NEA: President Obama's FY 2011 budget makes education a priority

[Political Tiger]

“We are encouraged that President Obama’s budget includes a significant increase in funding for education. His budget reflects his understanding that education fuels success—for our students and for our nation as well. We are especially encouraged that despite the serious economic challenges we currently face, the President remains steadfast in his commitment to our students and the future of our country.

“While we are continuing to carefully review the details of the President’s budget, we applaud the apparent emphasis on developing systems to strengthen and improve education from early childhood to college. For example, the President is taking steps to strengthen and expand early childhood education. We applaud the $989 million increase in funding for Head Start and Early Head Start and the increased investment in programs that serve the needs of diverse students.

“The President’s plan includes a proposal to end student lending subsidies to banks and shift the savings to programs that make college accessible for more Americans. It also includes more money for the Pell Grant program, which will help more students pay for college, and increased funding to revitalize community colleges, which would help make college accessible to more Americans. We enthusiastically embrace the President’s goal to once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.

“NEA supports elements in the President’s budget to reform education in America and bring about change that works to benefit students. We applaud innovation in education as long as it helps to improve student success. We look forward to continued collaboration with the administration to build a system of accountability that really prepares students for college and 21st century careers.

http://www.nea.org/home/37999.htm

[NJmaverick]

1. K & R

[Political Tiger]

2. NEA President Dennis Van Roekel on Education and The Fiscal Year 2011 Budget

The President’s budget request for 2011 includes a significant increase in funding for education -- reflecting an understanding that education fuels success for our students and for our nation.

We support the President’s effort to make college more affordable for more Americans, and the proposed investments in early childhood education.

We thank the House and Administration for focusing on the need for investments, expansion, and improvement in post-secondary education. This focus, which will help augment student access, persistence, and success in higher education, is essential to our nation's economic stability.

We also applaud the President’s efforts to revitalize community colleges, which we know are part of the road to success for many families.

We also commend the House and the Administration for supporting investments in early childhood learning, particularly the over $9 billion early childhood investments included in SAFRA.

We are also pleased that the President is proposing to increase funding for Head Start programs that provide education, health, nutrition and parental involvement services to low-income children and their families.

NEA shares the Administration’s goal of fostering innovation and reform to close the gaps in achievement and opportunity in our nation’s schools.

Federal education funding is a priority, and never more so than now, as the nation moves out of a deep recession, spurred along partly by action taken last year by the White House and Congress to pass the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As the U.S. Department of Education has recently reported, more than 300,000 education jobs – teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors – have been directly supported by Recovery Act dollars, along with almost another 100,000 public service positions, including corrections officers, public health personnel, and construction workers.

What is too often lost in the discussion on the Recovery Act is how much worse the economy and employment picture would have been in its absence. The Economic Policy Institute has documented that the rate of job destruction from the beginning of the recession in December 2007 to the passage of the Recovery Act was 50 percent greater than even the severe recession in the early 1980s.

http://www.nea.org/home/38588.htm

[Historic NY]

3. Boy you'd never know it with all the Obama hates Teacher Union stuff...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8816056&mesg_id=8816056

[izzybeans]

4. yeah but...

reactionary talking point

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

5. That was on February 03, 2010. Last week

http://www.nea.org/home/40414.htm

NEA to participate in 'One Nation March'

WASHINGTON - July 20, 2010 - With a backdrop of a looming education crisis—the layoff of thousands of educators, overcrowded classrooms and massive cuts to essential school programs—the National Education Association (NEA) today announced its participation in the Oct. 2 “One Nation March on Washington.” The 3.2 million-member NEA will join the coalition of more than 170 civil rights, education, environmental and labor groups in a major demonstration of grassroots support for equal opportunity and justice for all—tenets that include access to a secure job, a safe home and a quality education.

The following statement can be attributed to NEA President Dennis Van Roekel:

“It’s time for this nation to get its priorities straight and invest in our most valuable resource—our people. America’s multi-faceted diversity is a source of incredible strength and innovation, and we need to play to that strength. Everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve the American Dream, and high quality public schools are critical to achieving it.

“In this time of economic crisis, we must transcend our differences and come together in a common quest for equal opportunity and justice for all.

“NEA is proud to be standing with our brothers and sisters in the labor and social justice movement to remind the nation, especially our lawmakers, that economic opportunity and social justice are more than noble ideals—they’re basic rights of every American.”