Senate health bill restores abstinence-only education funding.
Senate health bill restores abstinence-only education funding.
President Obama’s FY2010 budget eliminated funding for abstinence-only education and school districts are increasingly moving away from such programs because they have proven to be ineffective at reducing teen pregnancy. However, Newsweek reports that the recently released Senate health care bill restores some funding for abstinence-only programs, inserted by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), which seems to be “a slight concession to the Senate’s social conservatives”:
Their provision would restore a program called Title V, which, since the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, has allocated a yearly $50 million in grants to abstinence-only education programs. Obama let the program lapse in June, leaving some abstinence-only groups in dire straits. So in September, Sen. Orrin Hatch offered an amendment to restore Title V via heath-care reform, which (much to the outrage of liberal groups) just squeaked through the Senate Finance Committee with a 12–11 vote. A similar amendment, offered in the House by Rep. Terry Lee from Nebraska, died in committee.
If the Senate language survives reconciliation, the Title V program will be extended through 2014. This will not, however, bring abstinence funding back to the levels of the past decade. In 2008, Title V grants accounted for just under 25 percent of the federal abstinence budget (the rest of the budget came from other abstinence-only funding sources not restored in the Senate bill, including Community Based Abstinence Education Grants and the Adolescent Family Life Act).
Funding for comprehensive sex education is also in the bill. Sec. 2953 also provides “$75 million per year through FY2014 for Personal Responsibility Education grants to States for programs to educate adolescents on both abstinence and contraception for prevention of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.”
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Westboro Baptist Church Organizes Homophobic Anti-Obama Protest Outside Sasha And Malia’s School
Westboro Baptist Church Organizes Homophobic Anti-Obama Protest Outside Sasha And Malia’s School
Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group that goes around the country staging anti-gay rallies at some of the most inappropriate places (e.g. the funerals of former White House press secretary Tony Snow, victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and U.S. troops) with messages like “Thank God For AIDS” and “God Hates Fags.”
This week, they’re bringing their hateful message to children in Washington, DC, planning pickets at a handful of local schools. This morning, they showed up outside of Sidwell Friends, the school that Sasha and Malia Obama attend. On Twitter, Megan Phelps-Roper — one of Fred Phelps’ grandchildren — posted a picture of the protest:
Washington Post education reporter Michael Birnbaum said that he spent the morning at the protest, and MSNBC host David Shuster wrote, “Hopefully, some of the more rational conservatives/republicans will condemn this stuff today. It was beyond the pale.” ThinkProgress contacted Sidwell for more details on the protest and are awaiting a response.
In the past, extreme anti-choice activist Randall Terry has also targeted the Obama children’s school, saying, “We will continue to show images of aborted babies at high schools, no matter what the cost.”
‘Let’s Learn About Coal’: Industry Front Group Distributes Coloring Book On The ‘Advantages’ Of Coal
‘Let’s Learn About Coal’: Industry Front Group Distributes Coloring Book On The ‘Advantages’ Of Coal
Friends of Coal (FOC) is a front group created by the West Virginia Coal Association. Its mission is to “inform and educate West Virginia citizens about the coal industry” and “provide a united voice” for the industry. To make dirty coal seem appealing, FOC has sponsored or initiated license plates, football games, basketball practices, plane jumps, fishing events, and scholarships.
FOC is now selling coal to children. ThinkProgress obtained the “Let’s Learn About Coal” coloring book, which asks children to unscramble statements about the “advantages” of coal, such as “Than coal other cheaper is fuels” (”Coal is cheaper than other fuels”). Kids also learn that coal is “important” and “provides jobs for lots of people!”:
The FOC Ladies Auxiliary has been handing the coloring book out to children around West Virginia as part of a “Coal in the Classroom” campaign. Coal officials go into schools and give presentations about the importance of coal. “We’d really like this to be statewide, that it be mandatory in the schools that they learn about coal,” said FOC ladies auxiliary president Regina Fairchild in January. The ladies auxiliary is also recruiting members for its “junior” FOC group, open to “girls and boys ages 8 to 16.”
Additionally, FOC ladies auxiliary members have visited children in West Virginia hospitals to give them a “special present“: Mr. Coal, “a small, black Labrador stuffed puppy meant to bring a smile to kids’ faces during hospital stays.” (Coal pollution kills 24,000 Americans each year.)
