by Lauren CameraAfter weeks of letting it languish in the legislative queue, the U.S. Senate this week is slated to begin debating a proposed bipartisan overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act—the first such Senate debate since 2001, when Congress last updated the law in its current iteration, the No Child Left Behind Act.Read the rest of the story at Education Week.
Could Hillary Clinton bring together a party splintered over education policy?by Allie BidwellOutside of local elections, education policy has never been an issue that makes voters flock to the polls. It’s just not as sexy as raising or lowering taxes, nor as anxiety-inducing as foreign relations and national security.Read the rest of the story at U.S. News.
by Maureen SullivanCarly Fiorina, the former CEO and chairman of Hewlett-Packard, today announced her run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. She has never held public office and calls her run a “return to citizen government.” She pokes fun at her undergraduate degree from Stanford in medieval history and philosophy but says it comes in handy when she wants to poke holes in President Obama’s comparison of ISIS terrorism with the Crusades.Read the rest of the story on Forbes.
by Maureen SullivanSenator Marco Rubio of Florida today becomes the third freshman senator to enter the field for the Republican presidential nomination. Over the past few years he has opposed Common Core curriculum standards and advocated for educational vouchers, a federal corporate income tax credit and an overhaul of the college student loan industry.Speaking at Miami’s Freedom Tower, he said, “All parents deserve to choose the education that’s right for their children.” These are some of his other views:College Degrees:Not everyone should be forced to get a four-year degree in order to find a job. There are millions of good-paying jobs out there and we should allow people to have access to skills they need in a cost-effective way. In the 21st century some of the best jobs require more than high school–traditional high school–but less than four years of college.Read the rest of the story on Forbes.com.
BATs Congratulate Hillary ClintonThe Badass Teachers Association would like to congratulate you on your recent announcement to run for president. The Badass Teachers Association is an education activist organization that is nationwide. Currently, we are 55,000 strong with chapters in every state. We are organizing on the ground to change the conversation back to what public education should be, about children and their future. We have far reaching capability on Twitter, via our website, our blog, and Pinterest.Our organization was founded in June of 2013. We fight for strong public education for all children and for teacher autonomy in the classroom. We are a group that refuses to take the blame for our government’s inability to address child poverty and its impact on how children perform in school. We fight, on a daily basis, the efforts of big money to privatize our schools and use our children as market capital.We have been reviewing the history of your educational platform with interest in anticipation of your announcement. Read the rest of the letter at Badass Teachers Association