the taxpayers by undertaking what he described as long overdue student loan reform.
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that improving education is essential to recovering the U.S. economy, adding that it will also improve the U.S.’ standing in the international community.
“People still think we do lead the world [in education]. That hasn’t been true for probably two and a half decades. We’re stagnated, we’re flat-lined and other countries have passed us by,” Duncan said.
“We’re not asking the taxpayers for one single dollar. We’re simply making the choice to stop subsidizing banks, to invest our young people back here,” Duncan added.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the President’s outlook of economic recovery had three pillars: education, healthcare and energy policy.
“This was in the context of a budget that was fiscally sound that we gave tax cuts to America’s middle class would reduce the deficit,” Pelosi said.
By Mariko Lamb-Talk Radio News Service
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty unveiled the Walker Jones Education Campus Tuesday, a new $50 million K-8 public school that is part of an eight year, $2 billion campaign to rebuild and modernize all schools in the sixth congressional district.
The 100,000 sq. ft. campus includes a 20,000 sq. ft. recreation center and a 5,000 sq. ft. library that will be open to the public during non-school hours. This campus is the first in D.C. to combine a school with a public library, recreation center, and athletic amenities.
“[Projects are being completed] on-time, on budget, and we get more out of these public projects than you’d see in any private sector buildings,” Fenty said during the opening ceremony.
The campus is part of what Fenty described as a “grander vision” to improve the Northwest #1 neighborhood near Capitol Hill, noting that the project created more than 150 jobs during its construction. The mayor ensured that he will “keep working to make sure those jobs keep going to neighbors around the projects.”
“So many great schools in our area are finally seeing the upgrade that they deserve,” he said. Although D.C. schools are “not all the way there,” Fenty said, “if you had to pick three school districts in the entire country that are headed in the right direction, according to any of the top critics, we would make everybody’s top three list.”
A July report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the unemployment rate for people without a high school diploma is 15.4%, high school graduates without a college degree is 9.4%, and those with a college degree is only 4.7%. “I can see why the president has made it a priority to try to get people to not just finish high school, but to finish at least a year of college,” says Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). (0:17)
“This legislation ends gender rating in insurance,” said Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md), praising the Affordable Health Services Act that passed through the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Wednesday for ending the apparent presence of gender discrimination in health care. (0:34)
By Mariko Lamb- Talk Radio News Service
Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) praised the Affordable Health Choices Act that passed through the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP) Wednesday.
“We’re not going to sit with the status quo. We’re moving ahead with healthcare reform,” said Senator Harkin.
“[The bill] offers to fix what is broken in our healthcare system without ruining that which works in our nation,” said Dodd. “It offers every American choice, stability, and lower costs.”
Although the bill passed through the committee with a 13-10 vote, not one Republican member voted in favor of the legislation. Regardless, Dodd praised the Republicans’ contribution to the markup of the bill, which includes 160 Republican added amendments. “I know that some of our Republican friends don’t want to admit their contribution, but they made good contributions to the bill, and we listened,” he said.
“Now is the time to rejoice on what we’ve done, but the battle must go on,” said Mikulski. HELP’s Affordable Health Choices Act is expected to be merged with a healthcare bill by the Senate Finance Committee, which is under pressure from President Obama to release its version as early as next week.