Last year, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), another industry front group, also tried to make coal seem warm and fuzzy by creating the “coal carolers” — illustrated lumps of coal singing Christmas carols whose altered lyrics praised coal power. After widespread scorn, ACCCE took down the carolers. Find out more on what coal is really doing to Appalachia at Appalachian Voices.
Scholastic backtracks on demand that author change book’s lesbian parents to a heterosexual couple.
Scholastic backtracks on demand that author change book’s lesbian parents to a heterosexual couple.
Lauren Myracle’s new book “Luv Ya Bunches” focuses on four girls and is meant to depict the “the lasting friendships” that blossom out of “the shifting alliances and rivalries that shape school days.” But Scholastic, the world’s largest publisher of children’s books, initially refused to carry “Luv Ya Bunches” because one of the characters had lesbian parents:
The company sent a letter to Myracle’s editor asking the author to omit certain words such as “geez,” “crap,” “sucks,” and “God” (as in, “oh my God”) and to alter its plotline to include a heterosexual couple. Myracle agreed to get rid of the offensive language “with the goal—as always—of making the book as available to as many readers as possible,” but the deal breaker was changing Milla’s two moms.
“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents.
Change.org reports that after thousands of people contacted Scholastic to complain, the publisher has decided to offer the book in its spring book fairs. “Over 200,000 kids in America are raised by same-sex parents. … It’s not an issue to clean up or hide away,” said Myracle. Read Scholastic’s statement here.
University Of Kentucky Approves New $7 Million Industry-Funded Dorm Named After ‘Coal’
University Of Kentucky Approves New $7 Million Industry-Funded Dorm Named After ‘Coal’
A group led by Alliance Coal CEO Joseph Craft recently proposed donating $7 million to the University of Kentucky for a new dorm for the men’s basketball team. The catch, however, is that the dorm would have to be named after Craft’s true love: coal. The proposed change sparked intense protests from local environmentalists and students. One professor said that as universities become “models for new energy sources,” putting “coal” on a prominent building could “make it difficult to attract top students and faculty members to the university.” Last night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation, discussed the controversy. Watch it:
This afternoon, the University of Kentucky Board of Trustees voted 16-3 to approve the proposal for the new dorm, which will be named the “Wildcat Coal Lodge.” Significantly, two of the “no” votes were from faculty representative Ernie Yanarella and Student Government President Ryan Smith, who said he opposed the motion “as a voice for the student body.”
Students in the audience were reportedly not allowed to speak at the meeting. After the vote, people began chanting, “Move forward, not backward,” forcing the trustees to temporarily recess. More on the events at the meeting:
The vote set off shouts from about 30 protesters, mostly students, who attended the meeting.
“Big Coal is about to go down, and the university’s going down with them,” said Cor de Jong, who described himself as “a Lexingtonian and a basketball fan.”
A statement from students was passed out to board members moments before the vote. “They did not read our statement,” said Katie Goldey, a senior majoring in international studies. “They weren’t even given a chance to read it.”
Ironically, because the building costs more than $5 million, it is required to “meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards.”
The coal industry has been taking a greater “public role” in the University of Kentucky lately. While Craft has already donated millions of dollars and has a basketball practice facility named in his honor, this is the first time that coal is being specifically recognized. Last weekend, however, there was a “students only” basketball practice “sponsored by Joe Craft and the Friends of Coal.”
The battle over America’s clean energy future is increasingly being fought on college campuses. As Greenwire reported recently, environmentalists are turning to student activists to get the word out about dirty coal, while American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity — the coal industry’s biggest lobbying group — “spent the summer sending activists to 264 cities in eight states, where they attended community events and visited college campuses.” More here and here on efforts to get dirty coal off U.S. campuses.
Right Wing Activist Launches College Social Networking Site To ‘Smash Left-Wing Scum’ On Campus
Right Wing Activist Launches College Social Networking Site To ‘Smash Left-Wing Scum’ On Campus
Campus Progress reports that Morton Blackwell, founder of the right-wing young adult organization, the Leadership Institute (LI), has launched a new social-networking site for young conservatives called CampusReform. The purpose of the site is to expose “bias” in universities “completely dominated by the left” and give students a forum to report and organize against professors perceived as abusive leftists. Blackwell described the motivation behind his ambitous project to the American Prospect:
“I have had a long-term awareness of how the campuses have become left-wing indoctrination centers, and many, many students can go their entire college educations and never see any representations of conservative principles on their campuses — but they see innumerable amounts of propaganda both in campus curriculum and with speakers and in campus newspapers. It has always bugged me that conservatives have not done likewise.”
