Education is not doing too well in Washington these days.
First, it was the free community college that was supposedly at the top of President Joe Biden's agenda that was cut from his grand spending plans last month.
The Biden administration's program to make community college tuition-free will not become a reality in this round of the president's spending priorities, leaving progressive groups disappointed.
Both progressive and moderate Democrats confirmed to NPR that two free years of community college — a major Biden priority — will likely not make it in a final package of key progressive priorities.
The latest blow to education from the federal government is that the infrastructure bill just passed by the House of Representatives on Friday won't include spending to upgrade school buildings.
Many of the nation’s public schools are in poor physical condition. Since the Great Recession of 2008, states stopped or cut the funding necessary repairs and upgrades. President Biden’s infrastructure plan included $100 billion to upgrade the physical conditions of America’s schools. In the last hours of haggling before the bill was passed, this provision was cut, then eliminated.
To be fair, K-12 schools got money back in the Biden stimulus bill in March but since then we are 0 for 2.
Democrats continually let public school advocates down and then they wonder why many of their potential supporters stay home on Election Day or find an excuse to vote Republican. I have said here over and over how the so-called moderate Democrats are not our friends on so many important issues. Republicans come right out and tell us they hate public schools and especially our unions. Democrats give us lip service and then let us down over and over again.
Ravitch explains the priorities:
States need federal aid to upgrade their schools. We put our money into those things we care most about. Providing healthy and attractive buildings where children learn is not at the top of the list.
I can't wait to see how Michael Mulgrew tries to spin these cuts as a victory for us.
Because free public school is going so well...LOL.
ReplyDeleteEvidently Mulgrew’s spin for democrats works because you keep telling us to vote for them.
ReplyDeleteMost schools still have sinks that when you wash your hands you need to hold the faucet so the water continues to come out causing one to always be touching the faucet and so forth. THe plumbing is so old the manufacturer who made the faucet no longer exists. THis during a pandemic when washing hands is drilled into our brains.
ReplyDeleteNot only with education—the Democrats in DC—will also backtrack on support for healthcare, taxing the extreme wealth of corporations and individuals etc. —Very little will change—as Republicans are poised to retake House and probably the Senate next year and they will introduce legislation to reign in infrastructure spending.
ReplyDeleteAnd NYC beware—with the election of Adams as Mayor—expect a push in support for Charters —bringing back the days of Bloomberg.
The big moment will come on July 1, 2022–as to the extent of NYC educational budget cuts, layoffs —and how much the state will come to the rescue—only to blame DC.
ReplyDeleteWho is mentioning layoffs?? The Fed just injected nyc schools with billions of dollars....where is the money?
ReplyDeleteHe already said he wants to cut across every city agency as we have a forecasted 5 billion deficit coming
DeleteJust look to the less than 40 percent of office space being used this year. City is going to get killed in the amount of money they bring in compared to pre pandemic.
Deletethe $$$$ is there- look at all the per session dollars being offered
ReplyDeleteThat money is not for salaries.. That's the fluff for extra non sense.
DeleteSpeaking of victories...Covid.
ReplyDeleteHey, where’s Jen Psaki?
Everyone’s favorite redhead has Covid and has been AWOL for almost two weeks
Gavin newsome took the booster and is also misisng.
But she’s fully vaccinated so I’m sure she’s completely recovered already. Probably just helping Gavin Newsom with his family emergency.
She’s missing now, though, just like the figures the Centers for Disease Control used to post on the deaths of fully vaccinated people.
They don’t want you worrying your pretty lil heads with facts and data. Even the CDC’s favorite (highly dubious) relative risk chart hasn’t been updated since early September, just as vaccine effectiveness was starting to crash. Gee, I wonder why.
"I have said here over and over how the so-called moderate Democrats are not our friends on so many important issues. Republicans come right out and tell us they hate public schools and especially our unions". Exactly. So it's insane why any Democrat would ever vote for them.
ReplyDeleteMulgrew lied about the Medicare Advantage change.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually a bait and switch.
Here are some of the bad things about Medicare Advantage plans:
https://www.newsweek.com/medicare-expert-3-reasons-avoid-enrolling-medicare-advantage-1642841
According to the NYC DOE website,
ReplyDelete"For the 2021-2022 school year, our total budget is $38 billion. The DOE also has a separate capital budget of over $19 billion to build new schools, renovate existing schools, and purchase equipment over five years."
I don't know if this includes any Federal CoVid relief funds. Everyone knows that the DOE is a failure due to corruption and incompetence, not a lack of funds.