Education in the US

Obama outlines plan to put higher education on rations

January 27, 2012

In a speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor Friday, President Obama outlined his proposed changes to federal college financial aid programs. Presented as a program for college affordability, Obama’s plan in fact sets the stage for further attacks on the right to quality higher education at a time when millions of students are drowning in debt.

Obama’s speech capped a three-day speaking tour following his State of the Union address in states that are considered key for his re-election campaign. The event had something of the character of a campaign rally, and Obama sought to put on his “populist” persona for the largely student audience. The substance of Obama’s remarks, however, revealed the enormous chasm between his administration’s policies and the needs and concerns of ordinary working people.

The speech followed the outline of the State of the Union address, and Obama argued that mass unemployment among young people, including college graduates, would be addressed by his efforts to revive manufacturing. This strategy is based on the attempt to massively reduce the wages and benefits of workers in order to boost corporate profits. (See, “The State of the Union address”)

Police repress protest against tuition hikes at UC Riverside

January 23, 2012

On January 19, over 800 students at the University of California, Riverside were met by 200 police as they demonstrated outside a regents meeting. The university officials were discussing plans for another hike in tuition in response to cuts imposed by Democratic Party Governor Jerry Brown.

Students chanted “peaceful protest” while confronted by campus police officers in riot gear and with batons. Students and workers attempted to participate in a sit-down demonstration like those who were brutally attacked at UC Davis on November 18th. (Video of the conflict at UC Riverside can be seen here).

Towards the end of the video one can hear the sound of projectiles being fired, which participants said were paint-filled pellets. An image of one person’s injuries can be seen here.

Two people were arrested in the protests and charged with assaulting a police officer, one by using a handheld sign.

Administration and authorities alike sought to justify the police action by noting the entry of 18 protesters into the meeting room. Participants engaged in a nonviolent sit-in as they attempted to hold their own assembly. Eventually the regents were escorted out of the room into another one and were later spirited from the meeting under police escort.

Washington state schools, teachers under fire

January 20, 2012

The push for charter schools in Washington started in earnest with the reconvening of the state legislature.

Initiatives to allow charter schools in Washington have been voted down by the public three times in the last two decades—the last time in 2004. The bipartisan proposal to bring charter schools up for a vote within the legislature—thus avoiding a public vote—comes in the wake of the state Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month that Washington is in violation of the state constitution’s Article IX, Section 1, which states, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.”

Proposed by Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle) and Sen. Steve Litzow (R-Mercer Island), House bill 2428 would allow charters into the state for the first time and set up a statewide “transformation zone district” to oversee the implementation thereof. Section 101,6 also opens up the possibility of current public schools being converted to charter schools. In such cases, the charter schools would be “entitled to the rent-free use of its existing facility,” with the school district responsible for its general maintenance.

Michigan gives green light for charter school expansion

January 17, 2012

In another broadside attack on public education, Republican Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed Senate Bill 618 into law last month lifting a 150-school cap on university-sponsored charter schools. The measure, now Public Act 277, provides for an increase in the state’s 225 charter schools to 300 in 2012, 500 in 2014, with no limit thereafter.

The measure is in line with the policy advocated by President Obama and his Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who have called for states to eliminate charter school caps in the interest of “cost efficiency” and Race To The Top (RTTT) financing. States that have not facilitated the expansion of charter schools have been penalized in RTTT applications and denied critical funding.

Michigan has the most for-profit charter schools in the nation, with almost a quarter of the nation’s total. While the preponderance of charter students nationally attend nonprofits, in Michigan more than 85 percent are attending for-profits, according to a new report from Dr. Gary Miron, Western Michigan University education expert.

LA schools agreement to give unions greater role in imposing cuts

January 10, 2012

On December 15, the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) passed an agreement with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) that will bypass traditional job protections in the name of giving more autonomy to local schools.

The measure was passed by 70 percent of voting union members. However, with over 16,000 of the union’s 35,600 members abstaining, only 38 percent of the membership actually voted in favor of the deal.

The agreement, known as the “School Stabilization and Empowerment Initiative,” replaces the previous “Public School Choice Initiative,” which had allowed private companies and outside operators to convert new or existing schools to charters. Instead, the new initiative allows only in-district applicants to assume control, with UTLA serving as an administrative adviser.

The effect of the program will be to largely internalize into the public school system the attack on teachers currently allowed in charter schools, with the union—which has already been involved in charter operations—playing a critical role.