In other words, CampusReform’s young conservatives want to “smash left-wing scum,” as Tony Listi, a graduate of Texas A&M, wrote on the site. There is a CampusReform subsite for each of the 2,376 four-year colleges in the US which contains a blog, event listings, membership roster, and “access to a variety of powerful weapons to identify, expose, and combat leftist abuses on campus.” Those weapons consist of a system which allows students to review “biased” textbooks, rate faculty and “hold professors accountable,” report “leftist abuses,” and take a survey to record “specific injustices.” Currently, LI is offering a $100 prize each day in October for reporting “leftist abuse.”
Ken Johnson, a humanities professor at the University of Southern Indiana who was recently flagged by CampusReform as an academic who “continually degrades the Bible,” offers a seperate interpretation. “Students sometimes confuse the presentation of ideas” with his own, Professor Johnson told Campus Progress. “Some students, as soon as their thinking is challenged, the challenger becomes the evil one.”
LI has already bred conservative leaders like chief GOP strategist Karl Rove, Rep. Joe ‘You Lie’ Wilson (R-SC), and Grover Norquist, head of American’s For Tax Reform. CampusReform also proudly points out that James O’Keefe, the “filmmaker” who posed as the pimp that led to the ACORN scandal, attended ten different LI schools in addition to receiving funding from the Institute.
Byrd rips Massey Energy for refusing to fund a new school so students can move away from coal processing plant.
Byrd rips Massey Energy for refusing to fund a new school so students can move away from coal processing plant.
The Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia sits just 300 feet from a Massey Energy coal silo and “downhill from a slurry impoundment.” Massey’s plans to build a second silo are facing “protests from environmentalists and some residents over the threat of flood and claims that children are exposed to coal dust, among other things,” especially because the company is refusing to build a new school, away from the toxic chemicals. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) is taking Massey to task for its “disregard for human life and safety“:
“Such arrogance suggests a blatant disregard for the impact of their mining practices on our communities, residents and particularly our children,” Byrd said in a statement. “These are children’s lives we are talking about.” [...]
“If Massey were not operating near Marsh Fork Elementary, we would not be debating what to do about moving these young students someplace safer,” Byrd said. “This is not the taxpayers’ burden to remedy. This is Massey Energy’s responsibility to address.“
Massey has criticized Byrd’s comments, noting that the school district never asked the company for funding. (Regardless, Massey has said it has no interest in donating any money because it already “pays millions of dollars in taxes each year.”) Brad Johnson has more here on what Massey and the coal industry have really given West Virginia.
Coburn Wants To Dump Political Science Funding Since Americans Can Just ‘Turn To CNN, Fox News, MSNBC’
Coburn Wants To Dump Political Science Funding Since Americans Can Just ‘Turn To CNN, Fox News, MSNBC’
Yesterday, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) introduced an amendment that would bar the National Science Foundation (NSF) from “wasting federal research funding on political science.” Coburn argues that these political sciences issues “have little, if anything, to do with science.” From his amendment:
The largest award over the last 10 years under the political science program has been $5.4 million for the University of Michigan for the “American National Election Studies” grant. The grant is to “inform explanations of election outcomes.” The University of Michigan may have some interesting theories about recent elections, but Americans who have an interest in electoral politics can turn to CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, the print media, and a seemingly endless number of political commentators on the internet who pour [sic] over this data and provide a myriad of viewpoints to answer the same questions.
Coburn adds, “Theories on political behavior are best left to CNN, pollsters, pundits, historians, candidates, political parties, and the voters, rather than being funded out of taxpayers’ wallets.” His argument is like saying that schools should just have students watch Jim Cramer on CNBC instead of teaching economics.
