Education this week

In keeping with my education focus thus far, I have opted to yet again find articles that focused on the politics of education. The first article that I have found is related to the governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley laying out a plan of action for the State Boardof Education on Tuesday. The article, that can be found in the Washington Post, discusses how he proposed to the Board that they completely change their teaching focus and methods of tracking students' results in order to keep up with the global competition. He thinks that Maryland, already a top-ranking state in education, can not afford to simply sit back and watch the world's educational systems get progressively better than ours.

In his first visit to the school board since becoming governor in 2007, O'Malley
(D) outlined a seven-point plan that included a greater focus on science,
technology, engineering and math courses; more emphasis on teacher and principal
recruitment and retention; and a new program for tracking student performance
from pre-kindergarten through the end of college.

I completely agree with his ideas. It is refreshing to hear that a governor wants to take such initiative in his state's educational system and is thinking on a global scale and not merely an educational scale, following only our nation's laws such as No Child Left Behind.

The second article that I found to be interesting this week was written today by the Associated Press and on YahooNews. The article discussed how a South Carolina school has gained a lot of public interest through politicians. Obama himself was able to visit J.V. Martin Junior High on one of his campaign trips. He has since mentioned it in many speeches and did so again last night. The school is falling apart because of peeling walls and piercing cries from a nearby train passing throughout the day. Some have even called the school "a hodgepodge of decrepit, decaying and unsafe facilities." While the article does comment that a congressional representative has consistently asked Obama for money for this school and no money has yet to be seen, the fact that the school was mentioned again gives me hope for Obama's goals to improve education. He actually read part of a letter one of the students had sent him about the school in his speech and she was invited to the White House. He stated that:

"When a child goes to a school that's crumbling, is it any wonder that she gets
a sense her education is not important?"

I think it is very important for a man such as the president who holds so much influence over our country whether we like it or not, to be so passionate about something as important as our children's education. I just hope that this school and others like it, that are often used by politicians to gain notability, do receive the funding that they so desperately need and are not merely left as deterirating examples.

The final article that caught my eye this week was again about part of Obama's speech last night. This article focused on Obama's call for 'competitive education'. He mentioned that he his education goals are linked to his effort to fix the economy. He stated that knowledge is the 'most valuable skill you can sell'. Again, I agree with Obama in this statement and not merely because I am a future teacher. Everyone understands just how important education has become, especially in these tough economic time. It is becoming increasingly more important to graduate college and even to go through and receive a master's degree to gain a decent job in today's society. This is proving just how important it is for every child at a very young age to realize and be taught the power of a good education. It is the job of the people in that child's society to provide that good education. I believe that Obama is working towards this and I desperately hope that America listens to him and works towards this goal as much as he is.

Now that the Stimulus has passed...

So now that the Stimulus plan is actually being put into law, as is shown by Obama's signing, where does education fall into all of this. While I am interested in the fact that the Bill is right now said to only help those families that bought more expensive houses knowing that they could not afford them, I am even more interested in what is going to directly effect me in a year and a half, probably even sooner than that. One of the most interesting articles that I was able to run across this week was an article written on 2/16 for the NY Times, entitled "For Education Chief, Stimulus Means Power, Money and Risk". The former chief of Chicago schools Arne Duncan, who is now the head of the Department of Education has a very risky but fortunate opportunity to distribute almost double the original budget allotted to help education immediately. He now has to budget out $100 billion in emergency aid to public schools and colleges across the country and tell the 50 states and their respective 14,000 school districts exactly how handle the money they are given.

The bill, which President Obama is expected to sign on Tuesday, doubles federal spending on disadvantaged and disabled children, includes hefty increases in the main federal college scholarship program and for Head Start, and, for the first time, makes billions in federal dollars available for school renovation.

It is so exciting to hear all that this Bill is going to be able to give to schools that our educational system has been lacking. However, some are scared that Mr. Duncan is going to wield too much power, specifically with a $54 billion stabilization fund which is intended to prevent public school layoffs. Mr. Duncan gets to decide which states specifically deserve the awards because they have set high standards and for narrowing achievement gaps. The fact that this amount of money has never been moved this quickly before towards education means that there is also more room for mistakes in spending it. I think that everyone has high hopes, but is kind of stepping back to see what the politicians actually do with the money.