New York’s Cooper Union announces plans to charge tuition

December 8, 2011

One of America’s last remaining tuition-free universities, New York City’s Cooper Union, has announced plans to change its policy and begin charging its 900-member student body to attend classes.

Admissions to the art and engineering institution is highly sought after, not in the least due to the full tuition scholarship of $35,000 per year that is awarded to all undergraduate students. Founded upon the principle that education should be accessible to all regardless of means, Cooper Union has maintained a free tuition policy for over 100 years.

For now, Cooper Union stands alone in New York, and with just a couple exceptions, throughout the entire country, in providing a high quality college education free of tuition for all its students. This has not always been the case, as the working class had scored important victories during the post-war decades in opening up access to higher education. As recently as 1975, New York City provided free college education to the largely working class student body in the City University (CUNY) system.

Students protest tuition hikes and police violence at UC Davis

November 28, 2011

Several hundred students at the University of California, Davis participated in protests on Monday in opposition to tuition increases and the pepper spraying of peaceful protesters earlier this month.

Students on campus have set up an Occupy encampment to protest social inequality and spiraling tuition, including plans by the UC Regents to increase fees by as much as 81 percent over four years. The average annual tuition is already $13,181, twice what it was five years ago. Many working-class students are simply being priced out of a quality college education.

The attack on public education is now being overseen by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, who, together with the state legislature, has overseen a new round of punishing austerity measures in the most recent budget.

On Monday, the UC Regents met to discuss plans for further tuition hikes. In an effort to avoid protests, the meeting was held at four different locations, coordinated by teleconference. At the last minute, the principal regents members due to attend the component in Davis did not arrive, citing supposed security concerns.

California students face unending tuition hikes

November 20, 2011

On November 16, California State University trustees meeting at California State University, Long Beach approved a 9 percent increase in tuition and fees. Students, furious at another round of increases, confronted the trustees and forced them to reconvene at an alternate site, where they passed the fee hike.

The increase of $498 will bring student costs to $5,970 per year. If one were to include the average campus fees of $1,047, the total, not including books or housing, rises to $7,017. The California State system has 412,000 students. Last year, the University lost some 10,000 students who could no longer afford to attend, and there is no end to fee hikes in sight.

College students across California can expect their tuition to continue rising. After years of budget cuts, the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU) and community college systems raised their tuition by an average of 21 percent this year, and they are already planning more for next year.

As part of the proposal, the trustees included a request that the state increase CSU funding by $397 million next year in order to prevent the tuition hike. This is nothing but wishful thinking as California’s revenues have continued to decline.

Obama extends educational “competition” to preschoolers

November 10, 2011

The Obama administration is pressing ahead with its reactionary agenda of restructuring public education in order to slash billions in federal spending and tailor the school system directly to the needs of corporate America. Echoing the “free market” mantra of the Republicans, the president and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, are using their control of federal funding to compel public schools and now even pre-kindergarten programs to compete for desperately needed money.

Earlier this week, the president extended his plan to include Head Start, the pre-school program run by the Department of Health and Human Services, which began during the “War on Poverty” era in 1965. Head Start centers across the country, which serve about 900,000 largely low-income students per year, have long been praised for providing critical resources for poor preschoolers.

Instead of having their funding renewed automatically, “for the first time in history,” Head Start centers would have to compete for funds, Obama announced in a public appearance at the Yeadon Regional Head Start center in Pennsylvania Tuesday morning. “We’re not just gonna put money into programs that don’t work,” Obama declared.

Obama offers a drop in the bucket for student loan crisis

October 26, 2011

President Obama announced the latest in a series of empty gestures in response to the impact of the economic slump on working people, telling an audience of college students at a rally Wednesday in Denver he would issue an executive order extending more favorable repayment terms for some federal student loans.

The Denver rally was the latest in what might be described as Obama’s scam-a-day campaign swing through the western United States, during which executive actions announced with maximum fanfare and populist demagogy (three) have been outnumbered by fundraising appearances before audiences of multimillionaires (six).

Each of the announcements has dealt with a massive social problem—the housing mortgage crisis, the jobs crisis, the student loan crisis—by offering a drop in the bucket, then grossly exaggerating the significance of the action using the media spotlight.

For the 17 million families who are either in foreclosure or under water on their home mortgages, Obama offered a plan that would encourage banks to forgive a few thousand dollars a year in repayments, on a purely voluntary basis, helping only a tiny fraction of those at risk of losing their homes.