Part of Coburn’s objections seem political, as Henry at Crooked Timber points out. As examples of the way the NSF has wasted its money, Coburn cites a study that found the United States is increasingly willing to torture terrorism suspects and research by Nobel-Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. Today on his blog, Krugman responded to Coburn:
I can’t quite remember when I last received NSF support, but it has to be at least 20 years ago — and it was, of course, for work on international trade, work that, you know, won me a Clark Medal and that other prize. So the standard seems to be that if anyone ever supported by the NSF expresses liberal political opinions decades later, that discredits the program.
But much worse is the way Coburn singles out support for the American National Election Studies as a boondoggle. As I said, I’m not a political scientist — but I’ve done enough data-surveying to know that the ANES is a treasure trove of information that can’t be found anywhere else — certainly not, as Coburn suggests, on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. Of course, it’s obvious from what Coburn says that neither he nor anyone on his staff even bothered to look at what the ANES does.
Robert Lowry, a professor of political science at the University of Texas at Dallas, further explained the difference between the social science and the punditry: “I tell my undergraduate students, There’s a difference between arguing over pizza at 3 a.m. and doing actual hypothesis-testing. CNN has a lot of smart people, but at best it’s all a very short-term cycle. They chew over the results from last night’s election, and by the next week they’re on to something else.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education notes that in 1995, a House committee approved a bill that would have eliminated nearly all the social science programs from the NSF, and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) introduced a similar measure three years ago. The American Political Science Association is now asking people to contact senators to show support for their social science.
Texas schools move away from abstinence-only education: We don’t think it’s working.
Texas schools move away from abstinence-only education: We don’t think it’s working.
Texas currently has the third-highest teen birth rate in the country and “the highest rate of repeat teen births.” It also leads the nation in the amount of government money it spends on abstinence-only education. But some school districts in the state are now shifting away from that approach, admitting that it isn’t working:
“We mainly did it because of our pregnancy rate,” said Whitney Self, lead teacher for health and physical education at the Hays Consolidated Independent School District. “We don’t think abstinence-only is working.” [...]
Both approaches to sex education teach that refraining from sexual activity is the safest choice for teens.
But abstinence-only gives limited information about contraceptives and condoms and tends to downplay their effectiveness, while abstinence-plus stresses the importance of using such protection if teens are sexually active.
Medical experts have stated concluded that not only do abstinence-only programs not curb teen pregnancy, but “there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active.”
School cancels controversial field trip to Bush speech.
School cancels controversial field trip to Bush speech.
Last week, the Arlington Independent School District in Texas decided not to show President Obama’s address to students because it reportedly didn’t want to interrupt its regularly scheduled lesson plans. However, the district did determine that it would be worthwhile to bus 600 fifth-graders off-campus on Sept. 21 to hear President Bush speak. After facing criticism for having a “blatant double standard,” the school district has canceled the Bush field trip:
On Monday morning, [Arlington Superintendent Jerry] McCullough announced that he has changed his mind about allowing students to attend the Super Bowl event, which he said has become a “local and national issue and a distraction for the AISD.”
“I have informed the North Texas Super Bowl XLV host committee that the AISD will not participate in the kickoff event on Sept. 21 in order to maintain our focus on instruction,” McCullough wrote.
Last week, McCullough issued an apology for his actions, saying, “In retrospect, I can see how the district’s decisions concerning these two events could be seen as favoring one event over another.” (HT: TP Reader Gary)
War on Christmas begins: Texas conservatives protest inclusion of Hindu holiday in school curriculum.
War on Christmas begins: Texas conservatives protest inclusion of Hindu holiday in school curriculum.
The Texas State Board of Education is currently considering a proposal that would ensure sixth-grade students learn about at least one religious holiday from each of the five major world religions. Currently, students learn about more Christian and Jewish holidays, and Hinduism is excluded. The new proposal would replace Christmas and Rosh Hashanah with Diwali. “It’s outrageous that the war on Christmas continues in our state and in our nation,” said Jonathan Saenz, a lobbyist for the conservative Free Market Foundation. Some more details on the proposal:
The standards currently instruct sixth-grade students to be able to explain the significance of religious holidays such as the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter, the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and the Jewish holidays of Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. The proposal, which is set to be debated during a hearing next week, removes the words Christmas and Rosh Hashanah. Diwali, a Hindu festival, is added.
In a note explaining the change, members of a review committee wrote “the examples include the key holiday from each of the five major religions.”
