The Moral Imperative to Tackle Higher Ed Reform

by Michael Dannenberg and Konrad Mugglestone Education reform advocates should recognize that extending their work to higher ed is a moral imperative that also happens to present a political opportunity.   Here’s a summary of our argument: Education reform will fail to deliver on its goals if we do not improve the quality of higher education

Robert F. Kennedy – ESEA Author and Progressive Proponent of Assessments and Accountability

by Charles Barone I distinctly remember waking up for school the morning of June 6th, 1968 and finding out that Robert F. Kennedy had been shot in Los Angeles just after midnight. My father was a Republican and my mother a Democrat, but they were both shocked and saddened by the news. I don’t remember

Democrats’ Epic Teacher Pay Proposal: How to Make It a Great Deal for Teachers and Students

by Charles Barone   This week, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced a new plan to take the tax cuts Congress gave away last year to the top 1% of all earners and repurpose the funds to boost teacher salaries. This is arguably the boldest K-12 education proposal we’ve

Progressive Higher Education Reform Now

by Michael Dannenberg When it comes to federal aid and accountability for results, progressive advocates should have three bottom line demands for the pending Higher Education Act (HEA) reauthorization: (1) A sizable federal-state partnership designed to support quality, “college promise” initiatives that leverages improvements in K-12 education, boosts on-time completion, and in turn, ensures sustained improvement in

Hill Briefing: Charter Facility Needs 2/26/18

Save The Date! Did you know that public charter schools serve more than 3 million students nationwide, but recent survey data showed that parents of as many as 5.5 million students would enroll them in a charter school if location and capacity were not an issue? Did you know that the inability to finance the

ESSA’s Financial “Sleeper Provision” Reminds Us ESSA is about Equity

By Dana Laurens   Round two of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan reviews is well underway at the U.S. Department of Education (ED), but one little known provision of the now not-so-new ESSA law has yet to be implemented. Beginning next school year, states are required to publicly report actual per-pupil spending

A Tax On Poor Schools

By Liam Kerr Three years ago, the Lawrence Massachusetts’ public school district welcomed President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Education to celebrate the impressive gains made in this largely state-funded school system. Now, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, and their brethren are working to put a new tax on funding schools in property-poor districts like Lawrence. Over

The Betsy DeVos Tax Cut

by Michael Dannenberg  President Trump wants the pending tax bill to be called the “Cut, Cut, Cut” Act, but it’s better described as “The Betsy DeVos Tax Cut” Act. At its heart, this tax plan is a giant giveaway to the super wealthy coupled with a cut in support for public schools and other services

CAP & ERN Team Up

  by Michael Dannenberg The Center for American Progress (CAP) and Education Reform Now (ERN) have teamed up on a take down of the Trump-DeVos-Congressional Republican education budget plan. The main points are there’s a not-so-stealth agenda to wind down federal support for public education via proposed direct cuts to federal education programs, cuts to

#HereToLearn, #HereToTeach

by Janette Martinez   After the Trump administration rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, we wrote that DACA’s rollback threatened an education and moral crisis, especially for students in higher education by worsening the college dropout rate. But DACA’s rollback also negatively impacts K-12 schools, and it hurts more than just undocumented K-12