Poverty Underlies Education System’s Shortcomings
Here’s a letter to the editor in The Hill by Diann Woodard, president of the School Administrators (AFSA), the only national education union representing principals, assistant principals and school administrators.
The failure of our education system lies not within the walls of the public schools that serve children in crisis, but with the policymakers and policies in place that ignore the fundamental causes of low student achievement: unfair funding formulas, poverty and unproven education policies (“For America’s children, education outlook grows only dimmer,” Jan. 23, by Juan Williams).
Families are increasingly falling into poverty, experiencing a lack of housing and unable to provide adequate health care and nutrition for their children. These children need increased services, yet often do not receive them because of budget cuts, bureaucratic hurdles and gross inequities in state and local funding formulas.
Public schools welcome these children, for our doors are open to all. We do not hand-select the brightest, the ones with involved parents, or the students who will make us look good on half-hour media specials. Their time at school might provide their only stable environment, and we provide it with only a fraction of resources afforded to more affluent districts and private schools.
Credit Card Debt? Wedding Planning? Labor College’s Online Tool Can Help
Zachary Teutsch in the AFL-CIO Office of Investment, announces the launch of a fantastic new resource for all of us to gain and improve our financial literacy.
Most schools don’t teach our kids about avoiding credit card debt. Most of us never had anyone take the time to teach us about the financial implications of a birth, a death, a wedding, a divorce, or retirement. This is because there isn’t much financial education in the United States and most of it is by salespeople who would like us to buy their products.
We know that union members around the country face tough financial issues and would like good, honest, fair information. The National Labor College and AFL-CIO have partnered to provide resources and answers at NLC InvestEd. You can download the NLC’s Investor Handbook, learn about mutual funds, balancing stocks and much more.
Some of the topics covered include:
- Buying A Home
- Children
- College
- Foreclosure
- Loss of a Loved One
- Paying Off Debt
- Retirement
- Weddings
Head over to NLC InvestEd and check it out.
As working people, our financial security is under threat and the AFL-CIO knows that having better information about financial issues is one more way we can push back. If you have questions about this new project, leave them as comments here.
A Teacher’s Eye-View of Ohio’s Job-Killing Law
Nicole Gentile, a teacher with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and an AFT member, wrote this message to Ohio working families about the job-killing ramifications of S.B. 5, a new law that attacks the collective bargaining rights of workers seeking to maintain a middle-class living. Together with thousands of Ohioans, Gentile is working to repeal the law in the November elections.
I just got home from Marion-Sterling Elementary School. I might not be there much longer.
Romney Is No Better than Perry on Social Security
If you’ve watched any of the Republican primary debates, it’s possible to mistake presidential wannabee Mitt Romney as the voice of reason in that group, most of whom long ago teetered off the edge of rational discourse.
But a new chart comparing the views of Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry shows that when it comes to Social Security, the nation’s most successful safety net, Romney is no better than “Social Security Is a Ponzi Scheme” Perry.
Although Romney has not used the term “Ponzi scheme,” he has called it a fraud, according to the nonprofit group Strengthen Social Security. Here’s Romney:
U.S. Working Poor Now Majority in Poverty
 |
How appropriate. We’re drowning in rain here in the nation’s capital, while outside the Beltway, America’s working families are drowning in one disastrous economic wave after another. A few recent nuggets.
- The new working-age (18-64) poor now make up nearly three out of five poor people—a switch from the early 1970s, when children made up the main impoverished group. The nation’s working-age poor share surpasses a previous high of 55.5 percent, first reached in 2004—and are at the highest level since the 1960s when the war on poverty was launched.
- People who are laid off from previously stable employment, if they are lucky enough to find work, take a median wage hit of more than 20 percent, which can persist for decades.
- The median working-age household saw its income decline by $2,700 from 2007 to 2009. As a result, the typical working-age household brought in roughly $5,000 less in 2009 than it did in 2000.
- As the chart here shows, CEO pay last year jumped an average 27.8 percent and is now 325 times the average pay of a U.S. worker.
- The New York Times is now asking, “Can the Middle Class Be Rebuilt?” implying, of course, that the foundation of solid middle-wage earners that fueled America’s historic strength is broken beyond possible repair.
Recession Aftermath: Child Poverty, Black Female Unemployment Increase
The recession is hurting America’s children today and could have a negative impact on their future as well, according to two new reports. A survey of child welfare released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009. As a result, 14.7 million children, or 20 percent, were poor in 2009. That represents a 2.5 million increase from 2000, when 17 percent of the nation’s youth lived in low-income homes. Read the survey here.
Black children face a double whammy. A second study by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) found black women, who head a majority of black households with children, are losing jobs during the recovery while other groups, including black men, are adding jobs. Read the report here.
These two studies taken together should ring “alarm bells” for policymakers, says Roderick Harrison, a senior fellow at Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
‘Can You Imagine Working Until 70?’ Congressional Republicans Think That’s OK
Republican Rep. John Boehner from Ohio says if his party took over Congress in the fall elections, it would raise the Social Security eligibility age to 70. Sharron Angle, Republican candidate for Senate in Nevada, said Social Security should be phased out.
As Social Security turned 75 in recent days, the nation’s most successful safety net is under attack as never before.
Writing at Huffington Post, Barbara Easterling, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, asks: “Can you imagine working until 70?”
Bad News for Children, Good News for Seniors, Union Deaths Challenged
Here’s a quick roundup of some key news.
Colombia is the deadliest place for unionists—some 2,300 union leaders have been killed there since 1991 and only 37 people have been convicted in the murders. Now, in a civil trial set to begin today before a federal jury in Birmingham, Ala., union lawyers have presented affidavits from two people who allege that the Drummond Co. ordered the murder of two union leaders who worked at it’s coal mine in Colombia, a charge Drummond denies. The suit is filed under a law that allows foreigners to sue U.S. companies here.