Sixth-grade social studies in Texas “is focused on world geography and cultures,” and Hinduism is the third-largest world religion, following Christianity and Islam. However, one Republican activist serving as an “expert” advising the board said that including more Christian and Jewish holidays “simply acknowledges with accuracy the religious culture of America as it actually exists that these holidays have been awarded their place in the culture by the people themselves.” (HT: TP reader Sergio)
School district that barred students from hearing Obama will bus them to Bush speech.
School district that barred students from hearing Obama will bus them to Bush speech.
The Arlington Independent School District in Texas decided not to show President Obama’s address to students live yesterday because it reportedly didn’t want to interrupt its regularly scheduled lesson plans. However, the district has now decided to bus its students off-campus on Sept. 21 to hear President Bush speak:
District officials said it’s part of a Cowboys Stadium field trip that the North Texas Super Bowl Host Committee invited 28 fifth-grade classes to attend several months ago.
In addition to hearing from Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, the students will hear from legendary Dallas Cowboys players and North Texas business and community leaders. The event launches the Super Bowl committee’s largest-ever youth education program.
Dwight McKissic, the pastor at the Cornerstone Baptist Church, which offered an alternative venue for Arlington families wishing to listen to the President yesterday, criticized the school district’s “blatant double standard.” “Why is it appropriate for students to hear from former President Bush on Sept. 21 at the Cowboy[s] Stadium, but inappropriate for the current president to address students while they remain on school campuses?” McKissic asked. (HT: Raw Story)
Smithsonian exhibit features outdated global cooling myth.
Smithsonian exhibit features outdated global cooling myth.
In 2007, Matt Yglesias went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and found an “outdated panel pushing concern about global cooling based on some highly speculative 1970s-era science”:
He went again to the museum this weekend and noticed that despite the definitive evidence that the earth is warming, the exhibit is still up:
Over two years ago, this display was flagged with a small sign warning that the exhibit in question was being updated to reflect current science. But I went back to the museum yesterday, and it’s still there! A number of other displays in the museum do reflect an accurate understanding of the climate change situation, so it’s not as if the people running the museum don’t know what’s going on. So I don’t understand why they can’t change this.
Rove Lies: Obama Is Encouraging Students To Write To Him Personally For ‘Political Utility’
Rove Lies: Obama Is Encouraging Students To Write To Him Personally For ‘Political Utility’
Before President Obama delivered his speech to America’s schoolchildren today, emphasizing to them the value of “persisting and succeeding in school,” former Bush adviser Karl Rove fearmongered about the speech by making up provisions in the “classroom activities” that the Department of Education has suggested teachers could use to supplement the speech.
Last week, when conservatives first began freaking out about the speech, their main objection was to a line in the suggested classroom activities that said students could “write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president.” After receiving complaints, the Department of Education changed the section to read, “Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals,” saying that wanted to make sure “the intent is clear.”
But on Fox News today, Rove said the provision was still insidious:
ROVE: I mean, look, this, the White House was tone deaf. They clearly had a purpose here, which was let’s have the president speak to every student in the country, let’s have a study guide, let’s have them write the president, then president can them back. In fact, they still have that in there. The president’s — the students are now being encouraged to write the president about sort of their life experiences, so the White House can then, you know, using the Department of Education budget, send out God knows how many, hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of letters to students signed by the president, saying thank you for writing this. Clearly has a political import. It’s clearly using the government’s budget in a way to advance the president personally. It’s the kind of thing that makes all Americans uneasy about what the White House is doing.
Rove closed by saying that “the purpose” of the speech “was partly good, partly political. It’s now been turned a lot more good, less political, but there still is a political utility to this, which is have them write the president and then using the Department of Education budget have the president write them back.” Watch it:
Rove is lying when he says “students are now being encouraged to write the president.” In fact, the only letters mentioned in the suggested activities for either Grades preK-6 or Grades 7-12 would be addressed to the students “themselves.” “Teachers would collect and redistribute these letters at an appropriate later date to enable students to monitor their progress,” says the Grades preK-6 packet.