The next article that interested me was actually not about education but more about Richard Burris's investigation about fundraising for his appointer Rod Blagojevich. I just found it very interesting that he has had three different admissions about whether he spoke to Blagojevich's people before being appointed. The article, from the Washington Post on 2/18, stated that:

Burris said he contacted "some people" about holding a fundraiser at the request of Blagojevich's brother, Robert, only to learn that no one was willing to help the governor. He said he later changed his mind, raised no money and contributed none.

I just find it to be very fishy that a man of Richard Burris's status as attorney governor, would let the media and federal government investigate him if he knew that he had already worked to help get Blagojevich money while still hoping to be appointed to the Senate. It is fairly obvious with three different versions of the same story, that he was up to no good. I do hope that the Senate investigators work hard to find out what actually happened.

Finally, there was also an article this week about Giorgio Armani giving $1 million to public schools in NYC specifically for the arts. I found it particularly interesting in thoughts about American politics because of the fact that the arts in school are what are taken out first in terms of funding. The arts are was keep schools and students well-balanced, especially in public schools where students that attend them are often the ones that can't afford to get that kind of training, whether it be in art, music, or chorus outside of school. I hope that this, along with other programs like Armani's, can prove to the government what good the arts are for our schools. This is even more important right now with schools being allotted so much money with the Stimulus Bill.

Stimulus Bill's Effect on Education

I have to say that it is highly inspiring as a future teacher, to notice that Obama's efforts for change in education are still being held high within the stimulus plan. In an article written by Sam Dillon for the New York Times on February 9th, he states that:

"The economic stimulus bill that is expected to win passage in the Senate on Tuesday would provide about $83 billion for child care, public schools and universities."

While this is significantly lower than the $150 billion that the House voted on, it is still a major increase. I personally feel as though any amount of money and attention spent on furthering the nation's childrens' education is well received by educators, parents, and children. I am glad that the House is campaigning to negotiate with Senate negotiators over the trimming of money for school renovation and for money that was going to allocated for a fund for the states. The fund was going to be set up to help states and school districts continue paying their employees as the tax revenue plummets in the recession. With the budget shortfalls that I know North Carolina has had to make recently, I am disappointed that the Senate has chosen to trim that part of the bill. However, hopefully the House negotiators can do their job in working with the Senate to see what can be done in turn with the money that they do pass.

Earlier in the week on the 6th, there was another article entitled "Desperate School Districts are Eager for Stimulus Money," which also discussed how important this money is going to be within school districts and just how desperate the districts in this country are getting during this terrible economic situation. This article, also in the NY Times, focused in on New Jersey school districts in particular, which like states across the country has had to make tremendous budget cuts. This article did discuss the bill as it was being proposed in the House of Representatives before it was sent to the Senate and trimmed. But it did state that New Jersey alone could reap the benefits of receiving nearly $900 million from the Stimulus bill that on the 6th was still in talks of reaching $900 billion in all. In reading this article, it was releaving to hear that a local House Representative from NJ had held a conference call with nearly 100 officials in the education scene in NJ.

The third article that interested me on this topic was found in the Washington Post and entitled "House, Senate Negotiators Reach Agreement on Stimulus." This was the main article of the page and it did say that the negotiators were successful in creating a balance of requests that leaves a plan with a cost of about $789 billion dollars. The middle ground that was reached creates more jobs than the original Senate bill and spends much less than the original House bill. I am so excited to hear that the Senate and House were able to negotiate their differences and still come up with a plan that will hopefully work to ensure a much more stable economy in our country.

However, House and Senate leaders had not negotiated every detail as of late this afternoon. There will be a final conference committee meeting and one of the main things that will be discussed are the differences on school construction funding that the House and White House wanted to pass and Senate did not. The bill that was presented this afternoon included nothing on school infrastructure. Apparently, the bill was expanded to include more state aid specifically for school renovations, but the House was still unsatisfied.

I think that some money should be added, however I believe that the House did ask for quite a bit. The fact that both parts of Congress are working together so well. While I was in D.C. for Winter Term, two of my favorite speakers were Bob Beckel and Cal Thomas who spoke of finding middle ground between parties. However, I think that it is just as important for the House and Senate to be able to work together in order to get the stimulus plan passed quickly.