New Jobs Bill Offers $23 Billion for Education

[proud2BlibKansan]

Don't know if this has been posted here. I looked but didn't see it. Anyhow found it interesting enough to post.

from Education Week

By Alyson Klein

Cash-strapped school districts hoping to avert layoffs could get a boost from legislation approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Dec. 16 that is intended to provide a jolt to the sluggish economy, in part by creating a $23 billion “education jobs fund.”

Districts and states could use the money to restore cuts to K-12 and higher education to cover the cost of compensation and benefits for teachers and other employees. The funds could also be used for services related to school modernization, renovation, and repair.

The money—which would be in addition to the infusion of up to $100 billion in education aid provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—would come from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, which was intended to help stabilize the banking industry.

The $154 billion measure, which redirects $75 billion in TARP funds to job creation, was approved on a vote of 217-212, with 38 Democrats joining all Republicans in opposing the legislation. The U.S. Senate may take up its own version of a jobs bill next month.

So I wonder if this is REALLY to save jobs and not to promote more idiotic testing, like the RTTT funds?

During floor debate, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, urged his colleagues to support the bill to stem a tidal wave of layoffs in school districts nationwide, which he said threatens recent gains in student achievement.

“All across this country, as the test scores are getting better and as proficiency is getting better among 4th graders and 8th graders ... this recession could wreck it all,” Rep. Miller said. “Rio Vista, Texas, laid off 15 percent of its teachers. Dearborn, Mich., just approved 200 teacher layoffs. The Unified School District laid off 2,000 teachers and maybe another 1,500 teachers next year. ... You can stop that from happening by voting for this legislation.”

As a measure of the importance of the education portion, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the speaker of the House, listed averting teacher layoffs as one of the primary purposes of the bill.

[FreakinDJ]

1. Great - another Pelosi Give Away

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7419597

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. How is saving teachers' jobs a giveaway?

[FreakinDJ]

9. Well being a teacher I'm sure you don't agree

Which I absolutely don't fault you 1 iota for

But the application of Green Tech would involve manufacturing, sales, engineering, installers, and the added beneficiaries all those jobs proceeds would also go to.

But most importantly it would envolve GROWTH - Economic Growth. Some thing maintaining teacher and police saleries has failed to do so far

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. Sorry I don't follow

How can maintaining teacher and police salaries impact economic growth? And don't we need public servants in spite of the presence or lack of economic growth?

I also don't understand why we have to choose Green Tech or teachers and cops. We should be promoting BOTH and not forcing them to compete.

[FreakinDJ]

19. They have already thrown $Billions at Teachers and Police

and yet we have not had the Growth to get the economy moving again. I don't see any incentive to continue down that path

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. They have?

Gee where was I?

LOL

[AdHocSolver]

24. Economic growth will occur only when manufacturing jobs are brought back to the U.S.

Keeping teachers and police employed will sustain the public service infrastructure and forestall the coming depression.

The problem with the economy is that practically all of the money spent in the private sector now flees to China, and the U.S. debt is growing geometrically.

The ONLY action that will prevent prolonged depression and economic stagnation is for the government to rescind the corporate written cartel agreements such as the WTO, NAFTA, Most Favored Nation trading status for low wage countries such as China. We need tariffs and import quotas on everyday goods such as clothing, shoes, books, toys, foodstuffs, tools, and electronics so that most of what we spend goes to provide jobs for Americans who are paid family-supporting wages.

Your statements in this thread shows that you lack any understanding of economics.

[tonysam]

13. "Green tech" is another load of b.s.

which creates few jobs. It's all hype.

[PVnRT]

22. Those industries require an educated workforce

[YvonneCa]

3. This is actually part of my reason for supporting...

...Obama and the Dems on education. There is a LOT they are doing wrong. But I also think...especially in states like California with all our economic woes...that the Dems are trying to financially keep public schools afloat. Even with all the cuts...and they have been MASSIVE...California would be cutting even MORE teachers' jobs without this money. The state would also have been unable to make pension payments to retired teachers without the federal financial support of the Obama administration.

That is why I am certain they (Obama and his people) value education, teachers, and the things unions fight for...even as they stupidly do some of the RTTT things and mistakenly think Klein and Rhee have it right. We teachers just need to be more vocal and active in reform. I am shocked every time I talk to teachers I know here in Ca. who don't know that the legislature just passed and Arnold just signed legislation to make us eligible for RTTT that ties student test scores to teacher evaluations and begins state-wide open enrollment as a step in closing under-performing schools. How can they not know????

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Teachers are clueless

Maybe it is the stress of the job? But I will never stop being amazed by the teachers who don't read a newspaper or watch the news on TV. It's absolutely mind boggling.

I am on my union's legislative committee and we are constantly trying to find ways to make teachers wake up and pat attention.

[Catshrink]

15. I agree -- too busy and too tired to pay attention and advocate.

I thought of a bumper sticker for the NEA to produce:

I'm a teacher and I vote

But who's aware enough to care enough to put it on their car or even get it? I'm so discouraged right now.

[tonysam]

8. It's not a mistake. Obama believes what Duncan believes

because they are BOTH neoliberals.

They support everything anathema to public education--their beliefs are right out of the GOP playbook.

[BadgerKid]

5. "other" employees ?

That must include administrators. :sarcasm:

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. Or cafeteria workers

[tonysam]

12. Bingo.

They need the money to take fancy trips to South America and Hawaii so they can brag about it on Facebook.

[donco6]

7. It won't help layoffs this year.

We have to give out non-renewals by April 11.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. We still have a couple hundred who were laid off last year

and we expect many more this year.

[Catshrink]

14. Our legislature said districts didn't have to notify by April whatever

that a teacher was being riffed. A smart district will let teachers know -- if a teacher isn't assured of a contract that teacher might start looking. What they've done is undermine the stability of the teacher workforce, which is the intent.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. They didn't lay off our teachers until JULY

In fact, we had a week long inservice in July for school leadership teams. And while we were at that inservice, some of the teachers in attendance were receiving layoff notices.

[donco6]

17. That's just unethical.

It's not like people don't know there are going to be layoffs, and the contract usually spells out who goes first. Why not just say so and give people a chance to look?

Grrrr . . .

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. It's par for the course

in a dysfunctional bureaucracy. And our district is quite dysfunctional.

[Catshrink]

21. Our legislature can't pass a budget

they are in the 5th special session over budget issues. The neoLibertarians refuse to raise taxes and want to make up the deficit with cuts. The moderates say it should be a mix and no one can get enough votes. So, they're selling state buildings to raise revenue and then leasing them back, closing parks, cutting off health care for poor kids, talking about privatizing the prisons, etc.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. In the state where I teach,

the repukelicans have proposed tax cuts for yoga lessons, storm shelters and guns and bullets.

But of course they are cutting the education budget.

In the state where I live, the GOP in my county met this weekend (at a hotel called 'The Ritz') and when one of the state reps said 'we're going to have to cut schools' the crowd APPLAUDED.