Additionally, it’s ironic that Karl Rove would complain about “using the government’s budget in a way to advance” partisan politics. The Bush White House inserted politics into federal agencies in an unprecedented manner, using “asset deployment” to have administration officials boost GOP candidates with photo-ops and grants. For instance, in March 2008, then-Education Secretary Margaret Spellings announced a pilot program for the federal No Child Left Behind law, even though Minnesota didn’t have enough qualifying schools to participate in the program. Spellings announced the program during an appearance with then-Sen. Norm Coleman, who was in a tough race against Al Franken.
Rejecting Conservative Hysteria, Gingrich And Alexander Say Obama’s Education Speech Is ‘Good’
Rejecting Conservative Hysteria, Gingrich And Alexander Say Obama’s Education Speech Is ‘Good’
Earlier this week, ThinkProgress noted how conservatives are freaking out over President Obama’s upcoming speech to America’s schoolchildren, in which he will explain to them the value of “persisting and succeeding in school.” Conservatives, such as Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), have been fearmongering over the speech, claiming that it is “school indoctrination.”
On Fox News Sunday this morning, host Chris Wallace asked former House Speaker Newt Gingrich about the controversy, noting that in 1991 Gingrich defended a similar speech by then-President George H.W. Bush by saying, “Why is it political for the president of the United States to discuss education?” Gingrich replied that if it’s “a totally positive speech” that parents can see “in advance” (which they can), then “it is good to have”:
GINGRICH: My daughter Jackie Cushman just wrote a column in which she said, “if the president gives a speech as a parent to students to encourage them to learn and stay in school, it is a great thing for him to do.” It was a good thing for Ronald Reagan to do. It was a good thing for George H. W. Bush to do. And I’ve been communicating with Arne Duncan and the team at the Department of Education. I believe this is going to be posted, people are going to be able to see it in advance, it’s going to be a totally positive speech, and if that’s what it is, then it is good to have the president of the United States say to young people across America: Stay in school, study and do your homework. It’s good for you and it’s good for America.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who was Secretary of Education under the first President Bush, also defended Obama’s speech, saying “of course the president of the United States should be able to address students and of course parents and teachers should decide in what context.” Watch it:
But when Wallace asked Gingrich if some of his “fellow conservatives” should “back off,” the former House Speaker dodged the question, claiming that “Sean Hannity, by the way, has publicly said this is a good thing.” In fact, on his show this week, Hannity said that he “would not normally have a problem [with] any president that wants to address schoolchildren, wants to encourage them to study hard, to develop — to learn, to have a great education” then added, “But when you read the specifics here…it seems very close to indoctrination, or at least has the potential.”
Blow From Barbour’s Education Cuts Lessened Because Of Federal Stimulus Package
Blow From Barbour’s Education Cuts Lessened Because Of Federal Stimulus Package
Today, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) announced that he’s slashing $171.9 million from the state’s $6 billion budget, with most of the cuts affecting education programs. According to the AP, Barbour tried to soften his announcement by pointing out that “even with budget cuts, all levels of education are receiving more money than they ever have.” The reason for this good news? The federal stimulus:
Barbour said he expects the impact to be “very, very minimal,” because K-12 and higher education programs are receiving millions of dollars in federal stimulus funds.
Salary supplements for national-board certified teachers and financial aid programs for students are among the items exempted from the cuts. Medicaid and the Department of Corrections will also not be cut at this time.
Under the stimulus, Mississippi schools received $250 million and the state received $484 million to prevent cuts, such as teacher layoffs, in education.
Mississippi shows why stimulus funds were so important for the states — and the folly of other governors such as Sarah Palin, who initially rejected federal education funds. Palin turned down $160 million for education because she believed the state should “chart our own course.” Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) also wanted to use $700 million of South Carolina’s stimulus money meant for school funding and public safety to pay down the state debt, even though the move could have cost 7,500 teachers their jobs.
Barbour was also an outspoken opponent of the stimulus, although his main objections were over $50 million in unemployment benefits for part-time workers. (The state legislature eventually passed a bill circumventing Barbour.)
Scarborough rips conservatives for seeking ratings by scaremongering about Obama’s education speech.
Scarborough rips conservatives for seeking ratings by scaremongering about Obama’s education speech.
Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that conservatives are freaking out over President Obama’s upcoming speech to schoolchildren about “persisting and succeeding in school,” claiming that it is actually aimed at political indoctrination. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, host Joe Scarborough ripped into the hyperventilating conservatives. “Seriously, why don’t we want the president of the United States, any president of the United States, delivering the message to kids: work hard, stay in school, succeed,” said Scarborough, adding, “get your ratings if you want, you’re just screwing your political party.” Watch it:
Fearmongering About Education Speech, Perkins Claims Obama Hasn’t ‘Pushed Any Educational Reform Issues’
Fearmongering About Education Speech, Perkins Claims Obama Hasn’t ‘Pushed Any Educational Reform Issues’
For the past few days, conservatives have been freaking out over President Obama’s upcoming speech to schoolchildren on the first day of school. Though Obama’s speech will be about “persisting and succeeding in school,” the right wing is claiming it is about “school indoctrination” just like “what Chairman Mao did.”
On Fox News this morning, NPR’s Juan Williams defended Obama’s effort as “innocuous,” saying that “on the face of it, it seems to be almost patriotic…you should hear the president speak about the value of education, staying in school, hard work.” But Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wasn’t convinced that the speech would be benign. To buttress his argument, Perkins asserted that “the president really hasn’t pushed any educational reform issues yet in his administration”:
PERKINS: It is unprecedented in the fact that there’s a worksheet attached with this, that there’s homework involved here. And Juan has to admit that the question of write a letter to yourself on how you can help the president does raise some questions as to whether or not he could have gotten into the policy issues. The president really hasn’t pushed any educational reform issues yet in his administration. He’s been busy with other controversial things. But you know, going to elementary kids to talk about drop out. What about high school kids? That is a little — it raises some questions.
Watch it:
Perkins is speaking without regard for the facts when he says that Obama hasn’t “pushed any educational reform issues yet.” In fact, Obama has put a strong emphasis on education reform. For instance, the stimulus bill contained an unprecedented investment in education, which was aimed at incentivizing reform:
To help struggling schools, the federal government will use stimulus funding to encourage states to expand school days, reward good teachers, fire bad ones and measure how students perform compared with peers in India and China, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said yesterday.
As Matthew Yglesias has noted, that administration’s “Race to the Top” reform competition encourages states to drop restrictions on performance data. In March, President Obama delivered a speech on his goal of overhauling the education system “from the cradle up through a career.” In the speech, Obama laid out a five-tier reform plan, which included “Early Learning Challenge” grants, “tougher, clearer standards,” and funding for No Child Left Behind to be more effectively tied to results.
Perkins also claimed that Obama has avoided education because “he’s been busy with other controversial things.” But the truth is that Obama has been criticized by people saying that he was distracting himself from the economy by pushing education reform. In his March speech, he said that “there are some who believe we can only handle one challenge at a time,” but “we don’t have the luxury of choosing between getting our economy moving now and rebuilding it over the long term.”
Missouri school district bans t-shirts for acknowledging evolution.
Missouri school district bans t-shirts for acknowledging evolution.
T-shirts worn by members of the Smith-Cotton High School band have been recalled by the school district because they contained images of evolution. The t-shirts featured an image of a monkey holding a brass instrument and progressing through various stages of evolution until eventually becoming a human. “I was disappointed with the image on the shirt,” said Sherry Melby, a band parent who teaches in the district. “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.” Assistant superintendent Brad Pollitt explained that the t-shirts were banned because they were imposing on religious views:
Though the shirts don’t violate the school’s dress code, Pollitt noted that the district is required by law to remain neutral on religion.
“If the shirts had said ‘Brass Resurrections’ and had a picture of Jesus on the cross, we would have done the same thing,” Pollitt said.
Law professor Jonathan Turley notes, “Evolution is not a religious issue. Extremists want to make evolution into a religious question, but it is not.”
Decision to end ‘Reading Rainbow’ traced to a ‘shift’ in priorities during the Bush administration.
Decision to end ‘Reading Rainbow’ traced to a ‘shift’ in priorities during the Bush administration.
“Reading Rainbow,” of the most beloved and long-running children’s education shows, is airings its last episode today. The show, hosted by actor LeVar Burton, started in 1983. John Grant, who is in charge of programming at Reading Rainbow’s home station, explains that part of the reason the show is ending is because no one — including PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — wants to continue funding it. The other reason can be traced back to a “shift” in priorities during the Bush administration:
Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.
Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that’s not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.
“Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read,” Grant says. “You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read.”
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